DeSoto County’s economic development office lists a Walmart Distribution Center as the county’s largest employer, with 981 workers. Further down the list are Peace River Citrus Processing, which produces and distributes juice, Bethel Farms, Crown Roof Tiles, which makes concrete roofing, and Collins Aerospace. Arcadia, the county seat, has a long history of ranching and citrus, even as citrus greening has hurt the groves. Put together, that is distribution, food processing, farming and heavy building materials spread across the county. RDI Fleet, RDI Power’s fleet program, gives Arcadia operators a plan for keeping those trucks working. We have no office in Arcadia; technicians travel from Brooksville to your yard on scheduled dates.
When Ian cut the rails at Arcadia, trucks carried the freight
The Seminole Gulf Railway’s Fort Myers Division runs into an Arcadia yard where CSX interchanges cars, and the railroad hauls building materials, newsprint, LP gas, plastics, stone, recycled materials and steel. When Hurricane Ian flooded Arcadia Yard in 2022 and partly destroyed three Peace River trestles, freight had to be transloaded to trucks until repairs were finished in February 2023. Seminole Gulf’s affiliated companies also offer regional trucking, logistics and warehousing, so road and rail freight in Arcadia were already linked. The storm made the point plainly: trucks are the backup for everything else, and a backup is only useful if it starts. An operation whose trucks are on a maintenance plan is in a better position to take on work when other routes close than one whose trucks are waiting on overdue repairs.
Storm-season readiness on an Arcadia plan
Florida’s storm season is predictable even when individual storms are not. On an Arcadia plan, the weeks ahead of it are a natural time to schedule preventive maintenance, annual inspections and repairs that have been put off, so units start the season serviced. Batteries get load-tested, cooling systems and belts inspected, tires checked for tread and damage, and fuel filters and water separators serviced, since water in the fuel is more likely after trucks have sat for a while. None of that is a promise of storm response; it is simply a fleet that is ready to work.
An Arcadia RDI Fleet plan for heavy and light units
Each unit gets intervals that fit its work, starting from a walk-around inventory of engine, miles or hours and condition:
- Heavy haul. Building materials, stone and steel are hard on brakes, suspension, tires and wheel ends, so those are measured at every service and intervals tighten if the inspections call for it.
- Food and produce runs. Trucks on tight delivery schedules get PM booked around their routes, with charging systems and starters watched closely on units that stop and start all day.
- Farm and ranch trucks. Dusty, slow work gets engine-hour intervals and close checks on air filtration, suspension and wiring.
- Trailers and pickups. Trailers on their own schedule for brakes, lights, bearings and tires; light duty trucks on mileage service.
Interstate units of 10,001 pounds GVWR or more need an annual inspection with the report kept 14 months, and each is scheduled into a PM visit so the truck leaves service only once.
Starting an Arcadia plan
It begins with a phone call about your operation: the units, the routes, the loads and the trucks that keep letting you down. A technician then visits your Arcadia yard to inventory each truck and trailer and flag any open problems for repair before the schedule starts. Using that inventory and the manufacturers’ recommendations, we set intervals, line up inspection dates and send you a calendar. If your records are scattered, bring what you have; the walk-around fills in the rest.
Arcadia yard visits and the Brooksville bays
Arcadia sits near the outer edge of our service area, so visits are planned ahead and grouped: every unit coming due in the same window is serviced on one weekday trip. Anything found beyond the plan is photographed and sent to you for approval first. Major engine or transmission work goes to our Brooksville bays on a date that fits your schedule, with the move planned together. When a unit breaks between visits, fleet accounts get priority.
Arcadia warranty, inspections and 24/7 fleet roadside
Each visit leaves a digital inspection for every unit serviced, with photos and technician notes, building a history that makes budgets and replacement decisions easier to defend. Repairs under the fleet program are warrantied for 2 years or 24,000 miles, and fleet accounts can call for roadside help at any hour, on SR 70, US 17 or anywhere else a truck stops.
For a single breakdown, see Arcadia mobile diesel repair. North on US 17, our Wauchula fleet maintenance page covers Hardee County plans, and the program is laid out under RDI Fleet maintenance. Call (352) 433-3800 to talk through your Arcadia units.