Peterbilt 379 Project

[Fastdirt]

Glad to see the 5th wheel plate on your rig slammed. Now we're trucking lol. Not that I don't love a show truck. I have a race trailer with living quarters I bought a few months ago. It has the 2 5/16" ball. You can simply remove the ball hitch coupler and insert a king pin allowing any big rig to tow it. So you can still live out that dream. My plan is to do some road trips with the 379 and some dirt toys like that rzr behind your truck and head out west for a spell.




Like you I love day cabs. If it had a sleeper of any sort I wouldn't give it a second look. I think that comes from always being around lowboys and knowing the day cabs used by grading companies always had the big motors and specs. Plus they look so cool. The long hood stands out way more without a sleeper taking away from the look. My tastes have changed to a small flat top look but I still love day cabs.

That is one long drive shaft. Is it sectioned into two shafts. I can't see in your pics. Can you post a pic of the truck sitting at ride height please? Do you have a switch for the rear bags or do you just use a leveling valve and dump it out for pictures and such?. Lots of hard work and dedication in this project.

 

[Dualie]

careful with that kingpin neck my buddy busted the front frame on his big car hauler. Apparently they don't appreciate not being able to swivel left right like it would on a gooseneck ball. you're better of blocking your 5th wheel solid and using a dual kingpin with a 2 5/16" on the top and a kingin on the bottom.

 

[Fastdirt]

careful with that kingpin neck my buddy busted the front frame on his big car hauler. Apparently they don't appreciate not being able to swivel left right like it would on a gooseneck ball. you're better of blocking your 5th wheel solid and using a dual kingpin with a 2 5/16" on the top and a kingin on the bottom.

You're exactly right and that thought hit me about 20 minutes after I posted that while driving to the store. My brain works better when I drive or operate. I always second guess myself after I post stuff like that...that's why I stay down here around the showtime section. I was thinking what if I pulled that trailer onto a level road coming off a steep cross road or a parking lot or something similar. I thought man that Peterbilt would definitely be stronger than the cargo trailer and do some damage.. So I searched again. This looks like a solution that has already been around.

 

[JDOFMEMI]

Great info that you have shared. I was getting ready to buy an adapter to pull a 48' GN race trailer with my tractor. I think now I will block the 5th wheel and use the ball adapter instead.

All I need now is to find the right wiring adapter that I can have in time to leave next Friday.

 

[Fastdirt]

Great info that you have shared. I was getting ready to buy an adapter to pull a 48' GN race trailer with my tractor. I think now I will block the 5th wheel and use the ball adapter instead.

All I need now is to find the right wiring adapter that I can have in time to leave next Friday.

Jerry, Please get some pictures for us. I'd like to see first hand experience of this set up. 48' is a biggin!! I've been searching this topic over the last few months and I haven't seen much on it. I've seen a few pics of road tractors pulling gooseneck race/cargo trailers and they can look odd. A stand up sleeper tractor looks odd pulling a lower gooseneck trailer. A big rig can make those trailers look small. More importantly just want to know how it all works out. Your tri axle will look good with a 48'. I will be crossing that bridge hopefully before spring but would love to see this setup.

Buyers has these. I'm sure they have them for the 7 pin flat and round pole. I'm assuming the brake light pole will activate the electric trailer brakes.



Hope slammed doesn't mind me discussing this here.

 

[Slammed379]

Glad to see the 5th wheel plate on your rig slammed. Now we're trucking lol. Not that I don't love a show truck. I have a race trailer with living quarters I bought a few months ago. It has the 2 5/16" ball. You can simply remove the ball hitch coupler and insert a king pin allowing any big rig to tow it. So you can still live out that dream. My plan is to do some road trips with the 379 and some dirt toys like that rzr behind your truck and head out west for a spell.

Like you I love day cabs. If it had a sleeper of any sort I wouldn't give it a second look. I think that comes from always being around lowboys and knowing the day cabs used by grading companies always had the big motors and specs. Plus they look so cool. The long hood stands out way more without a sleeper taking away from the look. My tastes have changed to a small flat top look but I still love day cabs.

That is one long drive shaft. Is it sectioned into two shafts. I can't see in your pics. Can you post a pic of the truck sitting at ride height please? Do you have a switch for the rear bags or do you just use a leveling valve and dump it out for pictures and such?. Lots of hard work and dedication in this project.

Yeah, it has two driveshafts. I had the second shaft lengthened so I could keep the carrier bearing where it was. The rear bags are controlled by the factory leveling valve. I tied the front bags into the factory dump valve in the dash. That way when I dump the suspension the whole truck drops. Here's a pic of the truck aired up how it goes down the road. Thank you!

