Going Forward

This month’s cool “creation” was built for Jim & Susan Lane of Brookfield, MO. Clint has had the pleasure of ordering and customizing three new Peterbilts for Jim & Susan since 2002 (he even featured one of them in his September 2006 article). Jim, like a lot of truckers today, didn’t want to buy a new truck because of all the current emission items. But, thinking back, he remembers not wanting to buy a 3406E when it came out, either. Change is always difficult. With that in mind, Jim decided that he was in business to go forward, not backwards, so he went ahead and ordered the new Peterbilt – urea and all!

The trick with these new trucks is making them look cool – it is not as easy as it used to be, but it is possible. To help make that happen, Jim had an ace in the hole – an involved wife to help him choose the colors. Susan came down to the dealership and looked through all of the possible colors and schemes, and then chose a color combination that has always been one of her favorites (yellow, pink and brown). The guys in the shop weren’t sure how it would look, but the truck was ordered solid “OSHA Safety Yellow” with a “Hot Fudge Brown” frame.

The truck is a 2012 Peterbilt 389 with a 280” wheelbase, a 63” HR sleeper, a Cummins ISX 600 with 2,050 ft-lbs. of torque, a car-hauler front axle, an underneath exhaust and a Platinum interior package with all of the good stuff. When the truck arrived, it looked pretty plain, but once Rick got the stripes on (he lost some sleep trying to get them just right), it all came together.

Once the stripes were done, it was time for KC Peterbilt’s new body shop manager Dave Freeman, with help from Clint’s dad and Jesus, to hang all of the extra accessories. Jesus always says to Clint, “Your dream is my nightmare” (it is his job to make all of Clint’s wild ideas a reality). For this rig, they added nine flush-mount (nearly invisible) cab lights, cab and sleeper extensions, breather lights, one of Clint’s stainless steel drop visors, two sets of train horns, aluminum single fenders with no visible brackets and a flush deck plate. They also reskinned the passenger door without the peep hole window and chopped the breather lids. George at Crosslink powder coated tons of the bright stuff including the tanks, the DEF cover, the deck plates, the rear fenders and even the TriPac APU (which was installed by the guys at Central States Thermo King).

Growing up on a farm, Jim tried being a farmer but just couldn’t get trucking out of his blood. Jim and Susan, who have a 25-year-old son named Brice and a 28-year-old daughter named Brandi, have been married for over 30 years. This tractor, like their previous one, pulls a reefer throughout the Midwest and Southeast for Curley Trucking of LaClede, MO.

This truck is a good example of what can be done with one of these new Urea-equipped (and everything else) Peterbilt 389s. People are afraid of the new technology and that is keeping many from buying a new truck. But think about it, every new engine that has been introduced by the various manufacturers over the past few decades has always come with fear, criticism and anxiety. What some people may not realize is that every major engine change since 1970, when the Clean Air Act was passed, has been largely EPA driven. People did not like it when the Cat 3406 replaced the 1693, when the 3406B replaced the 3408, or when the electronic engines replaced the old mechanical ones, but all of those engines went on to become legendary. Don’t be afraid of change – embrace it and go forward!