American LaFrance Service, Repair and Workshop Manuals PDF

American LaFrance trucks owner’s, service and maintenance manuals, error codes list, DTC, spare parts manuals & catalogues, wiring diagrams, schematics free download PDF

American LaFrance background information

An American automotive institution, American LaFrance is among the first car manufacturers in the New World. It is her name on the most significant, powerful, efficient, and aesthetically pleasing fire vehicles, symbolizing the United States’ innovative approach to fire protection technology. Their chassis were made in-house, and the business sometimes made trucks and automobiles.

In 1832, John Rogers opened a modest business to manufacture hand-cranked fire pumps. Pennsylvania blacksmith Truckson LaFrance established a firm with comparable characteristics in the New York City of Elmira. He did so in 1873. By 1903 they had created American LaFrance. More than 4,000 fire engines and several 2R/3R/5R conventional trucks with payload capacities of 2.5-5.0 tons and truck tractors based on them had been manufactured by the mid-1920s. First, they put in their motors and gearboxes. Big Chief trucks followed the R-series, although assembly was quickly moved to LaFrance-Republic. The company’s 30° camber V12 automotive engine, which produced 240 hp and debuted in 1929, had been fitted in 300 Series fire engines from 1931, which further startled the United States.

Aimed for first equipping heavy-duty fire engines, it eventually found its way onto everything from trucks and buses to tanks and even rival railroad trains. The firm built a series of fire engines using its chassis, starting with the 100 Series in 1926 and continuing through the 1000 Series in 1970. Bold aerodynamic shapes of cabs and hoods (from 1938-60), engine placement next to the driver or behind the cab (1939-56), and all-wheel drive were just a few examples of how this brand’s automobiles epitomized the most cutting-edge technological and aesthetic solutions of their day (1950-56). The 330-horsepower 900-Series gas turbine first saw use in 1960, making the application’s age 53 years. Issues with Boeing.

However, American LaFrance was frequently criticized for needing to be faster to adopt new technologies, such as when it finally gave up using a chain to power the wheels of its vehicles in 1935 or when it installed its first diesel engine in 1965. Increased adoption of competing units, such as Continental engines, started a slow but steady fall for American LaFrance in the middle of the 1950s.

In 1981, American LaFrance restarted production of cab-over-engine chassis for 4×2 and 6×4 trucks. Despite this, her circumstances deteriorated to the point that she manufactured her last fire vehicle in June 1985.

After five years, American LaFrance filed for bankruptcy. Freightliner bought it out after another five years and made significant investments in reorganizing and reequipping manufacturing. In 1997, American LaFrance opened a new plant in the town of Cleveland (North Carolina), where they produce Eagle fire chassis powered by diesel engines from various manufacturers ranging in output from 350 to 425 horsepower, mated to an automatic transmission featuring disc brakes and an anti-lock braking system, and housed in a modern 4-door aluminum cab.

American LaFrance Condor

To the New York investment firm Patriarch Partners LLC, Freightliner sold American LaFrance in December 2005. The agreement did not include transferring Patriarch Partners LLC’s offices or main factory. Still, the company was permitted to continue using both until early 2007, when DaimlerChrysler started using the facility to assemble Dodge Sprinter vans. Thus, American LaFrance relocated its manufacturing operations to a brand-new 50,000-square-foot plant in Charleston, South Carolina, in the summer of 2007. Another bankruptcy action filed against American LaFrance in 2008 led to the manufacture of fire truck bodies being relocated from their original locations to that of RDMurray Inc. and Ladder Towers Inc. Fire truck cabs and chassis production was maintained at the Summerville, South Carolina facility, but attention was shifted to the production of Condor utility chassis. Finally, in 2014, the doors closed on what had been a storied firm, ending the era of American LaFrance.