KME or Crimson

[kvfc803]

Hello all,

Need an honest opinion. We are evaluating our bids for our new attack engine. Cab and chassis is spartan, so that is equal. we are trying to decide which manufacturer to pick. They are both pretty dam equal, noone stands out over the other. the biggest difference is about $7000. Any experiences with crimson or kme that would help us decide. the money is not the deciding factor at this point, only about 2% of the total

Thanks for the help

[Ledebuhr1]

Go with what ever one has the better dealer. And do you want to Keep Mechanics Employed?

[Fytnfire]

Check other Options

If I had to pick between the two
I would go buy a bicycle

Smeal all the way and if you have to go with second best Go Pierce


You don't want to go to DisneyWorld and find Chucky Cheese standing in for Mickey Mouse you want the real deal right.

This is just my opinion
Six one dozen half another

I know all depts have a budget but just remember you get what you pay for.
There is a reason these two companys always come in low bid.

We just purchased a new Smeal pumper and couldn't be happier.
On a positive note Spartan Chassis are good Chassis

[kvfc803]

i totally agree with the Pierce suggestion, but when you build a truly custom truck the attitude of " we will build whatever you want as long as it looks like this" does not work, We have a 92 Pierce which has been a great truck and Smeal chose not to bid.

I guess are $$425K was not enough

Thanks for the reply

[quint1officer]

kme is decent if you don't get too elaborate. Crimson has put some extremely nice pieces in my area. Id evaluate which one has a better dealer and better service support.
Or play them against each other, if they really want to sell, they'll hash it out.

[Steeda83]

id say if the trucks themselves are equal look at factors such as how far away is their service center, what kind of warranty is included, and exactly what your doing now..how are their track records

..here in the small state of rhode island KME's are pretty much hated across the board, basically electrical nightmares.. *i said "pretty much" some im sure like them*

[PureAdrenalin]

what is that soun.........oh yeah...INCOMING!!!!

[JHR1985]

If your going to buy either, I would also buy around 20 horses.

Hook up the horses to whatever you buy and haul it to the scene for the days that it doesnt work.

I dont know much about KME but we have a Crimson with spartan Chasis.

Great Chasis.

Not even 6 months old and been in the shop twice for computer problems. Real smart egonomics. Computer is located under the hose bed. To get to it, you gotta pull out all the hose, drain the tank, and dirve it 6 hours to the shop. WooHoo

[quint1officer]

wouldn't that have been real smart planning on your part to buy a piece 6 hours from service?

[LVFD301]

Just as an aside -

We just awarded a bid for a new engine. It went to KME.

Even if all things were equal, KME worked with us to get the
truck we wanted. Rosenbaur also. Pierce was basically of the
opinion that we could have whatever we want, as long as
it was their idea, and did not deviate from what they considered
to be the norm.

If I want the air tool outlet off the CAFS system to be in the
rear compartment rather than the pump panel, then damnit I should
be able to get that! I am willing to pay for it!

Needless to say, the bidding was between KME and Rosenbaur,
we ended up going with the most expensive bid, based on
service availablity.

IMHO, YMMV

[kprsn1]

We have 2 Crimson trucks, an engine and a pumper/tanker. Happy with both. Not that we wouldn't take a KME (a mutual aid department north of us seems to always go with KME so they like them) but they just couldn't come close in the bidding process as they were almost always one of the highest bids.

[JHR1985]

wouldn't that have been real smart planning on your part to buy a piece 6 hours from service?

dealership with mechanics is about 45 minutes away.

Computer techs are... :drum rolls: Down around Austin.

[dday05]

[QUOTE=JHR1985]If your going to buy either, I would also buy around 20 horses.

Hook up the horses to whatever you buy and haul it to the scene for the days that it doesnt work.

We have a ALF and the horse idea sounds like a good idea about now!

When we took delivery of our truck the service/warranty work was done in Pittsburgh,they no longer are a dealer so a company from Kentucky drives 5-6 hours to come work on our truck.

kvfc803 I'd look at the companies that your fd wants to go with service plan, and see what kind of service your fd will get if your truck breaks down or takes a major #$!* I know that will be a big deciding factor when we decide to purchase another truck as our CAFS system has been down for month and a half and they finally came to work on it the other day.BE SAFE

[SSHANK42]

Would that be Vogulpuls from Kentucky?

[dday05]

Would that be Vogulpuls from Kentucky?

Yes it is, I guess they have a couple of knew people and I actually spoke to the guy that took over the shop manager or whatever you want to call it and said they have a big mess to sort out so hopefully we'll get somewhere. Is your fd a proud owner of a ALF also? The sad thing is when the truck works it is great but it spends most of its time O.O.S. and that's no good! BE SAFE