 

[Slammed379]

 

[Fastdirt]

Looks good aired up too. It's still low as heck but that's what lo pro 22.5's get you I guess. I noticed your thread on this 379 project just turned two years old. Thanks for sticking it out and letting us see the progress and results. I appreciate it anyway. Something tells me your going to put a painted fiberglass cover on the fifth wheel plate for show. I hope so. Like the Talladega cowl panels, I'll follow your lead. Keep up the good work.

Funny you mentioned the JDT Peterbilt.... It's been my phone screensaver for a half year now.

 

[hvy 1ton]

We have a curt 3 wire to 2 wire box wired into a pig tail for pulling our header trailers behind one of our semi's. I can get the part number and some more details next week. I didn't put it together so i no quite sure what all is there.

 

[Dualie]

If you can find the original factory rear frame light wires you can use that for a combined Brake/turn signal wire for using an RV style 7 way.

you need a dedicated Electric brake controller. If you try to run electric trailer brakes through your brake light harness you're not going to make it 10' before you pop the breaker or melt the truck to the ground.

I forget who the MFG is but theres a company that makes an electric brake controller that actually uses a sensor in the brake pressure lines so that the trailer brakes are completely proportional to the trucks braking. Its the cats pajamas for running electric trailer brakes. Brake smart maybe?

 

[Slammed379]

Looks good aired up too. It's still low as heck but that's what lo pro 22.5's get you I guess. I noticed your thread on this 379 project just turned two years old. Thanks for sticking it out and letting us see the progress and results. I appreciate it anyway. Something tells me your going to put a painted fiberglass cover on the fifth wheel plate for show. I hope so. Like the Talladega cowl panels, I'll follow your lead. Keep up the good work.

Funny you mentioned the JDT Peterbilt.... It's been my phone screensaver for a half year now.

View attachment 130900

Oh yeah, James Davis' truck is Bad. Thank you, before I started this project I did weeks of research on the internet trying to get answers on a lot of this stuff and I ended up with nothing. That's one of the main reasons I started this thread. I'm not gonna put a cover on the 5th wheel, but I am gonna cut and buff it ten times and wax it 5 times

 

[JDOFMEMI]

Jerry, Please get some pictures for us. I'd like to see first hand experience of this set up. 48' is a biggin!! I've been searching this topic over the last few months and I haven't seen much on it. I've seen a few pics of road tractors pulling gooseneck race/cargo trailers and they can look odd. A stand up sleeper tractor looks odd pulling a lower gooseneck trailer. A big rig can make those trailers look small. More importantly just want to know how it all works out. Your tri axle will look good with a 48'. I will be crossing that bridge hopefully before spring but would love to see this setup.

Buyers has these. I'm sure they have them for the 7 pin flat and round pole. I'm assuming the brake light pole will activate the electric trailer brakes.

View attachment 130649

Hope slammed doesn't mind me discussing this here.

Fastdirt

I got it rigged up and went last weekend. I will try to get some pictures posted at some point. I didn't get any of my own as my phone has eaten too much dirt and the lens is so bad pictures look like they were taken from inside a fog bank.
I had to ditch the gooseneck ball adapter, as the ride height would be too high. The trailer has torsion axles, so it is sensitive to ride height. I ended up welding a kingpin to the inner tube, and sliding it up all the way. Next time, I will shorten it about another 3 inches to get the ride level.
All in all it looked good and towed great. My KW had a 7 pin RV style plug added years ago, and it was all still functional, including the trailer brake controller. That was a stroke of luck, as I had forgot it was there.

The post on my trailer is braced well, both to the rear as well as side to side, so I do not expect any problems there, and the trailer is heavy enough the ride was good.

I got a lot of looks on the way to the desert. I am sure I would have gotten even more if I had the time to shine it up like it used to be.

 

[Slammed379]

Jerry, Please get some pictures for us. I'd like to see first hand experience of this set up. 48' is a biggin!! I've been searching this topic over the last few months and I haven't seen much on it. I've seen a few pics of road tractors pulling gooseneck race/cargo trailers and they can look odd. A stand up sleeper tractor looks odd pulling a lower gooseneck trailer. A big rig can make those trailers look small. More importantly just want to know how it all works out. Your tri axle will look good with a 48'. I will be crossing that bridge hopefully before spring but would love to see this setup.

Buyers has these. I'm sure they have them for the 7 pin flat and round pole. I'm assuming the brake light pole will activate the electric trailer brake

Hope slammed doesn't mind me discussing this here.

