Originally Posted By: Jim Allen
Looks like an adapted Army CUCV to me (Commercial Utility Cargo Vehicle, basically a militarized Chevy truck). Yours looks like an M1008 1.25-ton with a civvy utility body installed. The Army made some with their own service body, but it was quite different than yours. Is it still 24v? Some of the extra wiring looks like it may have been converted to 12v (a good thing!). Looks like it still has the dual alternators, though.
It's like ac-tc said. Typically, fire truck engines don't hold up well because they go from stone cold to firewalled in short order. I have heard that some departments use block heaters year around to extend engine life for that reason but I don't imagine that's practical in every case.
I Florida, I'd recommend a 15W40. My 6.2L did well on it.
You are correct as to it being a CUCV, as I have learned. No, the truck still has the 24v system in it, and has been having gremlins for a month or so now... it's out of service and in the shop again...
Thanks for all your input. Since the oil change was coming out of the department's petty cash, I went with the Rotella 15W40 since it was $9.99/gal at AZ and the STP S5 filter, since I don't plan on keeping the oil in there too long...
The oil filter previously used was a Carquest filter...the lettering on the can was very faded and it was so stuck to the engine that I had to jab a screwdriver into it to twist it off. It's location didn't help. The oil poured out rather slowly from the pan and was not translucent at all... black as sin just as before. I put in the oil, started it up (after it took two trucks to jump start it) and ran it about 15miles in an attempt to charge the batteries (to no avail, batteries won't hold a charge, they are about 2 months old as well...
). I checked the oil and almost as black as the old oil...
Originally Posted By: Dualie
In my experience most fire houses are at least heated to 75 deg year round so their not really STONE cold per say.
I think the reason that the engines don't Hold up well comes from the fact their about the most anal maintenance organizations on the planet. Also once on scene at a fire the engines are left idle for hours at a time. Our local department has gotten better about running the engines on scene ONLY when their pumping water with them
Rarely do they ever wear even a tire out to less than 50% tread life before its replaced. brakes are done on a time vs wear basis. coolants are flushed annually
Our station only has 2 truck bays, which are occupied by Engines 1 and 3...this truck sits outside next to the station. The bay isn't climate controlled either, except for an exhaust fan, so it's pretty warm in there this time of year, even with the bay doors open.
Oh, and the truck has 4 different tires on it, all with varying (but safe) tread depths... no idea when other fluids were flushed... methinks if we end up keeping this truck for a while, I may flush coolant and other fluids. The truck isn't used for pumping, since the tank on the back has a generator-run pump in back. But I am sure it is left idling on scene (per department SOG's) and safe practice I suppose.
