Posted: 11/12/2010 6:17:26 PM EDT
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Something I've wondered about for a long time...
I see these chain looking things hanging down under the rear axles of a lot of fire engines; just what are they for? |
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Automatic snow chains. When activated they move down and over against the wheel. The spinning of the wheel makes the thing the chains are attached to spin, thereby flinging the chains under the wheels as you move. No kidding. Never heard of such a thing. Been wondering about this for years. |
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Quoted: this place continues to be a wealth of information that I didn't even know I needed to know. Can't even recall seeing those chains. I'll have to look the next time! You'll see them on ambulances too. Just don't look for them on my departments trucks. They say they are too expensive. I tell them ask me about expensive when an engine is greasy side up in a ditch. I think we got a quote for about $1200 a truck? Pretty good bargain if ya ask me. Considering what an accident could cost, even just bumping into a parked car. |
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this place continues to be a wealth of information that I didn't even know I needed to know. Can't even recall seeing those chains. I'll have to look the next time! You'll see them on ambulances too. Just don't look for them on my departments trucks. They say they are too expensive. I tell them ask me about expensive when an engine is greasy side up in a ditch. I think we got a quote for about $1200 a truck? Pretty good bargain if ya ask me. Considering what an accident could cost, even just bumping into a parked car. I can see why they wouldn't want to spend an additional $1200 on an at least 500k if not almost a 1mil $ fire truck. 
Sounds exactly like my dept. |
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They work great up to about 4 inches of snow. Then the snow gets too deep for the wheel to throw them under the tire and they are pretty much usless unless you are driving somewhere it's packed down.
Our GOG requires us to run regular chains also when it hits 4 inches on the road. Does not happen around here very often. |
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They work great up to about 4 inches of snow. Then the snow gets too deep for the wheel to throw them under the tire and they are pretty much usless unless you are driving somewhere it's packed down. Our GOG requires us to run regular chains also when it hits 4 inches on the road. Does not happen around here very often. Yup. The back line trucks get full chains when we have forecast deep snow. The Onspots work best after the plows have been through and we have icy patches. |
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This is a great video from the manufacturers website that shows the onspots in action, they are on all large muni vehicles up here in AK (FD, City bus, etc
http://www.onspot.com/marketing_broadband.wvx |
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This is a great video from the manufacturers website that shows the onspots in action, they are on all large muni vehicles up here in AK (FD, City bus, etc http://www.onspot.com/marketing_broadband.wvx That's an excellent video. Going to save it for training our new guys. Thanks |
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They look great in theroy but they dont work worth a shit in real snow. Edit: wasted post 308 picture added! http://i756.photobucket.com/albums/xx210/elshouse/untitled.jpg Well, we don't get REAL snow here.... 
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They look great in theroy but they dont work worth a shit in real snow. Edit: wasted post 308 picture added! http://i756.photobucket.com/albums/xx210/elshouse/untitled.jpg I can't say that I agree. First off, they are life savers on glare ice. Second, while they may not be as good as full chains for deep snow, they will get you through a good percentage of crap that you would otherwise be chaining up. I can't count the number of times where you start to feel traction issues and you hit the onspots and get out of what would have had you calling for a tow. |
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OP, had drivers training this morning so I snapped a few pics for you. First pic is just fire truck pron. 
As the truck tire turns, the chain wheel turns and throws them under the tire. They are air activated from a switch in the cab. http://i557.photobucket.com/albums/ss19/southrnshooter/DSC_7077.jpg http://i557.photobucket.com/albums/ss19/southrnshooter/DSC_7031.jpg http://i557.photobucket.com/albums/ss19/southrnshooter/DSC_7041.jpg http://i557.photobucket.com/albums/ss19/southrnshooter/DSC_7042.jpg Excellent! Now it all makes sense |
| I thought at first this was a joke until seeing that video. That is a pretty cool system. I am sure it works great in those tight situations where you dont need chains all day long. I know it would be nice to have them on a patrol car when you hit the back roads that are covered with trees and the ice stays long after the main roads are clear. Thanks! |
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When I first started I assumed they were for grounding something electrical at the rear end of the truck... Then my first winter came and I saw them in use as I was following a truck to a structure fire.
4-5" snow on roads... ladder truck did just fine. CrownVic?... not so hot. Pursuit tires + snow = BAD. 
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They look great in theroy but they dont work worth a shit in real snow. Edit: wasted post 308 picture added! http://i756.photobucket.com/albums/xx210/elshouse/untitled.jpg I can't say that I agree. First off, they are life savers on glare ice. Second, while they may not be as good as full chains for deep snow, they will get you through a good percentage of crap that you would otherwise be chaining up. I can't count the number of times where you start to feel traction issues and you hit the onspots and get out of what would have had you calling for a tow. Notice you live in AK so i would say that you know what your talking about. My limited use with them is about 3-4 days (if that) a year. And i would say that just chain up, dont mess with getting onspots. For everyday snow and ice 9 months out of the year  I would have to defult to what you tell me
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I'll be damned. I learn something new here every day. Don't think you're slow for just now hearing about these, it only took our dispatchers about ten years of us having them on our trucks before they finally stopped calling us to pass on citizen call ins about sparks from the bottom of our trucks as we were driving.
