These three guys do RVing in style. What do you think of these?
When you think of a truck and fifth wheel trailer combo, you usually think of someone’s (your own if you have a fifth wheel trailer) truck. But who hasn’t at least considered hooking one up to a big tractor like these units?
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It’s almost like it’s the 5th wheel version of the toterhome (a motorhome built on a big tractor like this to pull it). As we’ve gone along with you truckers and RVers out there and found a lot of interesting big vehicles of all types, this is one of the rarer combos.
That doesn’t mean it doesn’t deserve a spot though. These 5th wheel combos don’t all have all that much information available out there for them. The white (and pretty long) conventional there pulling a long fifth wheel with the racing decals/paint was seen in California. It belongs to a fellow named Mark Tarascou. It showed up at the “Truckin’ For Kids Truck Show there, and eSPeeScotty caught the tractor / fifth wheel trailer rolling.
Then there’s the mack classic, all polished up and highly custoized, and pulling a pretty large fifth wheel of its own. The look is a bit incongruous — the modern but fairly plain trailer attached to the very showy custom Mack truck.
And finally, another classic tractor-trailer: this gold-ish Kenworth. Not only is the tractor itself customized, but that fifth wheel trailer — with multiple slide outs no less — is not only customized but is customized to match the tractor. It was spotted years ago by the “Retirement tips blogger” who seems to have stopped blogging in around 2010. Thanks for sharing this particular photo with us all though!
Custom semi truck enthusiasts, this one might be for you. It’s a custom Pete owned by Black Sheep Trucking.
The company is out of Salisbury, Pa. The custom work on the tractor was done by Murry Signs (art), which is out of Grantsville, Md.
From the photo, you might wonder a bit if there was some photoshop involved. But nope. This one is au naturale.
It’s become pretty popular, too, showing at various truck shows around the U.S. It was seen at the Western Maryland Truck Show and Carlisle All Truck Nationals last year.
So far, opinions on this one are fairly sharply divided. Some people like the “graffiti” look of the paint job, others don’t. What do you all think of it? Both the paint job and the custom work? Also the overall impression?
Four Future Trucks
So, owner operators and truck drivers around the world, you know we’ve been finding interesting future semi truck designs and seeing what you all think of them for a while now. But most of the designs we’ve shared have been American semi trucks or European designs (often the cabovers are European).
But it turns out the Chinese auto graphic designers have been busy recently as well, and here are some of the designs they’ve come up with.
These are mostly cabovers as well — guess they use COEs there like in Europe — but there is that one interesting conventional unit there.
Ok, so what do you think of these designs? How do they stack up against the American ones we’ve shared.
In particular, I’m betting on that white conventional and the other white sort-of-conventional where the cab hangs — the windshield or the front section of it — juts out over the hood.
Update: Since writing this post it has come to my attention that at least some of these designs are actually by Europeans or Russians, although they were shared with Chinese language on them. If anyone knows more about the designers, let us know so we can add them to this write up.
Custom Big Rig Interiors
We often feature the exteriors of custom semi trucks, but for some people, a custom interior is just as important, and for customizers, too, whether semi tractors, motorhomes, or other luxury RVs, the interior can be just as important or even more so than the outside. After all, it is where owner-operator or driver spends the most time.
So whether customized for a modern look or a classic look, shine and sparkle or matte and natural materials, we’ve seleted four top custom interiors that have gotten a fair amount of attention over the past couple of years. Which of these custom interiors is closest to what you would want? What would you change?
#1 is JR Schleuger’s Kenworth. One of the notable things about this custom semi truck is the whole thing is made out of American parts — on purpose — including the custom interior. Schleuger did this to support his countrymen, to take a stand for American products and industry in a time when other countries are on the rise due to cheaper labor, and to make a point.
The truck is a 2003 Kenworth W900L. Schleuger drivse it for IMT Transport out of Garner, Iowa.
