Headline News

New Orangeville business HLR Hydraulics offers much-needed off-hours service for repairs

April 24, 2026   ·   0 Comments

By Joshua Drakes, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

HLR Hydraulics is the newest addition to Orangeville’s small business community, built to keep local farms and heavy equipment moving when it matters most.

Owned and operated by long-time diesel mechanic Jack Batten, the business was born directly from years spent on call in the field, watching farmers and contractors lose precious time waiting for parts that simply weren’t available after hours.

HLR celebrated a grand opening on April 13, with supporters, staff, Orangeville Mayor Lisa Post and Councillor Joe Andrews in attendance.

“I’ve been a diesel mechanic for over a decade, and one of the biggest problems for the past 10 years is that getting parts is always a headache,” he said. “There’ll be farmers out there that need to work. They have to find some way to do it. But hydraulic lines, that’s what we make here, was one of the big things that you couldn’t get after hours.”

Over those years, he repeatedly ran into that problem: vital components, including hydraulic lines, couldn’t be sourced when machinery broke down at night, on weekends, or during storms.

With a lot of plowing and fieldwork often happening after dark or during tight seasonal windows, every hour of downtime can cost farmers significantly. Batten set out to build a service designed around availability and speed to service those strict timelines.

HLR Hydraulics operates with a dual model: a mobile service van capable of crimping and replacing hydraulic lines on site, and a fully equipped in‑shop facility that handles larger jobs, including big four‑inch lines and specialized components.

The team of seven technicians and support staff services farm machinery, heavy equipment, and even complex German foundation drills, backed by a network of strong supplier relationships that Batten made during his career, which allows them to secure specialty parts, often within an hour.

“A lot of connections have come through the years of my work,” he said. “I’ve been building relationships with these suppliers for a long time. That’s one thing we locked in, our amazing suppliers. We can even get specialty items within an hour.”

He said that ability is essential for a service business like HLR Hydraulics. He even has business connections to foreign companies that are notoriously difficult to contact quickly.

“We can work with literally anything that has an engine, whether it’s electric or diesel, for example, we do a lot of work on German foundational drills,” Batten said. “So even those parts we can get quick. For example, the Liebherr Company, they’re very hard to get parts for. We have a good connection to get them within not even a day.”

What makes HLR Hydraulics stand out is its commitment to after‑hours service, responsive communication, and deeply local roots.

“If it’s Sunday at three in the morning or Monday night at 11 p.m., I’ll be there,” Batten said. “That’s anytime you need, we work.”

The company is structured to be available whenever customers need help – whether that’s late at night or early on a weekend.

Coupled with fast access to hard‑to‑find parts and a team that personally cares about the success of local farmers and businesses, HLR Hydraulics offers a level of reliability and dedication that helps it stand out in the region.

Readers Comments (0)