Sixty-year-old Brian Zwiebel, Product Support Representative for Great Plains Manufacturing in Salina, Kansas, has a long job resume.
It starts with growing up on a farm, joining the Army after high school as a 19-series Armor Crewman, and eventually becoming a tank commander in charge of operating, maintaining, and repairing M1 Abrams battle tanks.
“If it needed to be fixed, I fixed it,” he said matter-of-factly. “You can’t wait for a mechanic if your tank breaks down in the field. We carried tools, so I guess a tank was my first service truck.
”After four years in the Army, Zwiebel attended tech school at Eastern Wyoming College, then spent time at a CaseIH ag dealership shop, then became a field tech and eventually a shop foreman at several John Deere dealerships.
After 9/11, he chose to return to the Army for nine more years and did multiple combat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan before he returned to civilian life. His wide range of experiences eventually led him to a customer technical support job with Great Plains Manufacturing, answer- ing technical questions over the phone.
“When the guy running the product support truck retired, I said to myself, ‘That’s my job now.’ All the jobs and experiences I’ve had in the past prepared me for this job.”
That job is based around a 2016 Kenworth T370 loaded with a PACCAR PX-9 engine in front of an Allison six-speed automatic transmission. He said that an 11-foot-long 2013 Service Trucks Inter- national (STI) service body outfitted with a 10,000-pound capacity STI Tiger crane helps him play an intermediary between Great Plains Manufacturing’s engineers, dealerships, and customers.
“Product support means I help engineers at the factory with prototype machines and also go out in the field and work with customers who have unique problems with their machines that the local dealership can’t figure out,” he explained. “I also doa lot of farm shows, where ag equipment manufacturers display their new machines to potential customers. The machines leave the factory partially assembled, and I put them together on-site.
”Field-assembling 60-foot-wide tillage tools that fold to 17-foot-wide for road transport involves securing an octopus’ nest of hydraulic lines, ISO wiring harnesses, and 12-volt electrical harnesses. To that end, one of the compartments on his service truck is dedicated to thousands of plastic zip ties and hose/wiring clamps.
“Everything from 1/8-inch by four-inch up to 3/4-inch by 36-inch,” he stated. “You can never have too many zip ties.
”Another of the compartments was custom-built for Zwiebel’s truck. The 11-foot service body was originally on an International chassis and was still in good shape when that truck was retired. So, it was transferred to the Kenworth, which was longer than the International.
STI fabricated an additional compartment at the front of the body to fill the gap behind the cab. On the driver’s side, that compartment is open all the way to the right frame rail, with a shallow compartment on the outside of the right frame rail that stores lifting tackle.
The service body’s center bay holds the oil tank for a PTO-powered hydraulic system, as well as a Miller Bobcat 250 welder/ generator mounted crosswise.
“They cut out the back of one of the passenger-side compartments so the control panel for the welder/generator is out of the weather, behind one of the side doors,” noted Zwiebel. “That compartment is also where I hang all my welding cables.
”The truck’s PTO-driven hydraulic system powers not only a Vanair RC-60 air compressor but also supplies hydraulic flow to three separate hydraulic circuits outfit- ted with quick couplers at the truck’s rear bumper. Zwiebel said that he can raise/lower and fold/unfold equipment with his truck like a farmer would use a tractor inthe field. This is useful because he often has to tow the mammoth machines down highways and rural roads en route to dealerships or farmers.
“We rebuilt the rear bumper deck and upgraded it to a 2-1/2-inch receiver hitch and added reinforcing,” he said. “Some of the tillage tools weigh 37,000 pounds and are 14 feet tall and 17 feet wide when they’re folded in transport position.
”Reflecting on his diverse and eventful journey, Zwiebel said he has considered all of the various chapters of his life that have shaped him and contributed to his very extensive resume.
Looking back on his experiences grow- ing up on a farm, fixing tanks in the Army, assembling equipment for John Deereand Case IH dealers, and also hauling equipment for them, Zwiebel thinks his resume-building may be nearing an end. “It took 40 years and a dozen jobs,” he summed up, “but I’m finally doing what I was meant to do.”
Service Truck Magazine “Spec My Truck” April / May 2025
Service Truck Magazine “Spec My Truck” April / May 2025
Service Truck Magazine “Spec My Truck” April / May 2025
Service Truck Magazine “Spec My Truck” April / May 2025