100' Smeal Platforms

[helicopter722]

Northwest Fire District near Tucson serves a population of 100,000+.
They bought a Smeal 100' rear-mount platform in 99. I was wondering if anyone else is having problems with this truck;or this type of truck. They can't seem to leave STOP sign's and light poles alone. The truck seems to gravitate toward everything with its big ***-end.

Just wondering if any of you are having these problems.

Stay Safe.
Later.

[ctxffman]

If this truck was an E-One, it would be the fault of the street dept. for putting the poles too close to the street. Right?

And a Pierce aerial would of close the street down for 12 hrs. while they pick the heavy steel ladder off the street.

Sounds like they could use a refresher course in safe driving.

Short wheelbase has it's trade-offs.

[helicopter722]

Personaly, I think the E-One 105' is just as bad.

The reason I singled out Smeal is because they lead the industry with long trucks.
The 100' Rear Platform, 100'Mid mount,125 Ladder. Why the obsesion with really long trucks?

ALF, Pierce and Seagrave also build monsters. As well as E-One, the 105'.

Stay Safe.
Later.

[SmealLadder1]

100' Platforms and 125' Aerials are based on the same 3-section structure for Smeal units.

These are big units, there is no doubt about that. However, anyone that is manufacturing a 100' platform has the same issues.

Also, I am talking about 100' platforms with a horizontal reach of 99' 6" compared to some other manufactures that build 95' aerials with only 81' reach, there is a BIG difference. The other problem is that you not only need to watch the rear swing, the platform out front can also swing wide. The 85' platform is a very good choice for a unit and it has a horizontal reach of 85' 6". So, base your next purchase on horizontal reach, it IS what really matters.

You can manuvuer these big rigs on some pretty tight streets, but it takes, TRAINING, TRAINING, TRAINING. I think any department will tell you that. I am NOT saying Northwest Fire District is not trained, as accidents fo happen to ALL departments.

[helicopter722]

What trade offs for short wheelbase rigs would you be talking about? Pierce,ALF/LTI,Sutphen,Smeal, and others have short trucks too.
Why is this suddenly anti E-One on your part?