Some people pay cash for their dream truck. One father in southern Utah got his 1962 Kenworth by letting a relative use his shop. The truck had sat in a family junkyard for decades, and it had no wheels.
His son, who posts as @89Built, filmed the day they went to get it. He says his dad and his uncle once ran three trucks like this in their own business.
A Kenworth Paid For In Shop Time
The father explains the deal himself. A relative needed his shop for a couple of days and ended up using it for a week. When he asked what he owed, the father named the old Kenworth in his family’s junkyard.
“I says that’s the price.”
About a month and a half later, the relative texted that the deal was done. The father says he never asked what the truck cost on the other end, because it did not matter to him.
Digging It Out In The Rain
Before the trip, they load old split-rim wheels and tires off an old cab-over, because the Kenworth has none. They also stop in town so the son can watch his kids walk in a Halloween parade.
The old International they use for towing has its own quirks. The son says its fuel filter plugged the last time he ran it, and it died in the middle of a job. So he bypassed the filter, and now it only likes high revs when it is cold.
At the junkyard, they hitch the trailer and bring a backhoe. The Kenworth sits on its frame with dirt piled against it, so they lift each end with the backhoe bucket and bolt on old split-rim wheels with whatever lug nuts they can find. Along the way, the father finds only one small dent in the cab, and he likes the split windshield and the power steering.
Under the hood sits a turbocharged Cummins 220. However, its injection pump is in pieces, so it will not run. The cab still has its cassette player, and the truck carries a dump bed. Meanwhile, the rain keeps getting heavier, and it takes a lot of pushing and maneuvering in the mud to get the truck loaded.
The father is all smiles anyway.
“I’ve been wanting to do one of these for like almost 40 years.”
The Title Changes The Year
Everyone believes the truck is a 1966 until they find the title. It shows a 1962 Kenworth ten-wheeler that came from Idaho. In addition, an old sticker they find points to the late 1990s, which suggests when the truck was last on the road.
“Dreams come true every day.”
What To Know Before Saving An Old Truck
Dragging home a big rig is a different job from towing a car. Here is what this one shows:
- Bring lifting equipment, because a truck with no wheels will not roll.
- Carry spare lug nuts and wheels that fit the hubs.
- Check the title before you plan a build around a model year.
- Expect a diesel that sat for years to need fuel system work.
- Watch the weather, since mud can stop a recovery fast.
Where Things Stand
The Kenworth makes it home on the trailer through the downpour. The family talks about adding a sleeper and stacks and tuning the Cummins. They plan to unload it once the rain stops, and the relative also has a parts truck they can pull pieces from.
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