Best Make of Brush Truck

[PIERCE RES4CUE]

Who makes the best brush truck?

[PIERCE RES4CUE]

my vote goes to ford

[cappy]

my vote goes to the chevy. just because the parts are cheaper to repair a chevy and you can beat them to death and they just keep on running!!!

[HOLLAIFYAHEARME]

UNIMOG!!!

[cappy]

ooh yea a unimog would be a good brush unit, problem is the price and believe it or not parts are gonna be a bitch to find, but how about a hummer(not a h2 but) a real humvee!!!!
NOW THAT WOULD MAKE A GOOD BRUSH UNIT!!!

[cappy]

BUT THE OLD DUECE AND A HALF IS STILL THE MOST USED TANK FOR THE JOB!!!

[Englt542]

dodge

[HOLLAIFYAHEARME]

UNIMOG

[HOLLAIFYAHEARME]

OSHKOSH ANYONE?

[FDMedic73]

I'm a Chevy man but, (gulp) when it comes to a work truck you can't beat a Ford with the Powerstroke.

[1ofakind]

the 1968 Jeep 5/4 ton powered by a Chevy 350!

http://www.mavfc.org/apparatus/brush15.html

[jpsmith2]

We didn't need no stinkin' Hummer!
photo by Matthew Goldberg

[BALTIMOREJAKE]

Kaiser M-715 nuff said

[cappy]

what the hell is a 5\4 ton?

[Tanker1]

Originally posted by 1ofakind
the 1968 Jeep 5/4 ton powered by a Chevy 350!

http://www.mavfc.org/apparatus/brush15.html

NOW THATS A REAL BRUSH TRUCK
NOTHING ELSE EVEN COMES CLOSE:D

[towaladda124]

I couldn't agree more. Those atv's were made to be at home in the woods. Like a duck in water, I have never riden a piece of fire apparatus that could handle a brush fire better, and The Mount Airy Vol. Fire Co. in Carroll County, MD opertates about the best looking and laid out jeep that I've ever seen, not to mention the kick ass brush gaurad/roll cage on it, the thing just looks mean as shit.

[38-3]

This is our brush unit, 2002 Ford F-350 with a flatbed. 225 gallons of water with a 10 gallon foam cell. Has a 9 hp Darley pump. Carries misc brush firefighting tools, 200 + ft of 1 1/2" and 900ft of 1" forestry hose, and about 300ft of booster line.

[towaladda124]

Nice looking piece, and sounds like it's ready to work. Only problem is the size and weight. These pick up style brush trucks can't go half the places that the jeeps can.

[Tanker1]

THAT'S RIGHT THAT PIECE IS JUST A SIDEWALK BRUSH TRUCK JUST KEEP IT OUT OF THE WAY OF OUR JEEP IN MT. AIRY

[HOLLAIFYAHEARME]

BADDD!!!!!!!

[Tanker1]

THE JEEP IS STILL BETTER

[pgtick20]

oshkosh, deuce and a half, or a kaiser jeep, you can run trees over with them things.

tj

[chilliwilli]

Brush Truck ? ? ? who needs a brush truck ?

When I joined my dept way back in 86, we needed one, but now with so much building, we can anywhere in our 1st due with an engine, thats sad..... but ofcourse if needs arise and we do NEED a brush unit, I would call my neighboring depts parade peices, hahaha

We still offically have a brush truck, but its an old engine of our redesignated, 1978 Int'l 500 gpm, 500 gallon tank , 4x4 with dual rear wheels..... trust me its soley used for firetruck rides during our annual carnival.

god bless brush 1, hahaha

But my vote for a brush unit would be one that makes it out and I admit, I only seen jeeps go thru hell and come out, not to offend anyone out there, but thats what i have seen. all others gotten stuck, chevy, ford, dodge, even a deuce and a half.

be and stay safe everyone, happy new year

[bushpuller]

The best brush unit is any unit that can be taken off road beat to hell and make it back home with nothing to repair.
You will find that most departments brush trucks are a parade piece. If you take off road you will answer to half the department for damaging it.

A hummer is to wide for most brush areas. I know I drove them in the military. Now if your brush unit does not go into wooded areas than a hummer is great.

The best overall brush unit is a 3/4 ton truck with a skid unit. Light weight in the equipment it carries. Nothing fancy just a unit to put out fires. I'm partial to dodge trucks, but the older the truck the better they were built.

By the way, ford has the worst turning radius if you ask me.