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I'll be damned. I learn something new here every day. Don't think you're slow for just now hearing about these, it only took our dispatchers about ten years of us having them on our trucks before they finally stopped calling us to pass on citizen call ins about sparks from the bottom of our trucks as we were driving. In the summer, I used to duck tape the chain cluster together, so they wouldn't drag on the dry asphalt and spark. Everybody started doing it because it was quieter as well. The shop hated it, as not everyone was removing them at the end of summer before deploying them for the first time. They told us not to do it, so we stopped, but it was much nicer. One of the most important lessons I can relay about rough winter condition driving is this...... ––-It is 10 times faster to drop chains than it is to chain up. If parts of your area require chains given current conditions, then at least one of the local area units needs to be chained up. Let's say you get popped on a fire/rescue and you are all running without chains. If you get to bottleneck hill that requires you to chain up, it can take 20 minutes to chain up a fire engine. You just lost the savable house/viable victim. If you are running with chains you can access anything, and you can also drop chains quickly if needed. If you train with your crew and all hit it together at time of dispatch, you can get chains off a rig in about a minute. |
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I'll be damned. I learn something new here every day. Don't think you're slow for just now hearing about these, it only took our dispatchers about ten years of us having them on our trucks before they finally stopped calling us to pass on citizen call ins about sparks from the bottom of our trucks as we were driving. In the summer, I used to duck tape the chain cluster together, so they wouldn't drag on the dry asphalt and spark. Everybody started doing it because it was quieter as well. The shop hated it, as not everyone was removing them at the end of summer before deploying them for the first time. They told us not to do it, so we stopped, but it was much nicer. One of the most important lessons I can relay about rough winter condition driving is this...... ––-It is 10 times faster to drop chains than it is to chain up. If parts of your area require chains given current conditions, then at least one of the local area units needs to be chained up. Let's say you get popped on a fire/rescue and you are all running without chains. If you get to bottleneck hill that requires you to chain up, it can take 20 minutes to chain up a fire engine. You just lost the savable house/viable victim. If you are running with chains you can access anything, and you can also drop chains quickly if needed. If you train with your crew and all hit it together at time of dispatch, you can get chains off a rig in about a minute. We're lucky enough to have two engines out of each of our houses, so when the weather goes bad we can grab the right truck for the conditions. |
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I can't say that I agree. First off, they are life savers on glare ice. Second, while they may not be as good as full chains for deep snow, they will get you through a good percentage of crap that you would otherwise be chaining up. I can't count the number of times where you start to feel traction issues and you hit the onspots and get out of what would have had you calling for a tow. I agree 100%. I only get to use them a few times a year and in my linited experience i would say they are great for ice as the chains will give you that bite into/through the ice you need. They are pretty good for packed snow and I would say they don't do much in loose fluffy stuff. They key is to have them on before you need them. True story: One of our Captains is also our dept mechanic (he's a damn good mechanic and Captain). He fucking hates these things because they chew the shit out of the tires (which they do ruin tires pretty quick). We got a call for a medical aid in the south part of our city and the engine that would normally respond was out on an accident because the roads were really shitty. On the way to the call I put on the onspots and he starts bitching about how they suck, and are a waste of money, and ruin the tires, and were the worst thing the dept has ever bought, all the way to the call which took at least 10-15 minutes to get there. We get to the call and get out of the engine and hear ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss. I was fuckin laughing my ass off and he was trying not to have a stroke. To this day all I need to do to get him going is to say how good those instant chains are and away we go. 
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I can't say that I agree. First off, they are life savers on glare ice. Second, while they may not be as good as full chains for deep snow, they will get you through a good percentage of crap that you would otherwise be chaining up. I can't count the number of times where you start to feel traction issues and you hit the onspots and get out of what would have had you calling for a tow. I agree 100%. I only get to use them a few times a year and in my linited experience i would say they are great for ice as the chains will give you that bite into/through the ice you need. They are pretty good for packed snow and I would say they don't do much in loose fluffy stuff. They key is to have them on before you need them. True story: One of our Captains is also our dept mechanic (he's a damn good mechanic and Captain). He fucking hates these things because they chew the shit out of the tires (which they do ruin tires pretty quick). We got a call for a medical aid in the south part of our city and the engine that would normally respond was out on an accident because the roads were really shitty. On the way to the call I put on the onspots and he starts bitching about how they suck, and are a waste of money, and ruin the tires, and were the worst thing the dept has ever bought, all the way to the call which took at least 10-15 minutes to get there. We get to the call and get out of the engine and hear ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss. I was fuckin laughing my ass off and he was trying not to have a stroke. To this day all I need to do to get him going is to say how good those instant chains are and away we go.
I think we've done more damage over the years from folks not being able to stick to 25mph with regular chains on and throwing them. |
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Quoted: Quoted: this place continues to be a wealth of information that I didn't even know I needed to know. Can't even recall seeing those chains. I'll have to look the next time! You'll see them on ambulances too. Just don't look for them on my departments trucks. They say they are too expensive. I tell them ask me about expensive when an engine is greasy side up in a ditch. I think we got a quote for about $1200 a truck? Pretty good bargain if ya ask me. Considering what an accident could cost, even just bumping into a parked car. No kidding. I was sitting, completely stopped. on an icy slope when my ambulance started sliding down an icy road running between two lakes two years ago. Only by the grace of God did I not put my partner, myself, and an ambulance into the icy water. |