Louisville Switching Blog

We were talking about some pretty interesting repairs we have made in the past, and one of the stories we told was when we had to replace the hydraulic pump on an Ottawa Yard Truck. It was peak season for one of our clients and they could not afford to have one of their yard trucks down. Here is the catch: it was pouring rain and the repair was done on-site at our client's truck yard. I went with the mechanic and held an umbrella over him the entire time to ensure he could safely and more efficiently work.

Most times, Louisville Switching can repair your yard truck right onsite. Save yourself the down time and the expense of the tow. With our mobile repair vehicles, we have most every tool we need to handle even the toughest jobs. We have cranes, mobile welding equipment, and much more. Our mechanics are Cummins and Ottawa certified. Never take your yard truck to a shop that doesn't specialize in yard trucks. We can't tell you how often those shops call us because they are stuck and Louisville Switching is the expert.

The last thing we want when we send our mechanics great distances to help our clients is for them to get there and not have what they need. Our clients are crucial in answering our questions before we let our mobile repair vehicles leave the shop to service and repair their yard trucks. There may be one or more primary symptoms that reveal the main issues we need to look at, but we will ask more than just obvious questions. We want to know about your whole fleet so we can accomplish more for our clients than a single repair while we are there.

We had a call from an Ottawa owner not too long ago who was having an issue with his transmission. Chuck asked him if he had checked the transmission fluid.  He replied that he was looking at the tank and it was full. Chuck explained to him that the tank he was looking at was a part of the hydraulic system and filled with hydraulic fluid and was completely independent of the transmission. We did not have any further conversations with the caller and so we are pretty sure that the addition of some transmission fluid fixed the problem.

We recently decided to add a new section to our website called "Ask Chuck." Chuck Duggins has been with Louisville Switching for 16 years and is highly respected in the world of yard trucks. This new section of the website will be dedicated to your questions and will be full of answers to the most common inquiries we receive about yard truck repair, ottawa yard trucks, and yard truck parts. We should have "Ask Chuck" up for you to start reviewing in January.

We recently had a client call who had requested some help. They tried "saving" some money by having another shop service their yard truck. To this point they had already spent $1500 and the truck had been down for two weeks. The customer asked if we could take a look at it. We agreed and sent Gordon, one of our mechanics, over to service the truck. Within one hour Gordon had the yard truck running good as new.

Chris Troutt was recently in Atlanta, Georgia working with a client. Chris loves talking with the drivers of the yard trucks to get their input on what they think of Ottawa. The other thing Chris loves to do when he's talking with the drivers is to ask if he can see inside the cab. This one particular driver agreed and showed Chris the cab of his Ottawa. It was as clean as a brand new yard truck. Chris asked him how he kept it so clean and the driver said, "I spend 12 hours a day  inside this truck and I want to make sure I keep it clean. It is my office."

What do Christmas songs and yard trucks have in common? Don Robinson is the answer. Don is passionate about every detail of Louisville Switching and always looking for ways to improve its service and products. He is also very passionate about his faith. Don and his wife have been apart of the South Dixie Community Choir (SDCC) for several years now. They perform throughout the year but wanted to draw your attention to several performances they have remaining in December.