Walking into the newly-built facility of DC Diesel Tek, located about 2 miles east of Litchfield at 64270 U.S. Highway 12, one gets the feeling of home.
From the freshly-installed pine walls to the carefully curated antique knickknacks placed around the store, the diesel repair shop offers customers to take a load off when in a bad situation.
“When people walk in, I just wanted them to get the feeling of sighing with relief,” said Mark Pollmann, owner of DC Diesel Tek.
The diesel repair shop, which relocated to Litchfield, opened its doors in December for business. Pollman broke ground on the shop in June 2018. The shop was previously located in Kimball since its opening in 2010.
“We are ready to service people here,” Pollmann said.
The move from Kimball to Litchfield was in part that the former diesel repair shop was located in the middle of a cornfield and was harder for customers to find. Pollmann said the new Litchfield location was closer to town.
“We are still in a cornfield, but we are a lot closer to people,” Pollmann said. “Our access is a lot easier, too. Now, we are just off of Highway 12.”
The shop repairs semis and trailers and has occasionally looked at pickup trucks, but mostly services industrial diesel equipment and semi-trucks. The shop offers recycling services for used oil and batteries as well as the option to purchase just the parts needed to make a repair. Pollmann said the shop can make specialty orders for customers.
“If we don’t have the part, we can order it,” Pollmann said. “Sometimes, we get them same-day or next-day delivery. We try to have available all of the parts that we use in the shop.”
DC Diesel Tek’s history
Growing up on a small farm in Biscay, Minnesota, Pollmann graduated from Glencoe High School. After attending Hutchinson Vocational School in the auto tech program, he worked for Champion Auto as a parts salesman. Pollmann became a manager at Champion Auto and eventually took a position at Holt Motors in Cokato.
In 2008, he decided to venture out on his own and started DC Parts in Dassel. Two years later Pollmann created DC Diesel Tek, running the business now for nearly a decade. Pollmann said the call to diesel repair was a veer in his path that he did not expect to take, but it has landed him here.
“I started in the automotive field initially,” Pollmann said. “We started doing some truck driving and repairing on our own trucks, and it grew into fixing other trucks.”
Services, products
Pollmann said most of his clientele hail from Litchfield. The move made sense for Pollmann as the lease to his previous building had run out. They started looking for other options and decided to build their own shop from scratch. The 9,600 square-foot shop, which looks more like an airplane hanger, houses five mechanics and features six hydraulic lifts.
One feature of the hydraulic lifts is the ability to help out a driver in a tough situation.
“We can lift a loaded truck and trailer 7 feet in the air – up to about 80,000 pounds.”
Being able to lift a loaded trailer can be a big deal when a truck breaks down while on the job. These lifts provide the capability to work on trucks that may be loaded up and on the road that need a repair. In addition to repairs, Pollmann’s business offers other services, including on-site and roadside repair, DOT inspections and welding and fabrication services.
Pollmann said his business also has a small trucking company.
“We haul grain for local farmers,” Pollmann said. “We mostly do small and local hauling in Minnesota.”
For more information about DC Diesel Tek or to ask about services, visit dcdieselllc.com
