NO-COST, LOW-COST MAINTENANCE PROGRAM
You already check the oil, fuel and other fluid levels, don’t you? Just continue with these basic tips and you have the beginning of a
Many fire departments, especially small volunteer ones, complain that the cost of maintaining their apparatus is too high. The complaints are usually registered when a piece of fire apparatus is returned to the fire station from a repair garage.
But there is an easy way to reduce the cost of repairs: through simple, back-tobasics preventive maintenance in the fire station by members of the department.
When faced with the suggestion of having their own program, many fire departments state that they do not know how to maintain specialized fire apparatus. Vet it is a very unusual volunteer fire department that has no one in its ranks who does not have some basic mechanical abilities, and many components on a fire engine are fairly simple mechanical equipment. Given this, it is also a rare department that could not do basic preventive maintenance.
How, then, do you go about setting up a preventive maintenance program? The easiest way is to start at the front of the apparatus and work your way to the rear. At the very front there is usually a bumper. How do you do preventive maintenance on a bumper? Well, a wrench will usually suffice! Tighten the bolts that connect the bumper to the frame. Tighten the screws that hold the grille and the headlights and other lights, and the front of the rig is done for this year.
Open the hood, but don’t throw up your arms in defeat, lust reach out for a screwdriver, and tighten every single hose clamp you see on the cooling system, the brakes, the windshield washer, the fuel system, even those on the systems which you cannot identify. See, you just stopped the antifreeze leak which was about to cause the radiator to overheat, which in turn would have ruined the engine, which would have led to a great big repair bill.
Wrenches and screwdrivers are put to numerous uses, tightening all of the screws and bolts you can find (not so tight you break them, please). Maybe some vital part will stay attached to the engine if you do this.
While you are comfortably curled up under the hood, why not get out the rubber-vinyl preservative (which, of course, your department buys by the gallon) and spray all the hoses and wires which seem to run every way. Now you do not have to replace the wiring harness after seven or eight years of service, because you took a few minutes every six months to preserve the insulation with that spray bottle of preservative.
Time to check the brake fluid, says your printed maintenance schedule. Sure is reassuring to know that the pedal won’t go to the floor on the next run. Now for the front wheels. When is the last time that Engine 2 had its front wheel bearings repacked? If it is as bng as I think it is, Engine 2 is headed for the repair shop for new bearings, and that costs tots of money. For a few pennies, you can put some of the proper grease in there, at regular intervals, and keep your rig ready to fight fires.
Had the wheels balanced recently? While I doubt that most departments can do this themselves, they can certainly take the pumper down to the tire shop and have it done. Big rigs don’t need wheel balancing? Oh yes they do, because out-of-balance wheels and tires put terrible strains on the front suspension, which causes all of those expensive parts to wear out prematurely. Therefore, a regular program of balancing (and even alignment) can save you money over the life of your apparatus. While you are at it, get the spray bottle and apply preservative on the sidewalls of those tires. They are expensive, and on most fire engines they wear out from old age tong before the tread is gone, so why not keep them young?
Take a rag and clean off the shock absorbers. A few days later, took at the shocks closely. Do you see oil running down the shock tubes? Better replace them before the bouncing caused by bad shocks wears out all those expensive parts in the front end, or even causes you to lose control of the pumper on the way to a fire.
While you are walking past the doors of the pumper, stop for a moment and lubricate the hinges and lock. It is embarrassing when you cannot open the pumper door because no one took the time to squirt a little graphite, judicious use of tools here can also tighten up the loose mirrors or whatever needs to be tightened.
So tong as you have the cab doors open, why not get in with your trusty tool box and tighten up all those little screws and bolts that seem to protrude everywhere; sure is nice when the seats stay bolted to the floor. By the way, the use of Locktite or similar products on all those nuts and bolts that keep coming loose can sure cut down on your time spent in tightening them.
Now for the cleaner and preservative again, and you won’t have to spend those dollars on getting the seats recovered. Next it is time for soap and water. On the inside of the cab of a fire engine, you say? Why sure, wash your seat belts, too. (You do have them, don’t you? They are great preventive maintenance for your body.) Whoa, who ever heard of washing seat belts? You should have, if you want to get rid of all the dirt and grit that gets into the belts and causes them to break when they are needed the most. Soap and water may prevent repair bills at the hospital for your fire fighters.
Keep turning those wrenches and screwdrivers, and maybe the pump panel will stay attached, or maybe you can finally get the compartment door to stay closed. No, you do not have to be a builder of apparatus to make simple adjustments to the doors and latches, just take a minute to figure out what nifty system the manufacturer used to put it all together and you can put it back the way it was when the engine was nice and new and shiny. Work your way around the outside of the rig and tighten up whatever needs to be tightened.
Now what? Get on your creeper and get underneath the chassis, where you will discover things attached to your apparatus you may not even know your department owned. It doesn’t even really matter if you know what all those arcane gadgets are, so long as you keep them screwed together. You may never know that you stopped the transmission from running out of lubricant by tightening a cover plate that had worked loose, because you do not even know where the transmission is. The point is that you are doing preventive maintenance, something you used to say your department could not do.
While you are comfortably ensconced on the creeper, ask someone to hand you the degreaser and the garden hose. The first time anyone has ever done that to good old Engine 2? Nevertheless, a good cleaning of the entire chassis will greatly increase the life of your pride and joy. First of all, all that dirt and goo down there holds water up against the body. Water causes rust, rust causes holes, holes cause major repair jobs and major repair jobs cause, in turn, holes in the budget. So why not patch the hole in the budget with some preventive maintenance? Another reason for that cleaning job is to help you spot the inevitable oil leaks in all those mechanical gadgets that cost so much to repair or replace, so you can take care of them quickly and easily.
Back up for fresh air, and we are all done. Well, not quite. I assume that you have been taking notes on everything that you have been doing. So, take your notes back to the office and put it all down in writing; what needs to be done, how often it needs to be done, who is going to be responsible for doing it, and so forth. Put it all on a check list, add whatever else you want done on your equipment, and make it part of your standard operating procedures manual. Repeat the process for each piece of apparatus you own. Add the new ones to the manual as they come in the door, and your department now has its own preventive maintenance program. Easy, wasn’t it? Nicest part of it all: it all began at home and not 200 miles away in some repair shop.
