Highland City grew up around a railroad stop. When the South Florida Railroad finished its Pemberton Ferry Branch in 1885, the community was the only stop between Lakeland and Bartow. Today it is an unincorporated community of 12,355 people (2020) on US 98, northwest of Bartow and east of Lakeland Highlands, and the highway through it carries a steady load of heavy trucks. RDI Power has no shop here. When a diesel stops in or near Highland City, a technician drives out from Brooksville.
US 98 through Highland City, Lyle Parkway to Boy Scout Ranch Road
FDOT’s 2025 count on US 98 between Lyle Parkway and Boy Scout Ranch Road is about 58,500 vehicles a day, 5,675 of them trucks. North of Highland City, the tolled Polk Parkway crosses US 98 about 10 km (6 miles) north of Bartow’s city limits and gives trucks a freeway link to I-4. With that much traffic, a stalled truck needs to get onto the shoulder or into a parking lot if it can. Once you are clear, note the nearest cross street, such as Lyle Parkway or Boy Scout Ranch Road, or a business sign, and the direction you were headed.
SR 540 east of Highland City
SR 540 meets US 98 at Highland City. FDOT’s 2025 count from US 98 to Reynolds Road shows about 19,500 vehicles a day, with trucks making up 13.3%, roughly 2,594. That is a smaller road than US 98 but a heavier share of trucks. On SR 540, the distance from the US 98 intersection or from Reynolds Road is a good way to pin down a location.
Common Highland City breakdowns we clear on site
Plenty of breakdowns are small failures that only look big because the truck will not move. On a Highland City call, the fix is often a part the service truck carries or can pick up on the way: a starter or alternator, a pair of batteries, a coolant hose and clamp, a belt, an air line or brake chamber on a tractor, a fuel filter, or a sensor or pigtail connector whose failure lit up the dash.
Testing comes ahead of parts: fault codes, freeze-frame data and a direct check of the suspect component. The finished job is written up with pictures, so an owner or dispatcher can see the failed part without driving out to look at it.
Diesel pickups and towing rigs in Highland City
If you tow with a 3/4-ton or 1-ton diesel pickup along US 98, the breakdowns that stop you are often different from a tractor’s. Hard starts can come from glow plugs, which newer Power Stroke and Duramax engines do use. A sudden loss of power with a warning light may be a DEF or aftertreatment fault, a sensor or a restricted fuel filter. Dead trailer lights usually trace to the plug, a ground or a chafed wire. Each of those is a job a technician can test and fix on site, using Ford IDS on Ford trucks and WiTECH on Ram, and RDI is a Bosch dealer and works with Alliant Power fuel injection when the fuel system is the problem.
Owners who are active military or veterans, police officers or firefighters get RDI’s 10% heroes discount on the repair.
Highland City trucks that need the Brooksville bays
If the problem is inside the engine or the transmission, or the truck has to go up on a lift, the repair belongs in a bay. You will hear exactly what failed and why, and we work out together when the truck can go to Brooksville and how. The roadside findings go along with it. Beside US 98 or in the bay, the labor carries RDI Power’s 3-year / 36,000-mile warranty.
Getting help with a Highland City breakdown
Fleet customers have 24/7 roadside assistance. Owners outside the fleet program can call the shop from Highland City on weekdays. Expect a frank estimate on timing that accounts for where the truck sits and what the technicians already have booked.
See mobile diesel repair for how on-site work runs across Central Florida, and fleet maintenance in Highland City if you would rather plan maintenance than react to breakdowns. Trucks working the county seat to the southeast are covered on our Bartow mobile diesel repair page.