Ryan Jensen’s custom-bodied service truck is not only “clean,” but it cleans. When the 39-year-old farmer from Ankeny, Iowa equipped his Peterbilt-based service truck with fuel, oil and antifreeze tanks to maintain his machinery during the annual wheat harvesting run across the central U.S., he also added a 150-gallon water tank and power washer.
“When a combine blows a hydraulic hose and covers the side of a combine with oil, the wheat dust clings to it and it’s a huge fire hazard,” Jensen says. “With the power washer, we can rinse that mess off and keep it safe. Plus, if we have to weld or torch on something in the field, we can wet-down the wheat stubble so sparks don’t start fires.”
The design of Jensen’s truck originated back in 1992, when he doodled sketches of service trucks in his high school notebooks. Fast-forward through a progression of smaller service trucks, until Jensen decided it was time to build the truck he’d doodled so many years before.
He started with a used 1990 379 Peterbilt, American Class, on a 252-inch wheelbase. A 3406 Cat engine powers tandem axles through an Eaton 10-speed transmission. The 500-horsepower engine exhales through chromed, eight-inch-diameter Mueller “bullhorn” exhaust stacks. Oversize “super single” tires and rims on the steering axle allow him to legally meet DOT axle loads when he fills his in-bed storage tanks with 800 gallons of fuel, 36 gallons of engine oil, 60 gallons of hydraulic oil, 35 gallons of antifreeze and 150 gallons of water. An Auto Crane 8,000-pound capacity crane handles hoisting duties.
The one-of-a-kind service body was started in Kentucky and finished in Iowa.
“There’s a guy down there that builds custom bodies, and I liked the low design he had,” says Jensen. “He started it and got the basic body built, but I had to finish it, hang the doors and stuff, in order to be ready for field work that year.”
Instead of installing built-in tool drawers, Jensen bolted John Deere and DeeZee toolboxes into the right side compartments.
“Between the air-ride suspension and the tandem axles the truck rides smooth,” he says “The drawer rollers and slides in the toolboxes are still in great shape after eight years.”
A Miller Bobcat 250 diesel-fueled welder/generator sits in the front, right compartment. The service body bristles with electrical outlets. Jensen can power all the outlets with the generator, or plug an extension cord into a wall outlet to power on-board circuits when he’s working near “civilization.” The electrically powered John Deere power washer is plumbed to the 150-gallon water tank mounted in the center bed. Coxreel and Hannay hose reels mounted inside the right-side compartments dispense fuel, liquids and lubricants. A Puma, three-stage electric-powered air compressor nests in a right-side cabinet and feeds an aluminum air tank, rescued from a junkyard Peterbilt, mounted out of sight beneath the work deck at the back of the truck.
“I prefer to run my air compressor and power washer off the generator, rather than use hydraulic drives from the truck,” Jensen says. “I don’t like to have the truck’s engine running all day. Everything is mounted or stored inside the compartments. I work off the left side, so all my hand tools and things I use a lot are on the left, and all my hose reels and maintenance items are in the right side compartments. I don’t want extra toolboxes or reels cluttering up the outside or top of the body. I designed it with clean lines and plan to keep it that way.”
The truck has few external service lights.
“I’ve got strip lighting running down the insides of the bed, and strip lighting in all the side boxes,” Jensen says. “The strip lights are really bright — I can almost open the doors and have enough light to work by. I may put an emergency light bar on the cab, for moving equipment on roads, but haven’t found one that looks right yet. I won’t add anything to this truck if it doesn’t make it work — or look — better.”
Dan Anderson