Patience pays

From High School to Service Truck Success - Bohde's Journey

The eye-catching service truck that’s the foundation for Wade Bohde’s company, Freedom Field Service LLC in Fort Wayne, Indiana, is the latest chapter in his career as a mechanic. That story started when he graduated from high school with a desire to be a professional mechanic but burdoned with a shortage of funds.

“I had enough money to either buy a set of basic tools to get started or to go to tech school,” he explained to Service Truck Magazine. “I would have had to borrow money to do both, so I bought the tools, got a job in an automotive shop, and started in the lube rack, learning as I went.”

Fast forward 10 years—apprenticing under a master technician and progressing through jobs at several heavy equipment dealerships and local excavating companies, until he had earned a position as a field service mechanic servicing heavy equipment in three states.

“I loved what I was doing, working on my own, figuring things out, and fixing big machines,” he stated. “But in 2020 I decided I wanted to go off by myself and start my own business. I looked all over the country for a good truck and stumbled on this one in Ohio that was originally from Arizona. It was in great shape since it hadn’t spent its life on salted roads during the winter. It was perfect for what I wanted to be able to do.”

The truck is a 2011 Kenworth T370, equipped with a 350-hp Paccar PX8 engine that drives an Allison 3000RDS automatic transmission. It came with a 14-foot Stellar service body equipped with a Stellar 10628 crane that provides 10,000 lbs. of lifting capacity and 28 feet of reach.

“I wouldn’t want less lifting capacity or reach,” Bohde related. “If I ever upgrade to a different truck, I’ll probably step up to a 12,000-lb crane with 30 feet of reach. When it comes to a crane, it’s better to have too much than not enough.”

One of the truck’s selling points for Bohde was that it came with a Miller “Big Blue” 600 Airpak welder/generator powered by a Deutz turbo-diesel engine.

“A Big Blue was what I would have spec’d if I was ordering a new truck,” he said. “There’s no welding repair it can’t handle. To get (that unit) on a low-mileage used truck was huge for me. It’s got 12/24- volt jump start and battery charging capabilities and puts out enough (compressed) air to run a one-inch impact. Big Blue runs quiet and doesn’t burn much fuel, so if I’m not using the crane there’s no need for me to have the truck’s engine running.”

The truck came with a pto-driven American Eagle SRS hydraulic air compressor. 

“I am not lacking air capacity,” he chuckled. “I’ve got my two ir compressors plumbed to a single air tank, which is plumbed to a Reelcraft hose reel in the compartment under the crane. It’s loadedwith ½-inch i.d. hose. I’ve got a 50-foot roll of 3/8-inch i.d. hose I couple to the ½-inch hose if I’m running smaller air tools.”

The Stellar service body came equipped with American Eagle drawer sets.

“I like that when I open the double doors on the front, left side, there’s nothing but drawers in there,” said Bohde. “I’m a little OCD. I like everything to be orga- nized and easy to find.”

That passion for organization and convenience led Bohde to invest in Milwaukee Tool’s Packout Power Tool and Accessory Storage System. The system allows him to organize his smaller tools and parts in removable plastic cases that fit neatly in his service body’s compartments.

“Before I got the Packouts, all the storage boxes and parts boxes were different sizes and it was like putting together a puzzle, trying to get them all to fit in the compartments,” he says. “The Packouts are all the same shape and size so you can slide one or two of them out without causing an avalanche. No more oily cardboard boxes with parts falling out of them. If I’m working on an electrical problem, I can grab the Electric” box and have all my small electric parts and tools right at the machine with me. Those Packouts save a lot of walking back and forth. And I really like the way they keep my truck organized.”

Milwaukee seems to dominate Bohde’s tool inventory, from a full range of Milwaukee cordless tools to a Milwaukee mag drill. He admits Milwaukee Tool’s corporate colors work well with his truck’s color scheme.

“That was a perfect coincidence,” he summed up. “It was red when I bought it, and I had already been using Milwaukee tools and Packout storage.

“It’s definitely not a bad thing for a self-employed mechanic to have a good- looking truck that’s well-organized.

I take a lot of pride in the truck because it represents me, my company, and the way I work and do business.”

This article originally appeared in the April/May 2023 issue of Service Truck Magazine.