Beeler’s 2017 Kenworth 880 is equipped with a 484-horsepower Cummins X-15 engine and an Eaton 18-speed automatic transmission Photo: Sondra Kirby/Summit Truck Bodies
Steve Beeler’s previous service truck had a problem with its accelerator pedal. It was always pressed against the floor.
“We pull a trailer with a backhoe or uni-loader on it, and our old truck just didn’t have enough power,” says the 46-year-old field supervisor for McGilton Construction Company, a cellular phone tower erection contractor based in Kansas City, Mo. “Our new truck doesn’t have that problem.”
His new service truck is a 2017 Kenworth 880 equipped with a 484-horsepower Cummins X-15 engine in front of an Eaton 18-speed automatic transmission. A 14-foot, six-inch Summit service body carries tools and supplies necessary for Beeler and his crew to erect cell towers across Missouri, Kansas and nearby states. Beeler oversees all aspects of tower construction but focuses mostly on foundations, footings and “ground work” related to electrically grounding the towers along with associated buildings and security fences.
A 14-foot, six-inch Summit service body carries tools and supplies needed for cell tower work
“On a tower, we have to install a ground ring all the way around the base of the tower, buried three feet deep, with a grounding rod every 10 feet,” says Beeler. “We also have to run a ground ring with grounding rods all the way around the building at the base of the tower. And we have to ground the fence posts and fencing for the security fence. Everything inside a tower site has to be grounded.”
Lightning is an obvious concern that requires such extensive grounding, but Beeler says static electricity is a more common problem.
“The wind blowing through the fencing and the tower itself creates static electricity that can mess with the equipment,” he says. “There are other things we have to deal with, too, like ice. The pre-fab buildings that we put at the bottom of cell towers have six-inch thick fiber-mesh roofs to deal with chunks of ice falling off the towers in winter. And we install ice bridges over the coaxial cables that run between the bottom of the tower and the building to protect those cables from falling ice, too.”
Since many of the towers are in rural areas, Beeler’s service truck needs to be rugged enough to handle off-road duty as well as big enough to hold adequate supplies and tools. A 20,000-pound front axle and oversize tires carry the weight of an assortment of concrete working tools necessary to dig, reinforce, pour and finish footings that have been as much as 12 feet in diameter and 35 feet deep, depending on soil conditions.
Various compartments in the service body hold concrete vibrators, grade rods, hammer drills, and
Truck carries an assortment of Milwaukee M-18 Fuel battery-powered tools Photo: Sondra Kirby/Summit Truck Bodies
a full assortment of Milwaukee M-18 Fuel battery-powered tools. Special tools include grounding testers that allow Beeler to check the electrical resistance of various soils for up to 100 feet horizontally, as well as an assortment of special Cadweld molds used to splice large-diameter copper cables.
“You put the cables in the molds, pour in the special powder, then light it to melt and fuse everything together,” he says. “We’ve got a portable welder we can slide in the back (of the service body) if we need it, but normally we don’t need a welder or (acetylene) torch on most jobs.”
A Honda gas-powered electric generator is mounted on the front, right side of the Summit service body. Storage boxes storing spools of wire also ride atop the compartments, underneath a ladder rack custom-built by Summit to hold re-bar and other over-length supplies.
A wide bed was a critical criteria when Beeler specced his truck.
“We needed room for sheets of plywood and pallets and all the stuff we have to throw in the
The bed is wide enough for sheets of plywood
back,” he says. “There’s also a 100-gallon diesel fuel tank in the front of the bed, connected to a hose reel in the center, right compartment, so we can fuel our backhoe and other equipment.”
Security is an issue for road warriors like Beeler. Along with a full array of locking drawers and compartments built into the Summit service body, he chose a Viper alarm system linked to his smart phone. The Viper alarm system offers not only security on road trips, but provides unexpected creature comforts.
“I didn’t know it at the time, but the Viper system came with a remote starter,” he explains. “I’ve grown real fond of that remote starter on cold mornings.”
— Dan Anderson
Dan Anderson is a part-time freelance writer and full-time heavy equipment mechanic with more than 20 years of experience working out of service trucks. He is based in Bouton, Iowa.