Why Stainless?

[mr169b]

Why is everyone jumping on the stainless steel bandwagon lately? My department is all aluminum without any problems. Yet even E-One is now offering stainless steel (Even if it is just a retagged Saulsbury). Are there people out there having problems with aluminum or galvanneal that are forcing you to look at stainless? And if you have gone to stainless, what about the problems of working with it, as in accidents and mishaps, or just trying to drill throught it.

[STATION2]

I don't think that its a matter of builders jumping on the stainless steel "bandwagon". I think some of it is the builders trying to expand their product lines due to fire departments becoming much more involved and doing their homework when specing and buying apparatus. Builders also don't like losing business because of the materials they DON'T work with, so I think this a natural progression. But your right. Stainless bodies are more difficult to repair when damaged and a whole bunch harder to drill and mount equipment onto.

Another reason I think that builders are going the way towards stainless is the differences. How many times have you heard that stainless weighs so much more than aluminum or galvaneel? Or that the cost of stainless is so much more than other body materials? Not the case like it once was. The only problem is that you need to watch the quality of the stainless being used. There is atleast one builder out there that has stainless components on the rigs they built that are rusting and are magnetic to boot.

Oh well. Just some thoughts.

[BirkenVogt]

Hey the more the merrier I say. Maybe if more buy stainless then aluminum will become cheaper for people like me who want it;) I have two stainless rigs now and I do not like it at all, the corners are sharp and cut people and things, it cracks and rattles, and does not hold paint very well. I think it is just the sort of thing that makes people go "ooh" when they hear it said

Birken

[osh599]

We currently have two trucks with stainless bodies; one being a Pierce Saber and the other an American LaFrance 75' Telesqurt. The reason for stainless is the harsh winter climate in SW Lower Michigan and the large amounts of road salt that the DOT trucks lay down. Our apparatus with aluminum bodies are rusting from the salt. Our Pierce has the frame rails rusting which are seperating from the road salt and this truck is only 6 yrs old!

[mr169b]

I recently saw a set of specs from the other Wisconsin manufacturer for a stainless body. In it it stated that the wheel well area was going to be built from aluminum to prevent rust pockets.

Here in Southeast Pa. the highway departments put everything on the highways during the winter except for the kitchen sink. Salt, cinders, and now they pretreat the highways with some kind of liquid before a snow. But, again, we are running all aluminum without any problems. Just rinse them off after a call in the winter.

It still seems to me that aluminum would be the preferred choise over stainless in this situation.

[CaptainS]

With all the new chemicals being put on the road no material is safe. We recieved a notice from R.O.M. stating that the road chem sprays could wreak havoc on aluminum, stainless and their doors. Must wash and dry truck after alarm. The chems's still react at 32% humidity?.

Remember if you are going to do stainless go all the way. It makes no sense to have a stainless body with aluminum doors and a steel sub-frame.

[Resq14]

Who markets a truck that is "all the way" stainless, including shutter doors???

I don't know of any...

[CaptainS]

With roll up doors being the exception, I believe that crimson, toyne and 4-guys? use stainless in the sub-frames. Seagrave and 4 guys also have stainless doors as standard others you can ask for it.* Some manufacturers will have stainless bodies with aluminum flush or lap doors hinged doors. That to me dosnt make any sense to me.

* Dont hold me to this as my info may be out of date or just completely wrong it has been a while.

[efd281]

In our shop we just refurbed a 1987 Sutphen Quint that had a stainless body and it was still in great shape, save the dings and dents from 18 years of fireman abuse. I know that Sutphen also uses stainless steel for its subframe on all of it's stainless products. Another advantage that I didn't see mentioned above is that the stainless is stronger than the softer steels and aluminum. Therefore the thickness' used is much smaller than that used in other building materials. As far as fixing damaged bodies, find a manufacturer who is using a modular design. If you damage one box, you can unbolt the old part and bolt the new box right in it's place. It is a proven assembly method that several manufacturers are using.

[911brad]

My department is starting to spec a new engine. While on the topic of what to have the body made from I'm wondering what kind of problems andbody has had with bi-metal corrosion from mixing different kinds of metal eg. steel, stainless and aluminum? We're in rural Wisconsin and would probably be leaning toward stainless steel too.

Brad

[CaptainS]

Most manufacturers have gone to great lengths to isolate dis-similar metals. You will usally run into the problem with the accesorry type items and hardware, screws used to mount hand rails, lights etc.

Look for a manufacturer that drills and mounts everything (and removes) prior to paint. That way when the body is painted all of the holes are drilled and when it comes down to final assembly you will not be breaking the paint barrier and exposing the metal used in assembly.

[Fyrtrks]

One additional component of the paint thought is to make sure the holes are oversized. If the hole is bigger than the bolt that goes through itwhen the filler and the paint are on the body the bolt will not break the seal.

[Dave1983]

Originally posted by 911brad
My department is starting to spec a new engine. While on the topic of what to have the body made from I'm wondering what kind of problems andbody has had with bi-metal corrosion from mixing different kinds of metal eg. steel, stainless and aluminum? We're in rural Wisconsin and would probably be leaning toward stainless steel too.

Brad

We had a couple aluminum body rigs years ago. We had a problem with the aluminum reacting with the steel compartment door hinges which caused the paint to flake. Whatever you decide to use, make sure all the components are of the same metal.