The Duke Rentals/Precision Components crew includes Jordyn Smith, Tylar Beardsley, Aaron Elken, Zack Benevento, Matt Alluisi, Gabe Readinger, Zach Francis, Landyn Howard, Page Oldes, JR Ludwig, Tanner Cleek, Lucas Jensen, Tim Eivins, Lonnie Hall, Kevin Heckman, Race Bennett, Ray Simmons and Graham Jensen.
The company is based out of Atlantic and has been operating in Guthrie Center for six years.
By Rich Wicks | Guthrie Center Times, July 2025
Refurbished and repainted lifts wait to be back on the job.
Most anyone traveling on Highway 44 on the eastern edge of Guthrie Center has undoubtedly seen the tall boom lift machines parked near the highway. Those belong to Duke Rentals, which is located at 2102 State St. Manager Jordyn Smith provided some history and information on the company.
“Ken Tolton is the owner of both Duke Rentals and Precision Components. Precision Components fabricates parts for machines,” Smith said. “We are a refurb shop here. We have over 11,000 different machines, from boom lifts to tele-handlers, to dirt work machines, and forklifts. We refurbish them here with whatever they need — everything from engines to hoses to hubs — then they get painted and then they go back to the store to rent.”
The company is based out of Atlantic and has been operating in Guthrie Center for six years. Duke Rentals operates in Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and South Dakota.
Ray Simmons and Tylar Beardsley replace hubs.
“We operate pretty much all up and down Tornado Alley. We have at least 18 stores,” Smith said.
Smith has worked at the company for five years and described how the work has changed during that time.
“When we first started here, we were just working on forklifts. But we’ve grown and added some lots and buildings,” Smith said. “Now we have about 24 fulltime employees, and we get about 200 boom lifts a year. The work these machines do can be pretty rough on them.”
Smith said he and his crew enjoy the challenge of refurbishing machines so they can be productive again. He recalled one especially time-consuming job.
“There was a machine that had been working in a salt mine, so every single piece of the machine was rusted. We were breaking bolts left and right. It was a nightmare, but we got it taken apart and made it like new again,” Smith said.
According to Smith, the company focuses strongly on safety.
Race Bennett and Jordyn Smith run diagnostics.
“We understand that the machine we’re working on will be putting someone 80 feet into the air, so we take a lot of pride in our work, because we can’t get anything wrong,” Smith said. “And we have good testing procedures at the end.”
Looking to the future, Smith said the company will adapt as the industry changes. Although most of the fleet is diesel-powered, Smith expects that to gradually change.
“We’ve got some electric lifts that we’re going to start working on,” Smith said.
Another focus of Duke Rentals, both locally and nationally, is doing good in the community.
“We try to be helpful in our community. So sometimes if the meat locker needs help moving their big storage containers around, we’ll go help. Or one time, UPS was having work done, and they needed stuff unloaded from a trailer, so we went over there to help,” Smith said.
Another way Duke Rentals/Precision Components gives relates to cancer.
Owner Ken Tolton’s late wife, Linda, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2008. As a result of that experience, the company now takes an active role in fundraising for the cause. For that reason, some of Duke Rentals lifts are painted purple, which is the color of pancreatic cancer awareness ribbons. Whenever a purple lift is rented, a portion of the money goes to the Linda Tolton Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund at the University of Nebraska Foundation.
“That’s something pretty cool that the company does,” Smith said.
Right now, Smith and his crew are working to keep up with their workload.
“Summer seems to be a busier time, because that’s construction season,” Smith said.
But Smith doesn’t mind staying busy and working hard. He said he is glad to be part of the team.
“I came in here with almost no mechanical experience and not a lot of management experience, but they promote from within. So, that was really cool,” he said. “If you work hard, they’ll reward you.”
This column is dedicated to all the painters out there. Not the Pablo Picasso types. You are great, too, but this one is for those of you with the paint rollers, the 4-inch brushes, the power sprayers and the dozens of drop cloths. You have my respect and admiration.