Catesa Farms Brings Shop to the Fields with Stellar® Mechanic Truck

02.17.25

Catesa Farms is not your average row crop farming operation. Nearing the Century Farm mark, this 93-year-old, family-owned farm spans 9,000 acres across six Tennessee counties. The row crop operation produces corn, soybeans, wheat, milo, strawberries and watermelons with the help of 10 full-time employees and 25 seasonal staff members. It’s an extensive operation that has been around since 1927, and until recently, it was running a mechanic truck that had been around for nearly as long.

The 2024 Tennessee Farmer of the Year recipient, George McDonald, whose great-grandfather started Catesa Farms, said he has a mechanic truck so old that “it’s fun to look at it.” But as the farm has grown and evolved, that antique-like truck doesn’t meet the needs of the farmland or the farmhands responsible for it.

“As our operation has grown, we realized we needed a mechanic truck that would get our staff to the fields every day, along with the tools they need to do their jobs efficiently,” McDonald says.

The expansive farmland stretches a couple of hours in each direction of the main property, making getting in the fields each day a task itself. The distance also makes it difficult, if not nearly impossible, to transport equipment back and forth to the shop when repairs or scheduled maintenance are needed.

“When you have a machine go down in the field, you can’t necessarily haul it two hours back to the shop to work on it,” says Kyle Cato, operations manager at Catesa Farms. “We have to bring our shop to the field. And that’s what we love about our mechanic truck, it’s large enough to bring all the tools necessary to do repairs in the field.”

Drawing Attention with Quality

When McDonald and Cato set out to add a newer mechanic truck to the Catesa Farms operation, they did their homework by attending the National Truck Equipment Association (NTEA) Work Truck Week^® trade show to see what was available. One truck outshined the rest — possibly because it was shiny, lightweight aluminum.

“The Stellar body really stood out to me. The workmanship, extra features and the aluminum body,” McDonald says. “We don’t like to get out on salty roads because rust is a concern. But that’s one of the beauties of having the aluminum body, it helps do away with rust. It also lightens the weight of the truck bed.”

The lighter weight translates to better fuel efficiency when traveling long distances, like across county lines. It also makes customization easier by increasing payload for added accessories and storing tools and parts.

The combination checked the boxes for Catesa Farms and a lot of other businesses, according to Stellar distributor Nichols Fleet Equipment.

“Probably 95% of the truck bodies we sell are aluminum,” says David Nichols, founder and president of Nichols Fleet Equipment based in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Building Trust to Build a Truck

Nichols started the company in 1991 with one employee and rented a 7×9 ft. office space. The business has grown to include his two sons – Nick and David Jr. “Buzz” – and 40 employees. A new facility was constructed in 2023 to accommodate the business expansion and future growth.

The family-built business resonated with McDonald‘s own background and Nichols quickly became a trusted partner for the farm.

“This is how we make our living. Nichols being a family business with David’s sons involved in the operation, they can relate to what we need and how we need things taken care of,” McDonald says. “That’s one thing that really contributes to having a great partnership.”

McDonald says the business relationship is built on more than the purchase transaction. It’s the attention to detail and the support after the sale. “We can buy from anyone. David is not just a dealer; he’s an extension of our farming operation,” he says. 

That trust made it possible for Catesa Farms to find additional accessories and customization for the Stellar mechanic truck beyond the aluminum body. When mapping out the specs for the truck, Nichols helped guide McDonald on options that would work well — and those that would not — which ultimately led Catesa Farms to a TMAX 2 Aluminum Mechanic Truck equipped with a 12630 Hydraulic Service Crane. One thing that was not up for debate was McDonald’s desire for a Stellar Toolbox System.

The left side of the truck is equipped entirely with Stellar toolbox systems and McDonald is “tickled to death” with the right side that is outfitted with a Stellar crane. “We have a 12630 Hydraulic Service Crane with a 30-foot boom, 12,000 lb capacity crane.

“On a large ag operation, when you have breakdowns or need to remove wheels off combines in the field or move heavy parts like augers, we’re able to use the crane,” Cato says. “Our combine heads weigh 10,000 lbs and we can move them safely with the crane.”

Cato adds that the remote control allows for safer operation and more precise crane movement to help save time and make the operator’s job easier.

To further optimize the truck to service field equipment and ensure the highest productivity, Nichols outfitted the Catesa Farm’s truck to address a common issue with ag and construction equipment that can quickly shut down production.

“When you’ve got tractors pumping 110 gallons of hydraulic oil per minute, if you blow a hydraulic hose you can dump a whole lot of oil real quick,” McDonald says. “Nichols put a 60-gallon hydraulic oil tank with a reel on the truck so we can refill hydraulics and handle daily maintenance needs.”

All the Small Things

Once all the non-negotiables were addressed, Catesa Farms shared ideas of features they would like to have on the truck and Nichols delivered. The fleet company understands the importance of the little things and the impact on a customer’s operations.

“We know that people can get mechanic trucks from any number of places,” says Nick Nichols, second generation and vice president at Nichols Fleet Equipment. “We try to do the things that others maybe don’t when it comes to customized solutions but also just the little stuff, like the fit and finish, that a lot of people don’t pay attention to — but we do.”

One of those ideas was a fresh-water tank for washing grease from hands after working on equipment or as an eye-flushing station if needed. McDonald says the water tank is a simple thing, but it’s one of his favorite features of the truck. The farm employees agree.

“One of our employees commented to me that he thought ‘why would you want to spend that kind of money on a [service] truck?’” McDonald says. “Now he says ‘It’s one of the best things you’ve ever bought. I don’t know how we’d function without it.’”

With most service trucks, a dedicated person has a sense of ownership and is responsible for that truck. With Catesa Farms’ optimized truck, it’s no surprise everyone wants to use it. But there are expectations.

“We always live by the motto: If you don’t have time to clean it, then you don’t have time to use it,” Cato says. Each person is expected to wipe off tools and put them back in their designated spot in the Stellar toolbox system so the next person knows where to find them.

“We take a lot of pride in our Stellar service truck because we know what it’s like to live without a truck this nice,” he adds. “All of us take pride in keeping it maintained so it will last for years to come.”

For his part, McDonald says he wouldn’t change a thing about the highly customized service truck. “I would want another service truck spec’d exactly like the one we have now,” he says. “I know it’s a specialized, customized body and that’s the reason we wanted a Stellar truck from Nichols Fleet Equipment.”

For more information about Stellar products and agriculture solutions, contact us or find a distributor.