Icing On The Cake

This month’s creation was built for Jake Arment (AKA Janco Jake), a driver for Janco LLC out of Maxwell, IA.  With three road trucks that haul livestock, and one dump truck ran locally, Janco wanted to do something special for one of their drivers, so they let him order this truck, which was a dream come true for driver Jake Arment (28) of Eddyville, IA.  And being a big fan of 10-4 Magazine, getting the new rig featured this month was just the icing on the cake.

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Now retired, Ken Jans worked for a large seed company (Pioneer) that has been around for almost 100 years.  His wife Michelle runs a family practice clinic in town.  Their son, David Jans (34), who runs the dump truck locally so he can be home with his three kids each night, is married to Merideth, who is a Hospice Nurse.  The two got married in 2019.  David’s three kids are Carson (11), Preston (5), and Tyson (3).  Together, these four “Jans” (Ken, Michelle, David and Merideth) make up Janco, along with a family of dedicated employees.

The son of Jim and Diana Arment, Jake grew up riding with his dad, who trucked for 30 years.  After three decades of driving, Jim got a new job as a deputy right at home, but he still drives occasionally, helping out a friend when needed.  Jake originally wanted to be involved in sports coaching and he even tried going to college, but he really liked being out on the road when he was a kid, so he decided to go trucking.  His dad helped him get his CDL, which was cool, because that meant that Jake got to truck with him during the learning process.

After he got his CDL, Jake went to work for Myron Hasley, pulling a trailer for Larry Veenstra.  At that time, Jake was running local, but he really wanted to get out on the road.  After meeting David Jans at a local place they both hauled into, the two hit it off.  Jake ended up going to work as a driver at Janco and began running longer trips.  Before long, Jake was fitting right in, and became part of the Janco family.  David’s mom Michelle still makes Jake cookies and starts his truck for him each morning, so it’s warmed up before he heads out, even if it’s 4:00 AM!

Jake and his girlfriend Michaela have been together for a little while.  They had actually known of each other for close to six years, and then one night Jake “swiped up” on her Snapchat story.  They have been an item ever since.  Michaela actually came with Jake when we did the final specs and add-on list at the dealership before ordering the truck.  She is cool.

David Jans called me and asked if I had a truck slot for a driver that was like a brother to him.  He said, “This might sound funny, but this is a dream of Jake’s, and I want him to get whatever makes him happy.  If he is happy, then I will be, as well.”  I was really surprised when he said I didn’t need to give him a play-by-play of the build.  He told me there was no hurry, as Jake had a truck to drive until this new one was done, which was great, because, well… you know how I am with deadlines, and I don’t like to rush perfection.

The new truck is a 2022 Peterbilt 389 – the last of the old dash 389’s – powered by a 565-hp X15 Cummins hooked to an 18-speed.  Since Jake hauls livestock, it made sense to order the truck with a modest wheelbase.  Jake had driven a cream and brown truck before, but had always loved purple, so when it came time to pick colors for the new ride, he decided to do it cream with a purple frame.  When the truck showed up, it sat at the dealership for a while until we were able to have Charles gather the necessary parts and loosen up Mike and Cody’s schedules so they could get it dialed-in for Jake.

When it came time to pull the truck into the shop, Mike was in charge of making Jake’s dreams a reality.  He started off by gutting the interior panels and shipping them to Randy at Spare Time Fab.  Then, Mike went to work on the exterior, which included hiding the DEF tank and installing one of my body drop kits.  He also changed the boxes, added straight pipes, a visor, cab lights, and breather light panels.  Pat painted the air and fuel tanks, Fisher fenders, wide cowls, the backs of the headlights, and a flush-mount deck plate from Merritt, complete with one of my new hidden boot boxes.  Mike also added 12 Ga. mirror brackets, a Jim Crain light bar with five lights, a 20” bumper with a flip kit, steer axle dumps, under glow lights, and a train horn.

After stage one was complete, it was time to do the interior.  Jake wanted us to focus on the interior more than usual because that is where he spends most of his time.  After our friend David Carney brought us all the custom pieces back from Randy, Mike began putting the interior together.  Jake has always wanted the inside of his truck to be completely painted and done in diamond stitched button tuck, so that is exactly what we did.  Countless hours of meticulous work was done to the inside of this truck – even the doors were removed to paint them inside.  Mike did an amazing job getting it all put together after Pat painted every little interior piece, including a floor from Spare Time Fab.  Mike also added the second shifter option from Randy, as well.

When it was all said and done, we think this rig turned out sweet, and it looks cool hauling livestock down the road for Smoke Behrens out of Carroll, IA.  We are so blessed to know and be friends with so many people that share the same passion for trucks as we do here at KC Peterbilt.  I wanted to include a special thank you to the Janco family for letting us be a part of this dream-come-true build.  Jake is super happy about his new custom-ordered ride, and being featured here in 10-4 Magazine this month, well that is just the icing on the cake!