May 2014 |
Overdrive
| 63
Text
INFO
to
205-289-3555
or
visit
www.ovdinfo.com
Our top quality stainless steel products
are made using the highest grade 304
series stainless steel available. Nobody
shines like we do!
w e b s i t e : w w w. t r u c k a r m o r. b i z
e m a i l : i n f o @ t r u c k a r m o r. b i z
P h o n e : 1 - 6 0 5 - 2 3 9 - 4 8 8 4 • F a x : 1 - 6 0 5 - 2 3 9 - 4 6 8 9
Untitled-4 1 7/25/13 10:43 AM
Text
INFO
to
205-289-3555
or
visit
www.ovdinfo.com
Custom Rigs PRo tiPs
Bruce Mallinson is the
owner of Pittsburgh
Power, an engine
performance shop in
Saxonburg, Pa.
A rebuilding success story that gets 8.3 mpg
I
f you say you're not
mechanically inclined, I'll
tell you that you're never
too old to learn. You can save
thousands of dollars by doing
some of your own repairs.
A friend, DuWayne Ehrke,
who took to trucking in 2012,
rebuilt an old Kenworth and
used his own mechanical prow-
ess to turn it into a moneymak-
ing machine.
In 2012, he bought the
1998 Kenworth T600 with a
Detroit Series 60 DD4 engine.
The truck was faded blue and
had been beaten by the sun.
DuWayne knew that to turn a
profit, his truck needed to get
good fuel mileage.
He only paid $13,500 for the
truck, which had more than a
million miles on it. Before he
ever pulled a load, he started a
rebuild process. The rear sus-
pension was first; he updated
some of the parts and rebushed
it, then added MicroBlue wheel
bearings. He then changed the
gear ratio to 2:64.
My shop supplied some
under-the-hood upgrades,
including a turbocharger, a
ported and ceramic-coated
exhaust manifold, a crank-
shaft damper, a mercury-filled
engine balancer, the Fass Fuel
System, the OPS bypass oil
filtration system, Fleet Air
filters, a charge-air cooler and
a high-flow radiator. We also
rebuilt the ECM.
The last item for this part of
the makeover was super-single
tires. When the faded-blue
KW went to work on its first
haul – 79,000 pounds to Texas
– DuWayne averaged 8.3 miles
per gallon.
He did a few more rebuild
phases: changing fuel lines,
installing a new exhaust system
and adding new fairings and a
new bumper. Today it feels like a
new truck. DuWayne painted it
Harley-Davidson gun-metal gray.
Purchase price included, Du-
Wayne spent $54,862 on the truck,
doing most of the work himself.
— Bruce Mallinson
ProTips_0514.indd 63 4/30/14 4:31 PM
