N5A Leather Repair

[FFeccles]

I'm sure that this has been posted somewhere, but I am unable to find anything relevant in the search archives.

I was given an older (mfg'd 1999) N5A New Yorker. I want to fix it up, repaint it, all that jazz. The helmet is in pretty good shape, however, one of the bolts that hold the shield on is snapped, leaving only about 3 threads left. This renders it effectively useless, as the thickness of the shield itself more than overlaps that.

I've been unable to figure out how to replace these bolts. I assume that the head of it would be behind the impact cap, but I'm not sure how to remove that either. Both bolts turn freely, and as far as I can tell, there would have to be a head there, otherwise, I would be able to lefty-loosey it all the way out.

Anyone out there have any insight into this? Or run into this problem themselves? As often as the eagle gets bent up, I can't imagine that I'm the first to encounter this. I've looked at the Cairns website, as well as outfits like thefirestore.com, but have come up with jack.

Again, any help would be great, as well as many thanks in advance.

Stay safe,

-ECE

[ftfdverbenec770]

im sure you dont want to send it in just to get this one little thing fixed, but here is a name of a guy that does great work, and im sure he can answer your question for you.

http://www.helmetdoctor.com/index.html

[FFeccles]

Yeah, I would prefer to do the work myself. The steps seem pretty simple, but if I get in over my head, I'll keep his name in mind. Thanks for the info!

-ECE

[Jonnee]

I think what you are going to do, by taking the impact cap out and replacing the screw will do the trick.

You wasn't going to wear this old lid on the job were you?

I have several old models New Yorker's from back in the 1950's and 60's that are show pieces.

[ehs7554]

Of course he is going to wear it. Why would he want to spend the time to fix something as small as tthat if he weren't?

The brass ring around the earflaps and inner dome will have to be bent out to remove the impact cap to get to the screws. Use a wide blade std screw driver or chisel type tool to bend out the ring.

[Hexxus]

If you don't want to bother with it yourself, you could try eliminating the other screw and replacing them with this;

http://www.thefirestore.com/store/pr..._1000_helmets/

I'm not sure how well it would work though.

[ADSNWFLD]

I don't know how much time you want to spend on a 10 year old helmet.
My opinion is a leather should last all of your firefighting days with a little care. However I'm not the NFPA who said that your protective clothing must be retired after 10 years. Your department may not let you wear PPE over 10 years old.

[FFFRED]

I don't know how much time you want to spend on a 10 year old helmet.
My opinion is a leather should last all of your firefighting days with a little care. However I'm not the NFPA who said that your protective clothing must be retired after 10 years. Your department may not let you wear PPE over 10 years old.

Funny thing about that rule...

The FDNY recently appealed that ruling to the NFPA.

Until recently our helmets were OSHA because of the bourkes...well somehow they got a modified bourke to be NFPA compliant. However that means our Helmets now fall under the NFPA umbrella.

We had been taking our 10 year helmets and putting testing them to see if they met the NFPA requirement. Turns out while a number of them failed, most didn't. If we replaced the guts in most cases the helmet was still good for duty.

Our suggestion was a modification to NFPA 1851. If a FD could provide data that their Helmets were still in good condition after 10 years that they would be exempted from wholesale replacement. After all many cities are cash strapped and shouldn't have to replace perfectly decent equipment.

Well we took the data to the NFPA and appealed it to the lowest level of appeal.(can't remember the name) We lost by 1 vote.

We then took it to the standards council level vote? (I again can't remember the specific name of the appeal process) and again lost by 1 vote.

Guess who were some of the voters on these pannels?

You guessed it Gear and Helmet manufactures who stood to loose $$$$$$$ from re-occuring regular replacement sales.

The wolf is watching the Hen house!

Again I suggest FD's and municipalities unite and demand the NFPA be brought up on RICO charges for Racketeering or perhaps antitrust law violations.

To think that the very people who will benefit monetarily from this rule are the ones that hold sway over its application.

FTM-PTB

[jonnyirons2]

Fred, who do you think is on most of the committes? Morining Pride! Total scam. We get garbage then we get forced in to buying it every 10 years.

[FFFRED]

Fred, who do you think is on most of the committes? Morining Pride! Total scam. We get garbage then we get forced in to buying it every 10 years.

Yep...it is BS and it is hard to beleive most don't care or don't understand that they are being taken advantage of.

Thanks to most of the rubes accross the country we are one of the few joints that actually fights against this stupidity.

FTM-PTB

[Rescue101]

Thank God! More advocates.Now if we could get the rest of the counting sheep in line maybe we could effect some meaningful changes. T.C.

[FFFRED]

Hmmm interesting there is sooooo little reaction. When so many of the FDs out there are fighting for every last dime and looking to cut costs at all turns I would think this would be a very importannt topic. I guess everyone would rather continue to fork over their $$$ to the Mob...errrr...I meant NFPA and their patrons, the Gear and equipment manufactures

Again I make mention of my long held view that NFPA has become a front for furthering the profits of a select group of manufactures who use safety as a curtain to conceal their true intentions and desires.

The sham could be no more evident than the vote over the requested exemption from NFPA 1851.

FTM-PTB

PS-Everyone can go back to their discussions over the best hose brand and what color lights look best on ones 87 Olds Cutlas.