Oviedo’s economy has changed shape more than once. For decades the Nelson and Co. packing house anchored a citrus and celery economy, until it closed in the 1980s after a series of freezes, and commercial development replaced agriculture as the main industry. Today the city’s growth is tied to the University of Central Florida and the Central Florida Research Park. RDI Fleet, RDI Power’s fleet program, gives the operators working here now a maintenance plan built around how each unit is actually used, carried out at their yards by technicians who come from our Brooksville shop.
Seven commercial haulers and the route trucks they run in Oviedo
Oviedo authorizes seven private haulers for commercial waste collection and contracts residential garbage, recycling, yard waste and bulk collection to Waste Pro of Florida; commercial collection requires a written agreement with the city. Route trucks like these have a hard life: constant stops, heavy loads, long idle and repeated hydraulic cycles. On an RDI Fleet plan, a route truck is tracked on engine hours with PTO time counted, brakes are measured at every visit, and the PM includes a leak check on the engine, transmission, differentials and hydraulics. Cooling gets close attention, since a radiator packed with debris and Florida heat are a bad combination on a slow route.
Route work is also hard on starting and charging systems. A truck that shuts down and restarts dozens of times a day, or idles with lights and equipment running, asks a lot of its batteries and alternator, so both are tested at each visit rather than waiting for a no-start at the first stop of the morning.
Oviedo’s farm side: sod today, celery and citrus before
The Duda family’s sod operation, started in the 1970s, still runs in Oviedo, and the city’s west entrance passes through it. A farm truck’s year rarely matches an odometer schedule: heavy weeks, then weeks parked. RDI Fleet services units like that by calendar as well as hours, so batteries, fluids, brakes and tires are checked before the truck goes back to work, and the service happens on the property when the ground allows a service truck in.
Intervals for Oviedo route trucks, farm trucks and SR 417 commuters
One plan can hold three very different kinds of schedule:
- Route trucks on SR 419, where trucks are 13.2% of the traffic near Oviedo, and on city streets: engine hours, with PTO time counted.
- Farm trucks: calendar plus hours, with an inspection before each busy stretch.
- Service vans and pickups running SR 417 toward the research park: mileage, adjusted for idle and short trips.
Service vans that make short trips around the research park and the university area, with plenty of idle between stops, get their aftertreatment checked at every visit along with the oil. Every interval starts from the manufacturer’s recommendation and is adjusted as inspection results come in. Trucks that start showing wear early get their interval tightened; trucks that inspect clean visit after visit can be stretched where the manufacturer allows.
What an Oviedo yard visit covers
A technician arrives with diagnostic tools and the parts for the units that are due. On the list for each unit that is due: fresh oil and a new filter, new fuel filters and a drained separator, a check of coolant strength, belts and hoses, measured brake linings and, on air-brake trucks, a leak-down check, tread and pressure on every tire, a battery load test and an alternator output check, working lights, a code read and a look at the DPF, DEF and EGR hardware. Several trucks can be handled in one trip, and anything that needs a lift or a teardown is planned into our Brooksville shop.
Records an Oviedo fleet can hand to an auditor
Each visit produces a digital vehicle inspection with photos and the technician’s notes, filed by unit. Over time that file shows what was found, what was fixed, what was deferred and why. It is the record you want when an annual DOT inspection comes due. The federal requirement covers interstate trucks rated at 10,001 pounds GVWR or more, once a year, with each report retained for 14 months. On a plan, the annual is booked with the unit’s PM. For what the inspector actually checks, see DOT inspections.
Oviedo account coverage: warranty, priority and 24/7 roadside
Oviedo fleet repairs are warrantied for 2 years / 24,000 miles. Accounts get priority service between visits and 24/7 roadside assistance, so a route truck that stops on SR 417 near the Red Bug Lake Road exit after hours is covered. When an Oviedo truck needs engine or transmission work in a bay, the trip to Brooksville is timed so the rest of your routes stay covered.
See the RDI Fleet maintenance program, fleet maintenance in Winter Springs for the neighboring city, or mobile diesel repair in Oviedo for breakdowns. An Oviedo plan starts with a call to (352) 433-3800 and a rundown of what your yard runs.