Each of the six Ram 5500s carries an 11-foot Service Truck International service body. Photo: Casey Tjalsma
The opportunity: Spec and buy six service trucks to repair and maintain utility equipment used to build and maintain power lines.
The challenge: Satisfy the veteran field mechanics who will operate the trucks, while meeting the needs of the changing utility equipment service industry. Oh, while you’re at it, spend as little money as possible but maximize the durability and longevity of whatever you decide to buy.
Those were the challenges Crossroads Mobile Maintenance faced in early 2018. Based in Reed City, Mich., and Williamsburg, Iowa, Crossroads services nearly 1,400 pieces of utility equipment owned by sister company Hydaker Wheatlake. After extensive research, a committee of
Field technician Grant Zylstra (left) and Matt Bertotti, director of marketing and sales, are happy with Crossroads Mobile Maintenance’s new service trucks. Photo: Casey Tjalsma
managers and technicians headed by Matt Bertotti, director of marketing and sales, selected 2018 Dodge Ram 5500 four-wheel drive chassis outfitted with four-door crew cabs, and powered by Cummins 6.7-liter diesel engines ahead of six-speed automatic transmissions.
“We chose the Cummins diesel for longevity and power,” Bertotti says. “Techs prefer automatic transmissions, and four-wheel-drive is almost mandatory for us. Power lines are built through pretty remote locations, and if a boom truck has its boom stuck in the air, we’ve got to be able to get to it. Plus, it saves time if we can go to the machines for maintenance work, rather than have the utility company drag the equipment out to a road. Mobility was a big reason we went with the 5500 Rams — they’re lighter and more nimble.”
After extensive research, Bertotti’s team decided to outfit the new trucks with 11-foot-long Service Trucks International service bodies equipped with STI’s 3215E Tiger electric crane.
“We decided not to order PTO drives (necessary to run a hydraulic crane) on the trucks,” Bertotti says. “These are our first service trucks with cranes. After we looked at the options and compared them to what our guys need to do, the electric crane was a good fit.”
STI’s 3215E Tiger electric crane doesn’t require a PTO. Photo: Casey Tjalsma
Welders, air compressors, and other peripherals were transferred from previous service trucks, a “hodge-podge,” according to Bertotti, of older but still viable Millers, Vanair and Lincoln units.
“We like durability and longevity,” he says. “We saved money transferring those units to the new trucks, and want to extend that strategy to the STI service bodies. Several people we talked to said the STI service bodies will outlast the truck cabs and chassis.”
Decisions about economy were balanced against intangibles such as driver comfort.
“We went with crew cabs not because our trucks haul a lot of people, but to give our guys room to store stuff that needs to be protected from the weather,” says Bertotti. “They carry extra clothes, laptops, tech manuals and electrical test equipment, and appreciate having the extra space in the cab. We also put on running boards simply because the 5500 four-wheel-drives sit a little high, and we wanted it to be easy for the guys to get in and out of their trucks.”
Field technician Grant Zylstra operates one of the new trucks, and says he’s had to do very little to adapt the truck to the way he works.
“I really like the crew cab,” he says. “Some of the guys took out their back seat, but I’ve left mine in. It folds up pretty close to the back wall, and there’s storage under that seat that keeps the things I put there from sliding around. I put plastic totes on the floor, and store all my tech books and schematics back there.”
Zylstra is impressed with the strength of shelving in the STI service body.
Field technician Grant Zylstra is impressed with the shelving strength of the STI body. Photo: Casey Tjalsma
“I bolted a 40-foot-long torch hose reel to the bottom of one of the shelves and it didn’t flex at all,” he says. “In another compartment, I turned one shelf upside down (the shelves have lips on their fronts) then wedged a set of Fastenal cabinets between that shelf and the one under it. Works great — the Fastenal drawers slide in and out and make it easy to get at small parts I store in them.”
The only major change Zylstra plans is to remove the factory Dodge center console in the cab and replace it with a Mobile Office Solutions console.
“It’s got its own fused-power distribution center and places for a two-way radio, smart phone, built-in filing cabinet and a mount for my laptop. Other than the Fastenal cabinets, the center console and some extra flashing strobe lights for safety, the truck set up pretty well like I want it. It’s nice not to have to change a lot of stuff on a brand new truck.”
— 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.