If there is one application that tests construction equipment, it’s land clearing. Add the extreme summer heat and humidity of Florida, and you have quite a bit of adversity facing a company like Wherry Truck Lines.
Kendell Wherry, the owner of Wherry Truck Lines, is no stranger to clearing land in Florida. He’s been in the business for more than 30 years. What sets Wherry Truck Lines apart from similar companies is Kendell’s determination to succeed and a fleet of reliable and durable construction equipment.
“Wherry Truck Lines started as a contract hauler, hauling bulk mulch and flatbed loads of trees in the beginning, and it has evolved to a company that has roll-off service, grapple service, land-clearing service and timber harvesting,” Kendell says. “We have three harvesting crews, do contract grinding and contract screening, and produce compost. We run about 40 trucks between our grapple trucks, our roll-off trucks and our road tractors. And we have about a hundred trailers.”
Much of the company’s work is on large land-clearing projects. The company’s harvesting crews use construction equipment to clear areas for future development. The company works mostly in Lee and Collier counties, where Fort Myers and Naples are located. Developers are building numerous new communities and commercial buildings in this popular vacation destination.
Workhorses
On any land-clearing project, contractors operate crawler excavators to do the bulk of the hard work. Excavators paired with buckets and thumbs knock down trees and lift and place the trees in grinders or into trucks.
“You can’t get much more unforgiving to a machine than land clearing,” Kendell says. “You’re pulling, you’re tugging, and there’s still a lot of forces working against the machine.”
Kendell’s company relies on a fleet of DEVELON crawler excavators. These include DX225LC-5 and DX350LC-5 excavators purchased from Dynamic Equipment Group in Fort Myers.
“We have 11 DEVELON DX225LC-5 excavators,” Kendell says. “They’re not too big, they’re not too heavy, and they’re good production machines. We can do a lot of work with them: clear land, feed grinders, feed screeners and load trucks. So they’re very convenient machines for our application. The DX225LC-5 is the workhorse excavator that is getting it done just about every day. It’s very deployable and easy to maneuver.”
The company’s relationship with the dealer started in 2014. According to Kendell, the salesman from the dealership visited one of the company’s job sites and wanted to introduce himself. He also wanted to introduce the dealer’s newest product line — DEVELON — to Kendell.
The introduction went well. Kendell rented a DEVELON excavator from the dealership, and the machine filled his needs at the time. His positive experience with the sales and rental staff and how they met his needs led to the company purchasing its first DX225LC-5 excavator.
“As we were looking to buy excavators and looking for a relationship with a dealer, we were experimenting with different sizes of machines, and the 225 class machine proved to be the size machine that would fit more applications than anything else,” Kendell says. “It’s not too big, not too small, easy to maneuver and get on the lowboys, and you can transport it easily. It’s the get-it-done type of machine. So we started with one, one went to two, two went to four, and our current fleet of the DEVELON DX225LC-5 excavators is 11.”
Dealer Support
Standing behind Kendell and his employees are the team members at Dynamic Equipment Group.
“With any type of equipment, there are going to be issues. Having said that, we have reached out to our dealer and our salesmen to voice concerns,” Kendell says. “The folks at the dealership have gone right to DEVELON to get product support and attention to some of the issues that have caused problems. They stepped up to the plate and haven’t run, and that builds customer satisfaction and loyalty to the DEVELON product.”
Kendell’s philosophy about warranties is that when buying new machines, always go for the most extensive powertrain warranty that is offered by the dealer.
He says, “We feel that it’s a good investment in the product because out here, time is money. You have to produce.”
Learn more about DEVELON crawler excavators.
The DX225LC-5 is the workhorse excavator that is getting it done just about every day. It’s very deployable and easy to maneuver.