#2 is a Heavy Haulage Australia Wester Star working truck. Clean looking interior, wouldn’t you say? It was photographed by Dingos.
#3 is Anthony Fischkelta’s Project 351, of Moonachie, N.J. who built this custom semi to outdo his friend with his own custom rig. It’s a 2009 W900 Kenworth.
#4 is Ryan Derrickson’s 1993 Peterbilt 379 extended hood flat top (63” flat top), which he’s the owner-operator of out in Wisconsin. As you can see from the picture (and the rest of the custom truck has the same theme, its a truck customized based on an old-school airliner theme. You can see the name given by Derrickson on the inside of the door there is also airline themed.
Owner-operators and truck drivers out there — RVers, too — we’ve probably all been down a long road and started to regret that we didn’t stop at the last gas station to fuel up, but hoped the next station wouldn’t be too far. Eyeing the fuel gauge every 10 or 20 seconds for the next 30 minutes or hour isn’t that pleasant. Maybe this custom semi truck has it figured out — look at those fuel tanks on that tractor.
However, for me personally, this might not help, because no matter how many fuel tanks you have, you can always recalculate how often you need to fuel up and space it out ever further until you’re there white-knuckling the steering wheel with your eyes on the fuel gauge again.
I’m hoping some of you guys might know what this truck is being called, and who owns it. It’s become quite famous. Photos of it are viral and you can see them all over the internet, but no one has pointed to the owner-operator, custom semi truck team, or whether its running for anyone.
Anyway, it looks like this custom semi rig has six fuel tanks. Three on each side.
Truckers out there, how often would you need to fuel up if you had six tanks like this?
Also, besides the tanks, what do you think of the custom job they did to this tractor?
Look at the way they fit the grill and the bumper together (image above). It’s a small bumper, but it seems of a part with the grill. What about those stacks? The whole semi tractor has a bit of a classic look if you ask me. The painted fenders, the rounded lines of the big sleeper unit, the rounded and painted headlights.
What do you think of these set-ups where they use a big tractor and tow a fifth wheel trailer, but then they also park a small vehicle on the bed of the tractor? I’ve seen them load little Isuzu’s and smart cars on the bed mostly. Of course, you could also add an ATV to your RV trailer / semi set up this way, too, and tow a toyhauler.
Now, having this kind of luxury RV set up is one thing. Being able to pull it off without having any kind of incident is another. You don’t want to damage your trailer, and you don’t want to damage your small commuter either.
So that means that a narrower car is better — at least for keeping from making dents.
And truckers out there, and RV owners who have experience with turning large fifth wheel trailers might be wondering about jacknifing with this set up — probably the single most important consideration with this.
Well, we found a company called RV Haulers who showed that it can be done with a small smart car like theirs.
They got two RV owners to let them use their tractor – fifth wheel trailer rigs to demonstrate a jackknife with their largest 5th wheelers while also loaded up with one of their small smart cars on their platform, called the RVHauler. The company specializes in building heavy duty trucks that can safely tow a huge, heavy fifth wheel trailer and have space on the deck for a car. Turning as sharp as the truck will go, the trailer doesn’t touch the car.
And for those of you wondering how they put the smart car onto the heavy duty haulers: They usually use a set of metal ramps to drive up onto the platform. (But there are also fancy electronic lifters that can be added as a tractor modification). To visit RVHaulers, (click here).
So, owner operators and truck drivers around the world, you know we’ve been finding interesting future semi truck designs and seeing what you all think of them for a while now. But most of the designs we’ve shared have been American semi trucks or European designs (often the cabovers are European).
But it turns out the Chinese auto graphic designers have been busy recently as well, and here are some of the designs they’ve come up with.
These are mostly cabovers as well — guess they use COEs there like in Europe — but there is that one interesting conventional unit there.
Ok, so what do you think of these designs? How do they stack up against the American ones we’ve shared.
In particular, I’m betting on that white conventional and the other white sort-of-conventional where the cab hangs — the windshield or the front section of it — juts out over the hood.
