By: Pierrot Baptiste Jr.
William "Rocky" Sellers is the owner-operator of Honey Bear Wrecking based out of Savannah, Ga. Sellers started the demolition service company in March of 2020.
This is the first of two dump trucks operated by Honey Bear Wrecking. Sellers says the name is inspired by the well know Winnie-the-Pooh cartoon.
Sellers inspects and does work on semi-trucks like this one daily. He says although he's never driven commercially, he's done work on semi-trucks and has always been interested in working on them.
Sellers performs an inspection check. Sellers does daily inspection checks on all of his semi-trucks before drivers can use them.
Sellers works on a drive shaft part. The drive shaft popped and Sellers had to go and tow it back to one of the Honey Bear Wrecking yards in order to work on it.
The first of two yards that Honey Bear Wrecking operates out of. Sellers says the yard is shared between Honey Bear Wrecking and another company that serves as an auto shop.
Sellers sprays rust inhibitor on a pin shift. The pin shift was part of the drive shaft that broke off on the truck.
Sellers removes a bad air suspension bag. Sellers says the inspection element of his day-to-day job is his favorite part because fixing broken parts is how he got his start.
Pictured is the bad air suspension bag. According to Sellers, a bad air suspension bag can lead to compressor burnout due to air leaks.
Sellers installs a new air suspension bag. Sellers caught the bad air suspension bag during the inspection check.
William Sellers continues his inspection check to find other issues with the truck. Sellers began working on trucks with his grandfather in the 1980s.
Sellers looks on as a teenager he's mentoring for the summer, T.J. Williams, grabs a part from his pickup truck. Sellers says he feels a responsibility to extend a hand to the younger generation as his grandfather did with him.
Sellers hands Williams a bad brake chamber. Williams is around the same age Sellers was when he first started working on vehicles.
Sellers looks on as Williams re-parks his pickup truck. Williams recently earned his learners permit and in addition to doing work on semi-trucks and vehicles, Sellers is also teaching Williams to drive.
Williams looks on as Sellers examines a new brake chamber. "It's important to be able to pass the knowledge that was instilled in me down to the next generation. School costs money and a lot of what I teach him may not be taught in schools," Sellers said.
Sellers preps the new brake chamber for it to be placed onto the truck. Bad brake chambers can result in serious injury or even death because when they go bad, they can explode.
Sellers prepares to use his power saw to cut off a remaining piece in order to make room for the new brake chamber. Sellers had to replace the blade after it broke off when he initially attempted to cut the remaining piece.
Sellers uses the power saw to remove the remaining piece. Sellers says one of the main lessons his grandfather taught him was to always have his own tools so that he wouldn't have to depend on anyone but himself.
Sellers prepares to use one of the Honey Bear Wrecking bulldozers. The company owns and operates two bulldozers, three dump trucks, and three semi-dump trailers.
Sellers bulldozers a small tree, in order to have room to remove dirt from one of his dump trucks. "Owning and operating my own company with the knowledge that was imparted in me from my grandfather allows me to feel safe and accountable because if something goes wrong, there's no one to blame but me," Sellers said.
