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| On August 11, 2001 the ship Windoc collided with the lift bridge in Pt. Robinson ( Thorold , Ontario ). To get near the ship to be able to fight the fire the Thorold Fire Department had to take their fire truck several miles off paved roads . The weight of water carried on board and the very rough fields they traveled on damaged the frame so severely that the truck was declared unsafe to use after the fire.
The truck was going to be scrapped because estimates to repair the damage were so high. We are known for tackling unusual projects so one of the firefighters approached us to see if we thought we could handle the repairs.
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| This photo shows the truck dismantled before repairs started. We sandblasted out all the rust to give a longer lasting finish as rust had started to push the inner and outer frame rails apart up to ½ inch in some areas.
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| These are the new inner frame rails we had made to repair the frame damage. Truck frames have 2 U shaped rails, one inside the other for strength. The inner rails were damaged the worst so we carefully cut out the damaged pieces starting at the rear of the front springs and replaced everything from there to the end of the frame. This was about a 2 week job as the fire pump had to be removed and replaced after the repairs. The pump itself weighs about 1 ton and is driven by the driveshaft making it fun to remove and replace! |
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| After the repairs the frame was painted red as the cost of our repairs left enough money to repaint the rest of the vehicle back to red again. Other repairs were done at the same time by regular fire department service companies to rebuild worn components. A truck that was due to be retired in 2 years now has an estimated 10 year life span. |
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