F L E E T MA I N T E NAN C E Fleet Maintenance
A profile of one fuel oil dealer with its own maintenance garage BY S T EP HEN B E N NE T T
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USTOM ORDERING TANKS AND CHASSIS FOR FUEL OIL TRUCKS IS common enough, but how many oil dealers draw up the specs in part to make sure the trucks will fit into
their maintenance garage? That's what Servco Oil did for purchases of three International
7400 trucks, including the latest, bought this summer. "It's thirty-five feet from the back wall to the door of our garage," said Rick "Pappy" Papenfuss, the mechanic who looks after the fuel oil dealer's tank trucks, service vans and various sales and other vehicles, including a rack-body truck. The International 7400 double rear-axle trucks were spec'd
with shorter than usual chassis and shorter, taller and bigger tanks than the company has on its other oil trucks. The main reason
SEPTEMBER 2011 | FUEL OIL NEWS | www.fueloilnews.com
for the different specs is that they allow the trucks to "act bigger" – carry more fuel oil. The trucks' 3,800-gallon tanks were custom manufactured by Amthor International, Gretna, Va. That they can still fit into one of the two service bays in the
garage is an added practical benefit. And then there's a comfort factor for Papenfuss that is a bonus: the garage door can be closed in summer (for air conditioning) and in winter (for heat) – and still leave room so the hood can be opened. Servco, based in Wilton, Conn., divides its service area into
zones, some with greater customer densities. The higher-capacity trucks are typically assigned to the higher-density zones, which are closer to the company's base, which is also its fuel oil depot. That means the trucks can return, reload and make more deliver-
