by Diana Barnum
Ever need someone to grease drivelines, check out
mechanical equipment problems or recharge dead batteries in the winter?
Well, help may only be a phone call away to the new mobile man serving
Ohio.
For lube and equipment service in multi-industries, owner Ben
Turley of Mobile Equipment Lube & Service Co. LLC, brings his office
and equipment to all types of sites; construction, waste handling, quarry
and transportation.
“I did the same work for George Igel and Company
(Construction) on Alum Creek Drive for five years,” said Turley. “And then
I decided to go out on my own.”
One-Man Operation
Equipment is the
cornerstone of his operation, said Turley.
The fledgling entrepreneur
works out of a brand new 2001 Peterbilt 33 with a custom designed interior
and back-end storage are with hose reels and underneath storage
compartments. He found the custom design parts at Clutch and Friction in
Norfolk, Ohio, and various other places.
The Peterbilt features easy
in-and-out doors that open a full 90 degrees, a Caterpillar 190-300 HP
engine, a transverse mounted exhaust, an immersion heater, heavy duty
crossmembers, high mount exhaust routing, _ and full length liners,
stainless exhaust guards, back-up alarms, heated mirrors and additional
ABS cable.
The truck’s interior boasts a 250-gallon capacity tank
storage for used oil and a Type-30 two stage Ingersoll-Rand reciprocating
air compressor. The compressor has a one-piece connecting rod, 100% cast
iron frame, ductile iron crankshaft, centrifugal unloader and simple
combination and multifinger valves.
A Lincoln Electric Ranger 8
welder/generator with a Kohler engine is also stored inside. It features a
250 amp AC/225 amp DC stick engine driven arc welder, a 200 amp CV-wire
welding, hour meter, glow plug, polarity switch, two 115 volt duplex
receptacles, a 115/230 volt full KVA receptacle, and all outputs at 100%
duty cycle.
“This is basically my office,” said Turley. “I had an ’87
International that kept breaking down, and hurt my reliability. But I
still have it. I’ll replace the engine and put it out on the road if I
have to.”
Turley also uses his Ford F-150 pickup truck, and has a
seasonal employee who pitches in when the workload gets heavy.
Communications
Although Ben Turley appears to basically be a
one-man operation, his wife, Kathy Turley, is a vital partner at the
communications’ helm. She takes calls and works in the home office,
communicating frequently with “Slow Dog,” their heavy equipment parts and
service runner, AKA Mark Sladoje, owner/operator of Parts Resources.
“Everybody calls him “Slow Dog” because of his last name,” explained
Kathy. “It’s pronounced something like “slow doggie.”
Regarding Mobile
Equipment operations, she added, “This job is pretty much full time for
me, too.”
Kathy and Ben communicate mainly with Verizon cell phones.
Their cell phone service does pose problems from time to time, like
clicking on the line and various regional charges that pop up and
shouldn’t, but they haven’t found a better system yet.
Clients
The
Turley’s have a variety of clients. Last week, Ben serviced a Freightliner
for Hilltop Transportation on Cleveland Ave. in Columbus, Ohio. While he
was servicing the truck’s three dead batteries on a frosty, winter
morning, he discovered an air leak on the engine’s air compressor and
tackled that project, too.
Mobile Equipment also services heavy
equipment at Luburgh Construction Company in Zanesville, Ohio, greasing
their dozers and other equipment nightly.
“They’re very reliable and
very nice to work with,” said Nancy Dilly, office manager at Luburgh.
“(Ben) greases and maintains the equipment and notifies us if something
needs done or repaired.”
Although most of the Mobile Equipment’s
marketing is word-of-mouth, Luburgh Construction heard about them a little
differently.
“He (Ben) came in one day and asked if he could grease our
equipment. So we thought we’d give him a try,” said Dilly.
Another
client, Colvin Gravel Company, Inc., of Columbus, Ohio, hires Mobile
Equipment to service a lot of their quarry and waste handling equipment.
“Ben does good work,” said Tim Colvin, secretary and treasurer. “Ben
greases and oil changes our Komatsu PC 200 excavators, D-53 and D-75
loaders, JCB-214 and John Deere 410 rubber tire hoes, and leaves repair
notes for the mechanics. That’s a big help.”
What are the majority of
jobs that Mobile Equipment handles at this time?
“Most of his business
is centered around regular maintenance, oil changes, filters – the Fleet
Guard line - and replacing wear parts like cutting edges,’ said Sladoje.
“And I either have parts in stock or get them within 24 hours. Can’t sell
hay out of an empty hay wagon, that’s what they say!”
Any seasonal
changes?
“He’s down on maintenance right now, but doing repairs that
couldn’t be done in the summer,” said Sladoje.
Just a cell phone (or
regular phone) call away, Mobile Man Turley said there is no construction
site, quarry or waste-handling operation he won’t visit with his mobile
service.
For more information, contact the Turley’s at Mobile Equipment
Lube & Service, Co. LLC, 120 Tremont Drive, Baltimore, OH 43105. Phone
(740) 862-9955 or toll free (877) 898-LUBE. Fax (740) 862-6175. E-mail
equiplube@ yahoo.com . For more information about Parts Resources call:
(614) 395-4064. |