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Dodge 5500 questions (fire apparatus) new question post #20

hunterguy86

hunterguy86

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Looking for a manufacturer that makes a suspension lift for a 2012 and newer Dodge 5500.

I am writing specs for a new fire apparatus. This truck will be used as a type 6 wildland fire engine (a brush truck).

Also, does anyone make a heavy ply tire for a 19.5 rim or where can I find a set of rims that will fit the 5500 chassis that heavy ply tires will fit on. We use the Goodyear wrangler MTR on the 1 ton's that we have and they work quite well. They just don't make them for the 19.5 rim.

We like using the 5500 chassis because 1) it's not a damn ford 2) Solid Front Axle 3) Cummins 4) It's not a damn ford 5) It handles the weight of the equipment, water tank (400 gallons) and water pump quite well.


Thanks for any help yall can provide.
 
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My ford is F450 single wheeled with 20x11 rims. The 450/550 & 4500/5500 share bolt patterns. 10 on 225mm I'm fairly sure. There's many more heavy ply large diameter options for 20" than 19.5".
I got the rims from 1st attack engineering. In the states there somewhere. They build these bush firetrucks you're talking about. I just bought a set of the rims they use on their own equipment.

d15b6bd7-068e-c8e0.jpg
 
We looked at General Fire (I think that's the correct name.) They have some sweet trucks, but I think they are fords, not sure if they can do a dodge chassis. Already have the lift kits, lockers front and rear, and body protection on them.

And Demon that truck looks awesome
 
zombiyjay76 said:
We looked at General Fire (I think that's the correct name.) They have some sweet trucks, but I think they are fords, not sure if they can do a dodge chassis. Already have the lift kits, lockers front and rear, and body protection on them.

And Demon that truck looks awesome
Click to expand...


We will probably use Siddons-Martin Emergency Group to do the truck. They build lifted fords that they use a super single on. They just don't have a source for the lift.

Demon that truck looks sick. :saweet:
 
I have nothing to add, but I would love to see some pics of this rig once you get it all done :thumb:
 
This kinda thing is what they were for. 1st attack builds them in house. Heavy dual offroad is gonna suck. IMO. I doubt you're going to find a badged lift for a 2012 5500. I bet you'll have to make something close, work.


1stsingles04.jpg
 
For tires check out Firematic. We are building a brush truck too and just ordered these tires. They were the only tires we found that were aggressive and had the weight rating.
http://firematic.com/irok.htm
 
The rims in my picture and on my truck are 20" industrial shells. There's almost an endless selection of tires for that size. And military tires. Don't get pigeon holed into 19.5" crap.
 
19.5's bring the suckage lol. No tires and discount won't touch em. We use a mobile tire repair guy so that's not that big of a deal, except on a saturday.
 
We are still looking at which way we want to go. We might just go with a 1 ton chassis since we can get an off the shelf lift, if we even lift it at all.

It seems the aftermarket is not very strong for the 5500 chassis. Idk why though. It's such a great rig.
 
It's strictly demand. "Most" 4500/5500 units built to pull right, and keep the stock 19.5" heavy load tires. But if you just want 3-4" to clear 35 or 36s. Coil spacers and a bigger block in the rear and your good to go. And keep the factory heavy springs.
 
Well I might have found a solution. BNC offroad out of houston tx builds a 4 inch and 6 inch kit. They told me they use coil spring spacers and custom built radius arms for the front and blocks for the rear.

They suggested using Toyo Open Country MT's. They advised that the 37" tires have a load rating of 3600 lbs per tire. These would be super singles on a custom 20" rim.

The other option is custom made super swamper IROCs that are built specifically for the fire service. These are a load range F tire. The down side is that these are only available to Pierce Manufacturing dealers and cost 1000 dollars per tire/wheel combo.


The weight of the rig will be right at 14,000 lbs including water weight. Do yall think the Toyo's will work for that weight?
 
hunterguy86 said:
Well I might have found a solution. BNC offroad out of houston tx builds a 4 inch and 6 inch kit. They told me they use coil spring spacers and custom built radius arms for the front and blocks for the rear.

They suggested using Toyo Open Country MT's. They advised that the 37" tires have a load rating of 3600 lbs per tire. These would be super singles on a custom 20" rim.

The other option is custom made super swamper IROCs that are built specifically for the fire service. These are a load range F tire. The down side is that these are only available to Pierce Manufacturing dealers and cost 1000 dollars per tire/wheel combo.


The weight of the rig will be right at 14,000 lbs including water weight. Do yall think the Toyo's will work for that weight?
Click to expand...
Well you will be right at the limit of the tire rating, if the rating is correct then you will be fine since you'd be at 14400 lbs.
But is that weight with or without passengers?
 
What is the rear axle weight rating? The Toyo's might be to light. The Iroc's can come from Firematic and the wheels are custom made for the application. The Iroc's will be here soon for our brush truck.
 
The 5500 are 16,000 axle weight. Well the D135 in the rear of F550 is anyways. I imagine the dodge is the same.

The 37" toyos on 20" rims is what I have on my truck exactly. The rims from 1st attack are 20x11 industrial shells. Way more steel than any 5500 could ever hurt.
 
imiceman44 said:
Well you will be right at the limit of the tire rating, if the rating is correct then you will be fine since you'd be at 14400 lbs.
But is that weight with or without passengers?
Click to expand...

This should be with passengers

streetrodchev said:
What is the rear axle weight rating? The Toyo's might be to light. The Iroc's can come from Firematic and the wheels are custom made for the application. The Iroc's will be here soon for our brush truck.
Click to expand...

While I like the Iroc's, I do have some concerns. These tires are bias ply. It is very possible that this truck may sit for a week or two at a time without ever moving out of the bay so I am concerned about them flat spotting. I am also concerned about running them on the street. This truck could see double duty running EMS first response calls and these tires are pretty expensive to wear out doing that. It also makes me nervous that since these tires are limited production that they could be hard to get, which could potentially put us in a bind should we pop a few of them.


DEMON44 said:
The 5500 are 16,000 axle weight. Well the D135 in the rear of F550 is anyways. I imagine the dodge is the same.

The 37" toyos on 20" rims is what I have on my truck exactly. The rims from 1st attack are 20x11 industrial shells. Way more steel than any 5500 could ever hurt.
Click to expand...

The specs from the dealer state that the rear axle is 14,780. BTW, how do the toyos handle? Do they have a lot of side wall flex, ect?
 
They've been great. My truck only weighs around 10,000lbs, 11k at most with a load in the bed. But they're rock solid. I've been up and down the backwoods all over, in the mountains, they're a really good all around tire.
 
Bringing this one back to the top.

We decided to hold off on building a new rig and put the money elsewhere. Our board is not like the federal government and HATES debt and trys to stick to a cash up front kind of deal.

Anyways. We have a 2010 5500 in the fleet now. We looked at all the super single options but could not find a tire heavy enough to support the load. We are not comfortable being right at the tire weight limit.

So, now I need to find a 20" dually rim with the 10 lug bolt pattern. Who makes em? We want to run a goodyear wrangler MTR in a 285/65R20.

And just because I'm a pic whore below is the truck in question and a pic of the engine just because it's bad ass.

photo6.JPG


Engine_11_Post_Road_Fire.jpg
 
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