Tag Archives: manufacturing

A case for bolted-together fire trucks

Fire apparatus designers and manufacturers are constantly in pursuit of several goals when constructing vehicles for the fire service. There are five basic goals. Manufacturers want to keep them lightweight so the truck can carry the necessary equipment and get the best fuel mileage possible. They want to make it durable so that the customer gets the maximum lifecycle out of the vehicle. They also want to make it cost-effective, easy to repair, and easy to modify so that it can fill several roles over its lifecycle. Increasingly, fire apparatus manufacturers and their customers are using bolted construction to better achieve those goals. Bolted construction for fire apparatus is not new; manufacturers like American La France began bolting or riveting vehicle components on fire apparatus in the 1920s.

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