I don't care. You guys discuss whatever you want. We are all here to learn :beerchug

 

[Fastdirt]

Ah the ride height. Yes something else I have not considered. Hopefully the tube can be cut and modified to get the right height. I assume you bought the pin to ball adapter... I'll be getting that piece soon too. It's good to know it pulled great. Mine is 16,000 lbs. empty so I'm hoping for the same. Thanks for the update. I'd feel lost not being able to take pictures......and un polished LOL. Just not enough time to work and play. I'd love to see it. Feel free to post it on my 379 thread. Can't believe I responded saying the brake light lead would activate the trailer brakes. I just have never seen an elec. brake controller in anything bigger than a F650 and It skipped my train of thought. Guess I'll add that to the list too.

Slammed, Thanks. Trust me when I say I'm waiting for pics of the latest finish product.

 

[monster76]

I added an electric brake controler to my l9000 it actually was not difficult at all, hat and i bought this adapter from northern tool. http://m.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200303933_200303933 To pull my first tag trailer that had electric brakes

 

[Tristan Nichols]

Ok I know nobody has posted on hear for awhile but first of all I'd like to say thanks for all the pics of the build.! Looks really good.! I got some questions on the air ride front axle. How do you maintain your ride height on the front axle.? Is there a leveling valve.? I have the 12 gauge gen 3 air ride kit just came in today and putting it on this weekend. Or do you run a air gauge and constantly adjust it when your loaded and when your not or how does that all work.? Thanks

 

[Slammed379]

Ok I know nobody has posted on hear for awhile but first of all I'd like to say thanks for all the pics of the build.! Looks really good.! I got some questions on the air ride front axle. How do you maintain your ride height on the front axle.? Is there a leveling valve.? I have the 12 gauge gen 3 air ride kit just came in today and putting it on this weekend. Or do you run a air gauge and constantly adjust it when your loaded and when your not or how does that all work.? Thanks

You can set it up anyway you want. I was lazy and just installed a momentary switch that I use to fill the bags as much as I want. Then I tied the dump system into the suspension dump valve in the dash so the front and rear suspension dump at the same time.

12 Gauge advertises that the bags give you like 10" of lift. This is probably true if your bag is completely bottomed out when the air is dumped. My bags are not bottomed out so my front end only goes up like 5-6" with the bags. There needs to be, or I need to make spacers that go between the top of the bag and the bottom of the frame rail so you can bottom out the bag and use the full travel of the bag. I guess what I'm saying is I wish my front end went up more. If I was actually using this truck for work I'd be replacing bumpers weekly. I hope this helps, I know there isn't much info or photos out there on the air ride kits. If you have questions feel free to ask :thumbsup

 

[Tristan Nichols]

You can set it up anyway you want. I was lazy and just installed a momentary switch that I use to fill the bags as much as I want. Then I tied the dump system into the suspension dump valve in the dash so the front and rear suspension dump at the same time.

12 Gauge advertises that the bags give you like 10" of lift. This is probably true if your bag is completely bottomed out when the air is dumped. My bags are not bottomed out so my front end only goes up like 5-6" with the bags. There needs to be, or I need to make spacers that go between the top of the bag and the bottom of the frame rail so you can bottom out the bag and use the full travel of the bag. I guess what I'm saying is I wish my front end went up more. If I was actually using this truck for work I'd be replacing bumpers weekly. I hope this helps, I know there isn't much info or photos out there on the air ride kits. If you have questions feel free to ask :thumbsup

Ok thanks for replying! And ya your very correct on not much information out about the air ride front axle.! I guess I will put it on this weekend hoe the directions say.! And see how it works. I'm just worried because I run alotta short hauls and weight will be constantly getting put on and off of the front axle so it's looking like I will have to constantly adjust it and put a air gauge In and watch it so I know where normal ride height is.! Your welcome to come help this weekend.! Ha!

 

[Slammed379]

Ok thanks for replying! And ya your very correct on not much information out about the air ride front axle.! I guess I will put it on this weekend hoe the directions say.! And see how it works. I'm just worried because I run alotta short hauls and weight will be constantly getting put on and off of the front axle so it's looking like I will have to constantly adjust it and put a air gauge In and watch it so I know where normal ride height is.! Your welcome to come help this weekend.! Ha!

Kansas, no problem that's right down the street I'll be over in a few

Do you have a 3.5" or 5" drop axle in the front?

Post some pics here if you want. I'd like to see some before and after pics.

 

[Tristan Nichols]

Kansas, no problem that's right down the street I'll be over in a few

Do you have a 3.5" or 5" drop axle in the front?

Post some pics here if you want. I'd like to see some before and after pics.

It's a 3.5 I believe. Well we got along ways on it but not sure what we are up against doing now. Pulled the one spring out and all the other blocks and things put the bags in and let it all the way down all looks good other then the steering arm is completely up against the air bag and we can't nice the bag any farther over! So maybe do some fabricating or something. Gave up on it tonight try again In the mornin!