Update: Since writing this post it has come to my attention that at least some of these designs are actually by Europeans or Russians, although they were shared with Chinese language on them. If anyone knows more about the designers, let us know so we can add them to this write up.
This big RV motorhome came up for sale recently. I hadn’t seen one like it before, so I though I’d share it with you all. It’s called a “Cobra Toterhome.” It’s a 2003 Cobra, and the seller was in Michigan when it was up for sale a couple months ago.
That chassis for the toterhome is, as you can probably tell from the photo above, a Kenworth T800 tandem axle. The RV is powered by a Caterpillar engine (3406B). 425 horsepower there.
It has a bunch of driving features, like back-up camera, cruise, tow hitch, electric brake control.
It has a 9 foot garage to it, 12 volt electric winch slide out, big generator (Onan), And inside, residential cabinetry, Fold Down Dinette Leather Sleeper Sofa, 7’8 x 8′ Bathroom with Corner Shower, 13 inch Flat Screen TV in Bedroom, Entertainment Center in the Main Cabin, Direct TV Dish and Receiver, 26 inch Flat Screen TV, and a Stereo System complete with DVD player, and a bunch of other features.
They were asking $115,000 for this one about 3 months ago. I’ve seen some of its ads taken down so I think it might have sold. If anyone really needs to find the RV owner though, just let me know and I’ll track down the contact info.
Well, not everyone wants (or has space or funds for) a large motorhome or giant luxury fifth wheel toy hauler, right? But do you need something that big? Maybe you don’t. We found this small trailer that does a bunch of different jobs (it transforms to do them) for just those people who like smaller trailers.
This RV trailer can be a sleeping unit. It also has a BBQ area for outdoor entertainment. And it can become a bed trailer to haul ATVs and other vehicles, or cargo.
It’s a Fleetwood Scorpion S1 pop up camper/Toy Hauler. The one in the photo above has had a bit of modification done to it. That porch in the photo is the main change. It has 2 queen size beds that fold out to the sides and the door opens onto the cargo area.
The front of it also has a 3′ or 4′ x 8′ cargo area. And the interior has an L-shaped couch (fold down couch), toilet, 8 tie down loops built into the main cargo area.
The weight of it is 1,900 pounds, and the length is around 28 feet total. You can tow one of these with a smaller SUV or truck (or even car, probably), even with a load of ATV, bikes, cargo, whatever.
Also, because a lot of people thinking about this trailer might also be thinking about the prices of used trailers, I have seen these ones, about 10 years old, in nice shape, and they’re asking around $10,000 or under. You can see more at the company’s website, Fleetwood (click here). You can compare the photos of the trailer being used to haul (folded down) or transport versus the trailer in use (above).
The scenery in this photo is nice, but what about that comfortable looking room that opens up in the back of this fifth wheel RV? Not only does this trailer have that open rear area for dining, it also has three slide outs and a large cargo area.
In toy hauler fashion, the large cargo area is often used to transport off road vehicles, bikes, sometimes small cars, and other things like that.
The interior kitchen area (not the rear area pictured above) is spacious-looking. Enough room for two leather couches on one side, the kitchen appliances on the other side, and an island counter with a full double sink in the middle. The stove has a 3-burner range. On the third wall, there is a “rustic” stone-faced fireplace.
The bathroom has a ceramic toilet, walk in shower (full sized shower), and a large counter with a full sink.
It really doesn’t look much like the roughing-it RVs I used to automatically think of when I pictured a travel trailer. It looks more like a condensed small apartment with its fireplaces and things.
In the back (pictured above), there that ramp, which is an 8-footer to load vehicles and even pack heavy cargo with dollys.
It’s a Forest River Vengeance 39B12 Touring Edition Fifth Wheel Toy Hauler (pictured above is the 2015 model).
These fifth wheelers go for around $92,500 and up ($92 being the basic starting price by the looks of it). For more about this Forest River toy hauler trailer, click here.
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