Factory Finish: G-mar Transport’s custom Kenworth T409

G-mar Transport’s latest rig, a brand new Kenworth T409, has been given a classic SAR look, Ian Lee gets the story behind the build.

Words by Ian Lee. Photography by Avit Chuan – Toast Graphics.

It’s getting harder to find a way to stand out when customising a big rig. With so many ‘dress up’ suppliers out there, sometimes it takes an approach which is above and beyond the norm found in our chrome laden industry.

This is exactly what has been done with G-mar Transport’s latest rig, a brand new Kenworth T409 that has been given a classic SAR look, while still maintaining a factory finish.

From the front to the back, little has been left untouched in the quest for a unique rig, while still retaining its ability to go out and haul a load.

With over seven months of steady workshop time from start to finish, it’s taken a lot of time and effort to go from factory finished to factory finish.

The project began when the owner of G-mar transport decided it was time for a new rig. After much consideration, he settled on a brand new Kenworth T409, continuing his tradition of owning the truck with the red badge on the front. Although this was his first T series, he knew it was up to the task of the heavy haulage work the Kenny would be subjected to. Once the truck left the factory, it was straight to Custom Air in Melbourne for an additional air conditioning unit to be fitted.

Once done, it was off to Leli at LA Trucks in southwest Sydney, for the fun to begin.

On glancing at the pictures, you might have noticed that the cab sits a bit higher than expected. And you’d be right. Once the T409 landed in the workshop, the front end was stripped down, the factory bumper and bonnet put aside. Jacking up the cab, billet spacers were mounted under the front mounts, while a custom mount was fabricated to boost up the height at the rear of the cab. To allow for the raised cab height, the steering and gearchange have been swapped out with components from another Kenworth model. The cab electrical harness and airlines were all lengthened; using factory piping and bracketry to keep the truck looking like it did when it rolled off the line at Bayswater.

Once the cab had been lifted, the hood had to be modified to suit. To meet ADR requirements of headlight height, the hood itself couldn’t be lifted up to close the gap that now existed. So some handy fibreglass work had to be carried out. The bonnet was cut in half, with 100mm added to the height in order to meet original factory clearances. Whilst fibreglassing, a set of custom rear guards were mounted to the hood, along with an extra 25mm glassed into the wheel arches to allow for the secure mounting of stainless hood flares. With the cab now sitting higher, a set of 16 inch air cleaners were fitted, with stainless air cleaner hats.

Taking advantage of the extra space under the cab, a set of factory look toolboxes were manufactured and mounted. The battery box has been relocated 75mm in towards the chassis, to make the lines of the truck flow nicely. Gone are the factory cheese grater fuel tank steps, the T409 is now fitted up with traditional OEM tank steps to give that old school look. The tanks don’t have a polished finish, just the look the owner was aiming for in the build. Mounted behind the cab is a one of a kind pogo stick, with removable rear cover for easy access, and the roadtrain relay box is now mounted under the cab. To help with hitching a trailer in the dark an LED worklamp has been mounted on the rear cab panel.

Finally, to help with getting up on the chassis, extra long grab handles were fitted to the flares, and deckplates were manufactured then mounted on top of the fuel tanks.

If you have a look at the mudguard mounting bracketry, you’ll see it’s not possible to be able to walk into any parts place in Australia and pick them up off the shelf.

Specially manufactured for this truck, the brackets sit low, and the rear light bar has been created so it matches the layout of the mudguard brackets.

The rear light bar incorporates an 80-tonne tow hitch mounted up in a three piece arrangement. To hitch the trailer, a Jost slider has been utilized, fitted up with a Holland turntable with 70 mm pin to haul the big gear.

After the parts had been fitted up in a dry run to ensure of fitment, they were all sent off to Habib Bros Smash Repairs for spraypainting to match the factory applied paintjob. Once the hood was assembled with a mesh grille on the truck again, it was time to mount the new King Bars bullbar, equipped with a 100 tonne tow hook.

To keep the old school theme going, hard to find Hella bull lights have been used for auxiliary lighting at the front end, as well as a camera just in case.

Before the truck could hit the road, an engineer pored over the rig, approving the modifications and ensuring no snarky heavy vehicle inspector could ping the truck for being modified.

This T409 is not the same truck that left the factory. After much time, sweat and thought, the truck has ended up with an almost factory finish, without over the top changes to its layout. A working truck, this is shown by the fact it was unveiled at the local dealership’s Christmas party, and was working hard the next morning earning its way. All the while standing out from the crowd.

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.