[PimpOnDuty]

http://www.millvillerescue.org/images/apparatus/4x4Ambulance-9824.jpg

But I always liked a Jeep. We could take out massive trees just with our ambulance. :D

[bushpuller]

That is a good looking jeep

[Q2B]

In Ridgely we have a 73 Studebaker 2 & 1/2 with a 700 Gallon tank, 500 GPM Midship pump & a 300 GPM ditch pump prepiped. It's nicknamed BUBBA & it fits. It's great off road, where you are not afraid to put a scratch on it, or knock over a tree. It did well during the Huricane, until it got stuck in a septic tank. We have had water running through the floorboards of it. The one thing great about it is the amount of water, a pickup brush unit comes in, squirts its 200 gallons, then goes out to reload. Bubba stays & continues to fight fire. The only complaint, it is a little slow with a top speed of 50 MPH.:D

[Tanker1]

Originally posted by 1ofakind
the 1968 Jeep 5/4 ton powered by a Chevy 350!

http://www.mavfc.org/apparatus/brush15.html

NOW THIS IS A GOOD LOOKING JEEP

[Little Leather]

Originally posted by Tanker1
NOW THATS A REAL BRUSH TRUCK
NOTHING ELSE EVEN COMES CLOSE:D

what about this?

http://www.sagharborfd.com/BRUSH_TRUCK_712.JPG

or this?

http://www.twp.independence.mi.us/images/Pic-FireDept-BrushTruck.jpg

[PimpOnDuty]

The Sag Harbor one will do nicely.

[Tanker1]

NOT BAD BUT I LIKE MY JEEP BETTER

[HFD_TRUCK4]

its a jeep thing :)

[LVFC146]

if Volkswagon made a Brush Truck. i would be all over it

[neb]

1984 jeep CJ7

[WstEndPmp]

Jeeps are cool but nothing beats the old school Power Wagon. They take a beating like no other. Mopar Baby!! cant go wrong

[MG3610]

This is a real brush truck, not like the sissywagons the rest of you are posting. Keep those trucks in the station for parades! If you take note, there are actually some scratches on this one, imagine that!

[emt38]

I think that the Older Jeeps or the NEW Ford Power Stokes are the BEST



DODGE SUCKS!!! we had a 76 Power wagon that broke down more than fought fire



OF course this is just my opinion!

[38-3]

I think that the Older Jeeps or the NEW Ford Power Stokes are the BEST
DODGE SUCKS!!! we had a 76 Power wagon that broke down more than fought fire
OF course this is just my opinion!

Mine too! Been on that rust-bucket too many times myself!

[paidtickwv]

I have to say something... IF you run in an area of heavy wooded areas.. JEEP. IF you run in an area of lightly wooded and fields a 3/4 ton SINGLE rear wheel pick up with a skid. If its open fields and very little woods then anything with 4wd is good. We have a Ford 3/4 ton with a skid and its a great truck and it is BEAT to hell. At work i drive a Deuce and a half... ITS A MONSTER and it doesnt have many scraches on it. It does the job it was made to do haul water off road. It does well but not that great when it gets to turning or into thick woods.

[hoseman2112]

im not a ford man but this brush truck impressed me

[Paco383]

We have an old Dodge tow truck we made into our brush. It's a beast, but is better than trashing a new truck.
http://www.geocities.com/portagevfd83/apparatus.html

[ashfire]

Since my department started in 1950 has a volunteer dept. We have had a number of brush units. Our first unit was the first pumper our department bought a 1930 REO then the chassis was scraped and the body place on a Ford chassis.
The next unit to replace that one was a 1959 Dodge/American LaFrance 4x4 "Little Mo"
Later our department bought a 1967 Ford/Young F550 4x4 open cab, crew rear seating (Where the hose bed would be) unit. Last know location Ambrose GA.
1973 county fire dept gave our dept a Dodge pickup with 2wd and we placed a skid unit on it. This unit was involved in a vehicle accident and placed oss has a brush unit and place into service has a staff vehicle after repairs.
A 1976 Ford F250 4x4 pickup was bought by our vol dept and had the skid unit placed on it. The unit moved from our sub-station to our main station later and operated from there until it was replaced by a county owned 1989 Chevy 2500 4x4 with a new skid unit. The unit was later involved in a vehicle accident and totaled.
The latest unit is a county owned 2004 Chevy 3500 4x4 with a new skid unit.
The one thing I have always thought about buying a style side pickup to operate as a brush unit is that you have to put out alot of money for body work everytime you run it off road through the woods or rough areas. I like the caged or flat bed style units and even the old Army units.

