North Dakota · Bakken
Diesel & Heavy Duty Mechanic Jobs In North Dakota
Mechanic is a category, not a job. Truck, heavy duty, pump, injector specialist and fleet lead all post under it out here, and the spread between them is real money. Every number below came off a North Dakota posting we opened and read.
What It Pays In The Bakken
7 North Dakota employers · postings open in 2026
Where ranges start
$25–28/hr
Four employers open at $25. Two years is the usual bar even there.
Where ranges top out
$32–40/hr
Truck and shop work lands here. Heavy duty sits at the upper end.
Specialist / fleet lead
$35–50/hr
Injector work and fleet management are the two seats above the pack.
Overtime rate, posted
$52.50/hr
One outfit prints its time-and-a-half ceiling. That is an OT rate, not a base.
Every Posting Behind Those Numbers
| Company | Where | Posted pay | Type of mechanic |
|---|
| Preferred Energy | Williston | $30–50/hr | Heavy duty + fleet manager |
| Copper Tip Energy Services | Williston | $35–45/hr | Heavy duty, coil injector specialist |
| Copper Tip Energy Services | Williston | $30–40/hr | Heavy duty, well service |
| Chamley Pipe & Salvage | Williston | $25–36/hr | Diesel, shop |
| WISCO / Omni Environmental | 5 ND towns | $25–35/hr | Diesel, fleet and oilfield equipment |
| Wolla Trucking | Williston | $26–35/hr | Diesel truck, night shift |
| Basin Trucking & Rental | Williston | $28–34/hr | Diesel truck |
| Fischer-Bush Equipment | Williston | $25–32/hr | Diesel water pump |
Eight postings from seven employers. WISCO Trucking and Omni Environmental Solutions are the same operation...the posting says so...so we count them once. All eight were open in 2026 and we read every one.
Mechanic Is Not One Job
The word covers at least five different seats in this basin, and they do not pay the same.
- Truck mechanic. Tractors, trailers, tankers, DOT inspections, brakes and tires. Posted $26–35.
- Heavy duty / equipment. Well service iron, hydraulics, rebuilds. One shop asks for CVIP inspection certification. Posted $30–40.
- Pump mechanic. One Williston shop works diesel driven water pumps specifically. Posted $25–32.
- Specialist. One company wants injector systems by model number, servo controls and high pressure hydraulic rebuilds. Posted $35–45.
- Fleet lead. Wrenching plus PM schedules, DOT compliance, parts inventory, vendors and supervising junior mechanics. Posted $30–50.
Read the duties before you read the rate. Two postings titled the same thing can be two different trades.
The Five Dollar Lesson
One Williston company posted two heavy duty mechanic seats on the same day.
The first pays $30–40 and wants a well service background and CVIP certification. The second pays $35–45 and wants the same five years plus hands-on experience with a specific family of injector systems, named by model number, along with hydraulic theory and high pressure component rebuilds.
Same employer, same town, same experience requirement. Five dollars an hour apart, and the only difference is knowing one type of equipment.
That is roughly ten thousand a year for a skill you can only get by putting your hands on that iron. If your shop runs it, get on those repairs on purpose.
What The Job Actually Is
Pulled from these eight postings, in their own words:
- Diesel engines, transmissions, drivelines, brakes, tires, electrical and hydraulic systems
- Diagnostics with real equipment...infrared engine analyzers, compression gauges, computerized diagnostic devices
- Reading schematics, service manuals and technical diagrams to chase a fault instead of swapping parts
- DOT inspections on commercial vehicles, and one shop wants CVIP certification
- Preventative maintenance on a schedule the service manager sets
- Hydraulic power units, pumps, valves, servo controls and high pressure components on the specialist seats
- Hand tools, power tools, soldering equipment and precision measuring tools like calipers
- Test driving what you fixed, and adjusting it to manufacturer spec
- Talking to drivers to get the actual description of the problem
- Documenting repairs and parts used, because the shop bills against it
One posting lists the software too...record keeping and vehicle management systems, online service manual databases, and Excel. This is not a job you do with only a toolbox anymore.
