Robert Thompson’s 2025 W900 Ken-worth service truck looks like a customized truck with a striking paint job and shiny wheels, exhaust stack, air cleaner, and fuel tank, but it’s all “factory.”
“I got all the options,” said the 34-year-old owner of Thompson Diesel Service in Waddington, New York. “I’ve had three service trucks, and the first two taught me what I did and didn’t want.
“The first was a Ford F550 that I bought as-is off a dealer’s lot in order to get my business started, so I didn’t have any choices,” he recalled.
“The second was located for me by a company, so I didn’t get to spec the truck. I used what I learned from those two trucks to build this truck the way I wanted it. It was a two-year process.
”The Kenworth sports a wide flotation front axle and 315 tires on 22.5 wheels for off-road work. A Cummins X15 engine drives an Allison 4500 transmission. The eye-catching paint job was factory-applied to match one of Kenworth’s 100th anniversary paint schemes.
A 14’-long PALFINGER PalPro 86 service body was painted to match the truck cab’s paint job. The side compartments are loaded with CTtech Manufacturing drawer sets, “from top to bottom.”
“I had CTech drawers in my first truck,” Thompson pointed out, “and they held together so well I wanted them in my new truck. I added CTech’s Toolgrid tool organizing system, where every sock
Service Truck Magazine “Spec My Truck” February/ March 2026
Service Truck Magazine “Spec My Truck” February/ March 2026
Service Truck Magazine “Spec My Truck” February/ March 2026
Service Truck Magazine “Spec My Truck” February/ March 2026
et, wrench, screwdriver, or hammer has a designated spot to hold them in place. Compared to laying tools in drawers, I think I gained three or four extra drawers of drawer space with the Tool grid system.”
A Lincoln Electric Company Frontier 400X generator/AC-DC welder is positioned on top of the left rear cabinet. Rather than sitting flush with the rear edge of the cabinet, Thompson situated it far enough forward to provide room to mount two Diamond Lead Reels cable reels. A lightweight Lincoln Power MIG 215 MPi welder provides MIG, TIG, stick, and flux-core welding capabilities.
A PALFINGER PC60 hydraulically-driven air compressor sits atop the front, left-side compartment. Thompson opted to have two separate PTO control switch-es installed on the truck. One in the cabas normal, and another at the rear of the truck to save steps when working from the rear of the truck.
A PALFINGER 14029 crane is mounted on the right rear corner of the service body, giving him 14,000 pounds of lifting capacity with 29 feet of reach. A wireless control handset provides proportional control of the crane’s hydraulic functions as well as an emergency stop button and warning horn.
A lube skid rides in the bed of the service body, with hose reels that dispense between the cab and the left front corner of the service body. The lube skid carries tanks with engine oil and hydraulic oil, as well as a 50-gallon oil evac system The rear work deck/bumper has small doors on each end for storage access, as well as a unique hinged upper surface made of 5/16” steel plate with hydraulic struts mounted on each end.
“The struts make it easy to lift and hold it open,” he said. “The tilt-up lid gives me access to that entire storage space. The plate is as thick as a normal bumper, so it’s still a good work surface.”
Thompson’s work is widely diversified thanks to his training that started with a variety of tech school courses he took in high school, which led to him being certified as a structural welder before he gradu-ated from high school.
“I enjoyed welding, but it ended up that there wasn’t enough structural welding in my area. I would have had to travel, and I wasn’t interested in doing a lot of travel-ing,” he stated. “So I got a job with Seaway Timber Harvesting, doing maintenance and repairs for eight or nine years. I even-tually reached a point where I wanted to be my own boss and started Thompson Diesel Works. I’ll work on anything—trucks, trailers, excavators, skidders, log loaders, farm equipment—if it’s broke, I can fix it.”
Thompson runs a fully equipped shop staffed by three full-time mechanics.Some customers bring equipment in to avoid service-call costs, while others prefer on-site repairs from his mobile shop.
“Eighty to 90 percent of the time I’m working in the field,” he summed up.
“But I have to spend a certain amount of time in the shop taking care of the business side of things. Most of the time, I prefer to be on my own in the field, but there are times when I enjoy working in the shop. I like when it’s late at night, and I’m there all by myself with nobody to bother me.
“After being on my own, I couldn’t work for somebody else. This is where I need to be.”