Yard Spotter Truck | Renew Truck in New Boston, TX. Image of a white Kalmar yard spotter truck parked in an industrial park.

Yard Spotter Truck: Do I Need One?

Regardless of your industry, the name of the game is to work smarter, not harder. And yard trucks or yard spotter trucks are designed to do just that.

Also called terminal tractors, spotter trucks, and yard jockeys, these workhorses are engineered to efficiently and quickly move large cargo containers and trailers.

These trucks are commonplace across truck terminals, cross-docking terminals, ports, and cargo yards. An increasing number of distribution centers and warehouses nowadays are unlocking the benefits of these workhorses. 

Let’s look at the used remanufactured yard truck and whether it can help you work smarter. 

Do You Want to Do More in Less Time?

Can you move trailers about the yard with a dolly, hand truck, or semi?

Yep, you sure can. However, using a yard spotter truck is the faster and more efficient way to do so while minimizing the likelihood of injury. 

Instead of wasting time on manual efforts (like lowering and raising the trailer stands or continuously getting in or out of the cab), a yard truck features a unique fifth wheel.

This fifth wheel empowers the driver to back up and use a lever to raise or lower a trailer on the spot. It’s also outfitted with a rear sliding door, so drivers do not have to get out and walk around to hook up the trailer. 

With a yard truck, you can simply step out onto the platform, get everything hooked up, and then get back into the cabin.

A Remanufactured Yard Truck Can Quickly Pay for Itself

How much more efficient is the yard spotter truck?

Experts suggest you can move three to four times more trailers every shift by using a spotter truck instead of an over-the-road truck, such as a semi. At this rate, this truck will quickly pay for itself. 

Consider this. An average driver of a spotter truck can unhook or hook up in around 50 seconds, which is less than a minute. 

On the other hand, it can take as much as three minutes for even the most experienced over-the-road truck driver to unhook and hook up. And this estimate is on a very good day.

Save Money with Lower Maintenance Costs & Lower Costs of Entry

Unsurprisingly, it’s much more cost-efficient to have a remanufactured yard spotter truck than to purchase a semi. At the same time, the maintenance costs are much lower on a yard jockey. 

This is primarily because over-the-road trucks are designed for long hauls on smooth surfaces. In contrast, yard trucks are uniquely engineered for the rugged and rigorous environment of swapping trailers.

A Remanufactured Yard Truck Is More Nimble & Maneuverable

When you use a remanufactured spotter truck, you can maneuver and place containers in tighter spaces than a semi-truck could.

This is because spotter trucks have a shorter wheelbase, a solid-mounted rear axle, and a tighter turning radius.

Yard Spotter Trucks Are Safer

Drivers of semi-trucks are prone to wrist, shoulder, knee, and elbow injuries. Simply put, getting in and out of the cabin and cranking landing dollies will take its toll over time. 

Fortunately, yard trucks remove all of these hazards by:

  • Reducing the number of times the driver must get in and out of the cab
  • Offering superior visibility to reduce the likelihood of collisions
  • Simplifying the process of lifting and lowering the trailer (Drivers of yard spotter trucks need only pull a lever to activate the hydraulic 5th wheel.)

Save Time & Money with a Remanufactured Yard Spotter Truck

At Renew Truck, we regularly partner with industrial and commercial businesses to create remanufactured yard trucks that lead to ample efficiencies.

Our highly-experienced mechanic specializes in remanufacturing used spotter trucks to meet your unique needs. We are the leading yard truck repair facility in the region.

Customers come from throughout the United States to experience our fast and cost-efficient yard truck repair services.

Whether you’re looking to create a remanufactured yard spotter truck or looking for targeted yard truck repair, the mechanic at Renew Truck will meet your needs and exceed your expectations at every turn.

Contact Renew Truck today for the best yard truck repair and remanufactured yard spotter truck services. Call us at 903-733-7966 or visit us at 150 Service St., New Boston, TX 75570.

About Renew Truck

Your trusty yard spotter truck is worn out, but it’s given you years of service and made you millions. Instead of buying a new truck and worrying about all the emissions, you’d rather keep the old yard truck.

That is where Renew Truck comes in. We are spotter truck specialists who can fix a yard truck so that it’s newly remanufactured. We repair or remanufacture trucks in LA, TX, MS, OK, AR, and AL.

Renew Truck is located at 150 Service Street, New Boston, TX 75570. You can contact us at (903) 733-7966.