INDIAN HEAD, Sask. Ñ In 2003, the one-ton pick-up truck that Garth Sander used to haul fuel was in an accident and had to be replaced.
“It was hauling 280 gallons (of fuel) and it wasn’t enough to service a couple of combines and the cart tractor,” said Sander, who operates Willow Ridge Harvesting out of Chitek Lake, Sask.
“I was watching papers in the States and an FL106 Freightliner Supercab came up. It had the right gears and motor, so I built from there.”
The 1996 Freightliner had a 318 Detroit engine with a 10-speed transmission. Sander needed pulling power and highway speed because the truck had to pull a crew trailer for the harvest run.
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When he bought it, the truck had about 800,000 kilometres on it and had never spent a night outside. It had been driven only on interstate highways hauling livestock equipment.
Sander brought it into Canada and designed a deck for it that included a pressure washer, a welder-generator, tools and a workbench. He had the fifth-wheel plate removed and a box built on the back that included the cabinetry, deck and double-walled fuel tank. The work started in January 2004 and was finished by the end of April.
“The cab had a full bed behind the bucket seats,” he said.
“I cut it down and did a flip-up bench. We carry a lot of stuff Ñ oil filters, tarp straps, fire extinguishers, road map Ñ back there. Four people can sit back there, with two up front in the chairs.”
When the fifth-wheel plate came off, Sander kept the air lines and a power supply to pull a grain trailer. Last fall, he used the service truck to pull a pup trailer to the United States for the fall run.
“If we’re in a bind, we can hook on a dolley converter, put it on a grain trailer and we’ve got another tractor-trailer unit in the field. About a year ago, we had an engine go down on one of the trucks and if we had this set up, we could have backed this under with a dolley converter and resumed work, with all the air lines and power supply right there.”
Sander wanted to keep the welder and torch on the same side as the pressure washer in case a fire broke out.
“Whenever we do any cutting or welding in the field, we’ll hose the stubble down.”
On the passenger side of the service body, the first compartment contains an air compressor and a pressure washer. The washer is at the bottom of the deck, which slides out on a shelf. It has a gas-powered Honda engine that puts out 1,500 psi.
“If the boys are 30 miles (50 km) from town and there’s a bit of rain, they can give the trucks a rinse and they’re back shining again. It’s a nice way to keep the fleet clean,” Sander said.
“You have an oil spill, you can clean it up right away. We’ve had farmers come in to square up, they come out of the trailer and the boys have their truck cleaned up.”
The acetylene torch compartment sits beside the air compressor and washer. The door over the passenger-side back wheel lays down, which is where the slide-in welder-generator is kept.
“It’s 4,000 watts, powers the air compressor, car wash and any tool we have. I bought that first and worked around it,” he said.
“I wanted it sliding out. Some days, when you’re running it at 105 degrees (41 C) in Texas, it would get pretty warm inside. With it slid out, it makes a world of difference.”
Blower and bin
In the last cabinet on the passenger side, Sander mounted an air hose reel on top and a backpack blower below that he uses to clean off the combines at night. An old molasses lick bin, found when cutting wheat in Kansas, fits in the bottom for a garbage can. The cabinet also contains a little tray for the air chucks.
The first space behind the cab on the driver’s side contains a large tool box on top and the fuel pump and hose reel on the bottom.
It pumps 180 to 230 litres a minute and is powered by the electric generator. An 83 centimetre wide toolbox is bolted into the space above the fuel pump. The lid closes down and locks all the drawers. Storage space is located above the toolbox area.
Shelves in front of the rear axle are used to store fluids. They have lips at the front so nothing falls out. All the storage cabinets have rubber matting to keep contents in place.
Sander built a fold-out door over the axle that opens from the top.
He bought slide-out cabinets and bolt-bin drawers to carry parts and materials.
“Behind the wheel, we made four slide-out drawers that can be removed. There’s everything in there, from filters to guards to electrical parts.”
Sander had considered building a 60 cm workbench at the back, but reduced it to 45 cm. It provides a handy workspace when doing repairs in the field. He included a removable vise on the back for added convenience.
More storage space is accessed from the inside of the deck at the top. The passenger side inside-access compartments hold spades, extension cords, blocks, several hitches, a bucksaw and electric saws.
“It’s stuff you don’t use every day, like my bike ramp, and it works slick. We designed two cabinets you get at from the inside of the deck. It goes three quarters of the length of the truck. You can never have enough storage on a service truck.”
In the back, Sander has a 550-gallon double-walled fuel tank, with hooks to lift it off if need be. He designed the 110-gallon water tank, which is directly behind the fuel tank, in a step form, to make it easy to climb when filling the fuel tank.
For extra mobility and a little fun, Sander wanted to take his 1,100 cc Honda street bike along on the run. The bike would have been too long for the back deck, but one of the workers who built the deck suggested making a notch in the water tank for the bike’s front wheel.
“You only lose a gallon or two of water and now the bike fits right on the truck.”
The service truck is set up to use various types of trailer hitches.
“It can be a trailer ball hitch or you pull that out and it can go to a pintle hitch. The pintle hitch will work pulling any dolley converter.”
An air bag is mounted on the hitch underneath.
“You can go down the roughest road with a 37-foot mobile home behind and you don’t even know. It takes the shock out of everything.”
The truck is lit inside and out.
“External, there’s four big halogens on each corner, on one switch. Inside, there’s lighting in all the tool and storage cabinets. That’s on another switch.”
Sander designed the lights so if the truck ignition key is shut off, all the lights are off. There’s not a chance the battery will be dead when he comes out in the morning because somebody left a light on. If one light is on, they’re all on, which means he doesn’t have to turn out six different lights.
Sander said it’s hard to believe he went 10 years without a truck like this. He said his crew can leave camp in the morning with the service truck and he can show up later in his pickup. The crew will be servicing or whatever else needs to be done, while Sander can be lining up work or running errands.
“When it rains, everything is always caught up and the boys can get their rest,” he said.
“To replace the pickup that rolled was $50,000. I got into this truck for $20,000 and I’ve got about $30,000 on the back. Now I’ve got a fully equipped setup. Down the road, this will be the shop on my farm. It’s not going to lose any money; it’s depreciated all it’s going to lose.”
