In an open letter to the fire service that appears as an advertisement in several industry trade publications, Freightliner Corporation (parent company of America LaFrance) President and CEO Jim Hebe states, "The cab and chassis are the foundation on which everything else depends ... the chassis gets the hardest workout and is subject to the most wear and tear ... the cab and chassis have been willfully ignored as the key components of a fire truck."
Hebe's words couldn't be truer. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for fire apparatus of all types to experience a chassis problem or failure of some type at some point over the vehicle's service life. With some basic knowledge, firefighters could have avoided many of these problems back when they were speccing the vehicle. It is also important to know many other problems and failures that occur to other parts of the vehicle can frequently be the result of too weak a chassis system. A weak chassis can also be partially responsible for poor ride quality.
Section modulus, minimum yield strength, and resistance to bending moment (RBM) are three factors that determine the size and strength rating of the chassis frame rails, which are the structural backbone of the entire vehicle. They are extremely important in determining the success or failure of the vehicle's overall service life.
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