[Iceman]

AshFire, and others from Maryland: The State Forestry department has Govt surplus Pickups and other small trucks that can be made into Brush Trucks. Contact your local Forestry office. (AshFire, 24 is building one now.) And, Forestry sometimes has other stuff like Tanks, Tools, Hose, etc. :)

[AngelDeath]

We have an old Dodge tow truck we made into our brush. It's a beast, but is better than trashing a new truck.

Your right Paco, it is better than trashing a new truck

[emt38]

If you know how to drive you will not "trash a new truck"

I stand behind DODGE SUCKS!



Just my option

[JM8340]

emt38: You're right. If you know how to drive it, the truck won't get trashed; but when the only roads you have into the woods are atv paths, its a little hard not to get it scratched some

[mohican]

The best overall brush unit is a 3/4 ton truck with a skid unit. Light weight in the equipment it carries. Nothing fancy just a unit to put out fires. I'm partial to dodge trucks, but the older the truck the better they were built.

.

IMO, based on my experience, 3/4 tons don't offer enough brakes, and suspension for serious brush truck use. By the time you put a skid with 200 gallons and a pump on a 3/4 ton, it's tongue is hanging out

If you are going to build a pickup based brush truck, then at least a 1-ton.

[mohican]

If you are looking at a new vehicle, Ford and Dodge have experienced problems with their new automatic transmissions. the biggest problem with a standard chevy 1 ton is the wide duals it comes with. I have seen chevy/gmc chassis 1 ton or "ton plus" chassis with a "narrow" dually where the outside duals aren't too far beyond the cab. Why GM decided to make the 1 ton a dually only is beyond me. I have a lot of hard miles/use on a 1982 K30 4x4 as my farm truck. It handles about anything you can fit in the bed. GM offers the Allison auto behind the Duramax Diesel and if I could spec out a brush truck on a "pickup" size platform it would be a GM 1 ton 4x4 narrow dually, or possibly a Ford f550 4x4 if the dealer convinces me the auto tranny could hold up. Does Ford have an automatic with a pto yet? GM does with the Allison. In spite of all my GM preference, Ford seems to have a market edge, especially now with the F450s and F550s, which have very high possible GVWs in a pickup package.

Currently we have a 78 chevy 3/4 ton 4x4, a 71 jeep cj5, and a Polaris Ranger 6x6 as brush fire/off road units.

[Q2B]

Ford does have the option of a PTO

[Engine912]

I am going to say ford on this one, because i love a powerstroke i mean we have a 1997 Ford F-350 powerstroke brush truck and it has been one of the best pieces of equipment we've had, so much so that we bought a 2004 F-550 powerstroke air unit i love that thing electronic federal q and a powercall along with alot of other sirens.

[sawdust]

we have a lot of diffrent peices for brush units we have just recieved delivery of 5 f550 units with utility beds with a skid unit in them but as far as a light duty brush truck that aint scared to work you cant hardly beat the old military chevys with the diesels in them they have just the right amount of gear to match the power and just a good all round truck , and you can get them dirt cheap

[FDNYR1]

I like AACoFD brush 19

[CAPTFBFD]

Now here is a real brush truck...

Flour Bluff Fire Dept. Brush 907 Military 5 ton with 1500 gallons and a Hale P-250 pump. Shop built.

[Oldcaptain]

If you are interested in a brush truck, my company builds them. Can deliver all over the US.... Drop me an email for more information.

[21Truck]

my dept runs 1994 ford f250 powerstroke brush truck with a 200 gallon skid unit. It's a not a dualy but it has been beefed up suspension wise a tiny bit. It also tows our utility brush trailer which carries our indian tanks, feeder hoses, forestry foam, all our brush tools and 2 6 wheelers with one being set up to be used as a rescue unit with a stokes basket. The truck runs well and can move even with a trailer and it doesnt bog down what so ever..I mean i think it's one of the best brush trucks i've ever see as far as set up. The only thing i've noticed is when we're first starting out going up hill it's a little slow but it is expected but it has put out quite a bit of fire and is alwasy called when someone has a good brush fire going

[mohican]

anyone have a UNIMOG?