Shift, Shop And On-Call
These postings are unusually specific about hours, and it varies more than the pay does.
- One Williston outfit runs a day and a night diesel seat, so that shop turns around the clock.
- One prints 12-hour day shifts, 5 days a week, with more available if you want them.
- One runs 7 to 6 Monday through Friday plus every other Saturday morning.
- Two ask about on-call rotation directly on the application.
- One requires 25% travel. Another hires across five North Dakota towns.
Ask which one you are signing up for. A $35 seat on call every other week is not the same job as a $35 seat on days.
What They Actually Ask For
- Experience over schooling. Two years is the common floor. The specialist and fleet seats want five. Technical certification shows up as preferred, not required, on nearly every one.
- Your own tools. Stated outright on several. Two Williston shops offer a tool allowance, one of them $250 a month, and one adds a clothing allowance.
- Valid driver's license and a clean record. A CDL is listed as a plus, not a requirement.
- All three systems. Nearly every posting words it the same way...mechanical, electrical and hydraulic.
- Welding and fabrication shows up as a plus rather than a must.
- Lifting. Where a number is given it runs 50 lbs frequently and 75 occasionally.
Worth knowing
Two of these Williston postings state that people with a criminal record are encouraged to apply. If that has been closing doors on you, those are the ads to read first. Both still run a drug screen.
How To Get Paid More Without Changing Companies
- Own a specialty. The clearest five dollar gap in this basin is equipment-specific knowledge, not general skill.
- Learn hydraulics properly. Every seat posting above $35 asks for hydraulic troubleshooting, not just replacement.
- Get your inspection certification. CVIP is named on a heavy duty posting here.
- Take the fleet side. The top posted seat pairs mechanic work with running the fleet and supervising other mechanics...but note it also requires relocating to Williston before you start.
- Work the overtime. One employer prints time and a half up to $52.50 past 40 hours, on top of a $2,500 average weekly gross.
New To The Patch?
Mechanic is one of the few oilfield seats where what you already know transfers straight in. If you have turned wrenches anywhere...trucking, farm, construction, military...you are closer to this than to most jobs out here.
See What Every ND Oilfield Job Pays →
Where These Numbers Come From
Eight North Dakota mechanic postings from seven employers, every one opened and read in full, all open during 2026. Company and town printed next to each number so you can check us.
Two of those postings turned out to be the same operation under two names, and we counted them once rather than letting one employer show up twice in a wage range.
We report what a company posted. We do not grade it.
No estimated or modeled salaries appear here. Job sites generate their own salary guesses and they are not real numbers. A quick way to spot one...a modeled figure usually comes out with cents attached, like $44,617.53, while a wage an employer actually typed is round.
Government baseline for context: the Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the all occupations mean wage for the West North Dakota nonmetropolitan area at $29.27/hr (May 2023, OEWS). That data runs about two years behind. These postings are from this year.
Common Questions
How much does a diesel mechanic make in North Dakota?
Across eight Bakken postings open in 2026, ranges started at $25–28/hr and topped out at $32–40/hr. Specialist and fleet lead seats posted $35–50/hr, and one employer prints an overtime rate of $52.50/hr past 40 hours.
What is the highest paying mechanic job in the Bakken?
Of the postings we read, the top was a Williston heavy duty mechanic seat that also carries fleet manager duties, posted at $30–50/hr. It requires five years and relocating to Williston before starting.
Do you need a CDL to be an oilfield mechanic in North Dakota?
No. A valid driver's license and clean record is the requirement across these postings. A CDL is listed as a plus rather than a must.
Do oilfield mechanics need their own tools?
Yes, several state it outright. Two Williston shops offer a tool allowance, one of them $250 a month, and one adds a clothing allowance on top.
What skills pay the most for an oilfield mechanic?
Equipment specialisation and hydraulics. One Williston company posted the same heavy duty mechanic role at two rates on the same day, five dollars an hour apart, with the higher one requiring injector system experience.