Some service trucks are like Second World War PT Boats, designed for short, intense duty
before returning to their base between battles. You could call them “attack trucks,” outfitted with tools and equipment necessary for rough-and-dirty field repairs, piloted by techs who excel at fixing things fast.
“I do mostly one-day jobs, replacing bearings or shafts, diagnosing and fixing electrical or hydraulic problems, along with some transmission and engine work,” says Nathan Pepple, field service technician for Border Plains Equipment, a Case-IH farm equipment dealership in Williston, N.D. “If an engine needs an overhaul or a tractor needs split, it goes to the shop, but anything less than that, it’s up to me to figure out how to fix it.”
Twenty-three year-old Pepple works from a 2015 Dodge Ram 5500 chassis equipped with a 13-foot long Knapheide Model 6132DLR-44KJ service body outfitted with American Eagle tool drawers.
“The compartments seal up really nice, and the drawers are big and deep enough to hold most of my hand tools,” he says. “With my old service truck my tools were always getting wet when it rained, plus I had to carry an extra Snap-on road box in the bed so I could have all my tools with me.”
A Stellar 7500 crane mounted on the right rear corner of the Knapheide body handles the heavy lifting for Pepple.
“It’s big enough to get me in trouble,” he says. “I only had a 4,000-pound crane on my old truck, so I had to get used to all the extra lifting capacity. I was pulling a clutch off a gearcase mounted to the engine on a combine, missed some bolts, and just about lifted the back end of the combine off the ground.”
A PTO-driven Boss air compressor is another upgrade from what Pepple had on his previous service truck. North Dakota’s cold winters often left him yanking on the old air compressor’s gas-powered engine’s recoil starter, trying to stir the congealed oil in its crankcase to life.
“I actually broke the starter rope one time,” he says. “It makes a guy really appreciate the PTO-drive on the air compressor in my new truck.”
A Miller Bobcat generator/welder sits atop the service body to provide metal melting capabilities as well as onboard electricity.
“The electricity is nice for running a vacuum pump for drawing-down air conditioning systems, and all the other things that need electricity even though you’re five miles from the nearest power outlet,” he says.
Pepple says a laptop computer and multimeter have become nearly as essential for ag techs as hammers and wrenches.
“Modern combines and tractors have eight to 10 onboard controllers that control everything from GPS-guided auto-steer to Tier IV engine control systems,” he says. “There have been a few times when all I did was walk up, check diagnostic codes and download new software to fix a machine.”
Ag repairs can be intense, especially during peak seasons. Pepple averages 45 to 50 hours a week during the off-season, but during harvest routinely clocks 70 to 80 hours a week. His longest day stretched for 18 hours.
“Once the crop is ripe, all it takes is one hard rain or big windstorm to flatten it, so farmers kind of go nuts during harvest,” says Pepple. “Any breakdown is a big deal, so we try to get them going as fast as we can.”
Along with the stress of making critical repairs under field conditions, ag techs have to deal with situations unique to farming.
“When I’m working in a farmer’s farmyard, I’ve got to watch out for their animals,” he says. “One farmer’s dog was so friendly, any time I kneeled or laid down, he was all over me licking my face — which is better than a farm dog that’s really protective and growling at you all the time. And then there was the time when I got ready to close the doors on my compartments, and had to go through and chase out a litter of kittens that were crawling around, exploring all my boxes.”
Dealing with kittens sort of diminishes the comparison between Pepple’s service truck and a PT Boat, but the basic idea is the same: Go out, attack a problem quickly and efficiently, then return to base or head to the next encounter. Preferably without furry stowaways in the tool compartments.
To see Pepple’s truck in action, check out this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFUR_BRlmu8.
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.