How It All Began

          McLellan Equipment, Inc. was founded in 1965 by Dale McLellan. To this day, it is a family owned company with the philosophy of "not being the biggest, but the best we can be.” McLellan Equipment began by manufacturing water trucks on new chassis' (never heard of at that time). They also bought and sold used construction equipment. As the business grew, they added a complete line of fuel lubrication trucks, straight fuel trucks, field service trucks, and mining equipment.

Learning from experience

          As the equipment was used in the field, it became apparent in the years that followed that some of the parts used on their equipment (reels, pumps, etc.) did not have a long life span. "The equipment that was used in the beginning was built by other manufacturers and they did not meet our standards,” explains Mr. McLellan. "If we cannot find something on the ready market that we feel is of the quality we want to put into our equipment, we will research, develop and build our own products.”

"Take for instance a grease truck (portable service station),” says Mr. McLellan, "they go down into the construction sites... in severe weather... dirt etc., and the old hose reels were not made for that. They were made for inside shops and services stations. The life expectancy was just not acceptable.”

          McLellan, after diagnosing the problem, came up with an economical solution. By beefing up the hardware in McLellan Reels and encasing the spring in hermetically sealed and permanently lubricated graphite powder, they were able to produce a shoe reel that not only outperforms the competition but one that costs no more than other quality reels. When McLellan's Engineers became aware of the high failure rate in air operated pumps, they worked diligently to find a dependable and cost effective solution. "Air driven pumps are delicate,” says Mr. McLellan, "if it intakes one piece of dirt, it is shot.” The Hydraulic Driven Gear Pump, encased in heavy duty housing, was developed to provide the maximum in rugged dependability. "Others may use hydraulics, but they use electric solenoid pressure switches. We use 100% hydraulics to minimize maintenance.”