Manufacturers offer different types of jacking systems, various jacking widths, and short jacking options that depend on the type and model of the aerial they are building as well as any special requirements of the purchasing fire department.
Justin Rice, aerial sales manager for E-ONE, says that the company was the first to use crisscross under-slung outriggers on its aerials, like on its most popular model, the HP 100 platform, and its second most popular aerial, the 100-foot aerial ladder. “Our torque box is custom manufactured into a single unit instead of being bolted to the frame rails,” Rice points out. “The single unit allows us to use a shorter jack spread, and E-ONE has never had a catastrophic failure tip over.”
Rice says the HP 100 platform’s four crisscross under-slung outriggers have a 15-foot 6-inch jack spread with a short jacking feature that allows the platform to set up in tight places as well as enhanced leveling capabilities for setting up on grades. “We call it enhanced jacking,” Rice notes, “and it enables the platform to short jack at an 11-foot 2-inch spread, and to set up on some crazy slopes.”
The shortest standard jack spread that E-ONE offers is on its 100-foot aerial ladder on a single rear axle, Rice says, that comes in at 11 feet fully extended on crisscross outriggers. Its 100-foot aerial ladder on tandem rear axles cam have a fully extended crisscross outrigger spread from 12 to 13 feet 8 inches, depending on the tip load, he adds. E-ONE also makes a 137-foot aerial ladder with crisscross outriggers that have a 13-foot 8-inch fully extended stance but that can operate with a jack stance of 10 feet where one side is fully deployed and the other side is short jacked.
Rice says E-ONE uses H-style out-and- down outriggers on two of its products—the HP 75 and HP 78 aerial ladders. Both feature a single set of H-style outriggers with a spread of 16 feet and have an optional short jack feature with a 200-degree rotation and alley mode where the truck is short jacked on both sides.
Jenny Bloemer, senior business development manager for aerial products at Pierce Manufacturing, says that almost all of Pierce’s aerials use H-style stabilizers except for its Snozzle and Sky-Boom products that use A-frame style stabilizers. Bloemer notes that Pierce’s best-selling aerial product, the 100-foot Ascendant aerial tower midmount platform, has four H-style outriggers with an 18-foot jack spread that can be short jacked and controlled by Pierce’s Command Zone multiplex system. She adds that the rig has integrated ground pads on the stabilizers to streamline setup time, has a 93-foot horizontal reach, and can operate below grade at -20°.
Pierce’s Ascendant 110-foot Heavy Duty Aerial Platform also uses four H-style stabilizers with a 16-foot jack spread, Bloemer points out, allowing the rig 90 feet of horizontal reach and 110 feet of horizontal reach. “Our shortest H-style stabilizer spread is 12 feet on our ladders like the 100-foot heavy duty aluminum ladder with a jack spread of 12 or 13 feet, depending on the tip load, and our 100-foot heavy duty steel ladder with a jack spread of 12 or 14 feet, also depending on the tip load,” she says.
1 This E-ONE HR 100 aerial ladder with an 11-foot jack spread is shown jacked for a below grade operation. (Photo 1 courtesy of E-ONE.)
2 The Paoli (PA) Fire Department operates a Pierce 100-foot Ascendant midmount platform facing downslope with integrated ground pads on the stabilizers.