Caldwell, Texas-based Equipment Express, owned by Truett Novosad, and driver Matt Brune showed this 2007 Peterbilt 379 and Faymonville HighwayMAX heavy-haul trailer at the 2021 Shell Rotella SuperRigs working truck show in Hampshire, Illinois, back in July.
The blue and silver Pete, powered by a C16 Cat with an 18-speed and 4-speed auxiliary, is truck show worthy by itself, but when coupled with the 9-axle extendable trailer, it's an attention-grabber.
The Peterbilt features 46,000-pound rear axles and an 18,000-pound steer axle and sits on a 275-inch wheelbase. The paint scheme was on the truck when Novosad bought the truck in 2014 or 2015, but he and his team have added new fenders and added a new visor. At the time of the SuperRigs show, it had 932,000 miles on the odometer.
The trailer is the most unique feature of the truck, as there aren't many Belgium-built Faymonville trailers of this style in the U.S., Brune said. This particular trailer features nine axles with an extra three axles that can be added to it to give the full tractor-trailer unit 16 axles. In its shortest configuration, the trailer sits a 67 feet long, but it can be stretched an additional 37 feet.
Brune said all of the trailer axles are liftable, so he can put any configuration on the ground. Each axle also turns individually, so despite the trailer's length, it's easy to get around corners. Brune said the fifth-wheel has a wedge in it that tells the axles to turn when the truck turns, so as long as he keeps the truck in the center of the road, the trailer follows behind him. "If you swing wide, you're going to be in a ditch," he said.
"The maneuverability is so good on them," he said. "They're in demand in the States because of that and what you can do with them. Your typical low boys won't get around like this one will. Around cities, we can raise and lower it, depending on the terrain. If we need to get over something, we can raise it up, or if we need to get under a bridge, we can set it down."
Fully stretched out with all the axles on the ground, Brune said it can hold around 275,000 pounds.
Brune said Equipment Express typically has done equipment and pipeline work, but "more and more of our customers have asked us to haul long vessels – 75 to 100 feet long that weigh 150,000 pounds – you're typical lowboy really can't handle that."
Matt Brune, a company driver for Equipment Express, showed this 2007 Peterbilt 379 at the 2021 Shell Rotella SuperRigs working truck show in Hampshire, Illinois. The truck is used for heavy-haul work and has more than 930,000 miles on the odometer.
Equipment Express' 9-axle Faymonville HighwayMAX trailer is 67 feet long as it sits in this photo. Two sections can be extended to stretch it an additional 37 feet, and there is another 3-axle dolly that can be added to the rear of the trailer to give it 12 axles, coupled with the truck's four axles.
The trailer's fifth-wheel assembly features a turntable of sorts that allows each of the trailer's axles to turn with the truck, making it easier to maneuver.
Each of the trailer's nine axles are liftable to allow for numerous configurations depending on the weight of the load being hauled. Fully extended with all axles on the ground, the trailer can haul around 275,000 pounds.
