One of a Kind: Kim Watts’ custom Peterbilt 389
Rear Vision
Way out west in the Great Southern region of Western Australia is a one of a kind Peterbilt 389 working hard and looking good doing it. ACT talks to its owner Kim Watts.
Original ACT archive feature. Photography by Kim Watts.
Situated in Narrogin, in the Great Southern region, around 190 kilometres south east of the Western Australian capital Perth, Kim Watts has recently invested in a custom made Peterbilt 389.
Kim is an owner driver and doesn’t work for anyone in particular these days rather he freelances his towing services.
“We freelance, subby to whoever, whenever, wherever,” he tells ACT.
Way out west his Pete is set up for triple road-train work and is rated to a respectable 130 tonne, however Kim says the truck is a good length at 19.7 metres pulling a 45 foot trailer, but in WA he says he is allowed to pull a 20 metre single.
The boys in the West seem to have all the good rules.
ACT asked him what the inspiration was for his perfect Pete.
“In building the Pete I wanted something different, out of the ordinary, traditional and definitely old school,” he says.
“I wanted to do something that no-one else had and I think the Pete is definitely it.”
He explains the truck originally had a Cummins motor from its factory build however Kim has a preference for Caterpillar so the Cummins was replaced with an ACERT C15 @ 550hp.
“We removed all the 10 stud hubs and replaced them with spiders and replaced the electric start with air start,” Kim explains.
“The air was chosen as a reliability factor and we swapped the 18 speed Eaton for a 10 speed 1241C Spicer and 4 speed joey box manual shift as opposed to air shift.”
The diffs are 52/190's with a 4.33 ratio.
“I was chasing a 6 rod rear end, me, I’m not a fan of airbag rear ends, they are for sheilas,” he reckons.
The truck came with Hendrickson suspension in it so that was left as is.
He says the turntable is a 3 1/2" boomerang, on a ball-race. “They are I reckon the simplest and best turn tables you can get,” Kim attests.
He says the steering is courtesy of Mack, with a nice 22" wheel.
Kim says the "alien eyes" headlights were replaced by the more traditional large round 7" headlights which are polycarbonate and way more robust as well as adding to the old school look.
The fuel tanks carry 1400 litres. He says the truck also has hydraulics, but the hydraulic tank is also used for fuel to add the extra capacity.
Kim says it is a simple matter to drain the fuel and add hydraulic oil if the hydraulics are needed.
To set off the truck perfectly is a bullbar that was custom made by AJ's Toowoomba.
“They did an awesome job, I was after a nice clean, no fuss looking bullbar, and I think this bar really fits the bill,” he says.
“The corner cross bars are all double thickness for extra strength, and the bar is FUPS rated.”
It’s no good just looking good and Kim says this Pete doesn’t just look good, it works hard and most importantly, “The truck rides awesomely, even bobtail it rides well,” he tells ACT.
Rear Vision: where are they now?
Do you know where this truck is today, or have an update on its story? Tell ACT what happened next. We will verify current updates before adding them to the archive.