Heavy Equipment Truck and Transport Technician

Why train for one mechanical trade when one year can start you in two? Suncrest College’s Heavy Equipment Truck & Transport Technician programme is a 36-week Saskatchewan Polytechnic certificate taught at the Trades & Technology Centre on Suncrest’s Yorkton campus, where a class of 12 learns to service both heavy equipment and highway trucks and trailers.

Early courses such as TOOL 154 Basic Tools Theory, TOOL 155 Basic Tools Shop, MATH 169 Trade Mathematics and JOBS 125 Essential Job Skills set up shop habits. Each system is then taught as a theory course followed by a shop course: ENGN 130 and ENGN 131 on diesel engines, ELCT 102 to ELCT 105 on electrical basics and starting and charging, HYDR 110 to HYDR 113 on basic and advanced hydraulics, and BRAK 113 to BRAK 116 on air and hydraulic brakes. DRTR 106 to DRTR 109 cover drivetrains, STER 102 to STER 105 steering and directional control, MAIN 104 to MAIN 107 structural components, tracks and undercarriage, and TRLR 100 to TRLR 103 truck and trailer systems plus HVAC and auxiliary power. WLDR 158 and WLDR 159 add cutting and arc welding.

Industry partners provide new equipment and local dealerships supply used machines, so the Yorkton shop mirrors a working service bay. The programme meets technical training levels 1 and 2 for SATCC in both trades if you graduate with a 70 percent overall average and no more than 10 percent absenteeism, and SATCC recognises that training for about 2.5 years. WORK 149 Work Experience gives you two weeks in an industrial workplace, and you bring your own basic tools, steel-toe boots, safety glasses and coveralls.

Graduates find work as heavy equipment technician apprentices, truck and transport mechanic apprentices, trailer technicians and service writers with equipment dealerships, trucking fleets, public transit, rental firms and mining, forestry, construction or oil and gas operators. It suits hands-on learners who enjoy diagnosing big diesel machinery.