Vehicle Manufacturer: Rosenbauer

Vehicle model: Panther 6×6

Type of machine: ARFF Appliance

Type of Applications: ARFF (Airport Rescue and Fire Fighting)

Main Engine: Volvo D16

Transmission: Twin Disc TD61-1179

Torque Converter: Twin Disc 8MLW-1758-1, 17″

Reported fault:  Severe oil loss through the breather, with the vehicle having no drive.

When a Rosenbauer Panther 6 x 6 was experiencing a breakdown at one of the UK’s airports, engineers from our Southern workshop were dispatched within 24 hours to diagnose the problem with the vehicle, which had no drive. Upon inspection, it was discovered that the converter output shaft had excessive lift and that the transmission assembly had a solenoid stuck open, allowing two gears to be selected simultaneously.

The fire appliance was recovered to MIT, where work was carried out at our Off Highway workshop using specialist lifting equipment to remove the vehicle’s tank, lockers and various ancillaries, to allow the team to access the transmission and converter. Our expert team of Off-Highway engineers removed the Twin Disc TD61-1179  six-speed transmission and the Twin Disc 8MLW-1758-1, 17” convertors to conduct a more in-depth inspection, which revealed that the transmission solenoid had failed to open, causing both the 5th and 6th range to be selected in unison whilst the convertor was in lock-up. This fault caused an immediate stop to the drive train components causing the converter shaft to fail and causing harsh impact damage on some internal components.

As the UK distributor for Twin Disc, we were able to source genuine OEM components for all the failed parts and replaced and refitted them before rebuilding the units. Following the repair, the gearbox underwent testing using our in-house dynamometer testing bench before heading to the paint shop for a respray, so it looked as good on the outside as it did on the inside.
Finally, our factory-trained engineers returned the transmission and converter to the Rosenbauer Panther fire truck and reinstalled the tank, lockers and various ancillaries to complete the repair work.