[ashfire]

Where I am from the county fire services rules over apparatus designs volunteer to county owned. If it doesn't meet their standards it doesn't run on the roads.
We have one of their units they bought a Chevy 2004 K3500 with a 200 GPM pump and a 150 Gal tank. on the booster hose we have a pistol grip standard garden hose nozzle adapted to fit a 1" hose. The reason for the garden nozzle is because a booster nozzle flows to much water. It has a winch and bumper guard but its not allow to run through bushes. Please no dents and scratches we are told and try to keep it on the hard surface.
We had a 1976 Ford F250 with a 200 Gal tank and a good size bumper guard that we owned but the county came along and said it weighed too much. Down size the tank to 150 Gal and lose the bumper. The truck would go to the body shop once and awhile for body work.
Then the county offered a 1988 K2500 and we took it to replace the Ford.
When the Chevy got wrecked in a collision with another vehicle on the way to a building fire (Not Allowed) we got the new unit.
I believe its coming down to if you want to run off road get ATVs with small tanks and pumps and tow it behind your brush unit and use the brush unit as a support unit.

[21Truck]

Where I am from the county fire services rules over apparatus designs volunteer to county owned. If it doesn't meet their standards it doesn't run on the roads.
We have one of their units they bought a Chevy 2004 K3500 with a 200 GPM pump and a 150 Gal tank. on the booster hose we have a pistol grip standard garden hose nozzle adapted to fit a 1" hose. The reason for the garden nozzle is because a booster nozzle flows to much water. It has a winch and bumper guard but its not allow to run through bushes. Please no dents and scratches we are told and try to keep it on the hard surface.
We had a 1976 Ford F250 with a 200 Gal tank and a good size bumper guard that we owned but the county came along and said it weighed too much. Down size the tank to 150 Gal and lose the bumper. The truck would go to the body shop once and awhile for body work.
Then the county offered a 1988 K2500 and we took it to replace the Ford.
When the Chevy got wrecked in a collision with another vehicle on the way to a building fire (Not Allowed) we got the new unit.
I believe its coming down to if you want to run off road get ATVs with small tanks and pumps and tow it behind your brush unit and use the brush unit as a support unit.


You're joking right? whats the point of having a brush truck then? If it doesnt meet their standards i'd say too bad. If it works for your area and your members then just because they say it's no good shouldnt mean jack. This is a prime example as to why it ihnk county federations or committees having control sucks ass

[TRT_Truckie]

These are great trucks:Stump Jumpers (http://chivvisent.com)

New England has some sweet brush breakers: Brush Breakers (http://capecodfd.com/PAGES%20Special/Breakers23.htm)

[MF23RD]

We recently got a Ford F550 Bruch from Pierce and it kick's ass it' fly's and it really is just an all around good piece all together!

[1ofakind]

Here is our new one. I have to say I was sad to see the old one go, but this one is slowly proving it's worth. Personally, I think the capability of a brush unit is limited to the driver.

[DAUPHIN-TRUCK88]

As I read through the postings I have to agree with alot of what was said. All the pics look great and depending on where you come from you might say that some are true brush trucks (Jeep and Pick-up types to include flatbeds with mounted systems) there was at least one tanker (which is commonly stocked with brush fire equipment) and even a few that could be considered wildland interface puppers. Remember that you do not only fight a field, brush, wildland or forest fire from the vehicle (or connected to them through a hose) but also with "Indian tanks", Pulaski axes, Mcleod Tools, swatters, rakes chainsaws, etc. So the vehicle has to work in unison with your SOPs and vice versa. Generally modified pick-up are the most common but I have to say that the custom UniMogs are the best in my opinion. Each department has its own manner and some even use standard structural engines to do the job.

[Monkey's Pop]

Not got get off the subject, but, does anyone use a wildland type brush truck? Would they be able to handle a structure? Here is our situation: We recently had a small farm that was purchased by a developer and built I think 3 houses on the property. One of the homes has a dirt driveway about 500 ft long off of the main road. The driveway crosses a small creek and does not appear to be able to handle the weight of a full size engine. Also, there are many trees that surround the driveway, and if we were to take our engine down there, it would probably tear off our lightbar and do other damage to the body.
Any information would be helpful.

[CAPTFBFD]

First I would not buy a new Eng. for 3 houses. I would approach the property owners and make them aware of the issues and tell they may have limited fire protection if they do not make improvements to their lane. It's not your stations fault that someone built a house with a narrow lane! But I would make them aware of the problem and maybe both parties could come up with a solution....

Just an idea...

[Monkey's Pop]

We wouldn't be buying an engine for just 3 houses, we were considering replacing an engine a couple years ago. I was just wondering for when we acually do replace something. WE could also use it for other situations, not just the one I mentioned.

[CAPTFBFD]

I would only recommend a Wildland interface Engine if you really have that need. If you need an Engine for structire fires then go that route. The reason that I say this is that my last Dept had a Wildland Engine from E-one that really didn't do either job very well (structure vs grass/brush fires). Pump/tank size becomes a big issue.