Longtime Overdrive readers might recall the impressive “Ya Savvy” 2017 Peterbilt 389 from Kaleb Hammett and Hammett Excavation. The rig was a Pride & Polish champion, among numerous other accolades it picked up through the years.
The Hammett team repeated that success with its “Hoss” 2019 389 that won big at the 2024 Shell Rotella SuperRigs truck show in Texas.
At this year’s SuperRigs, the Hammett team was back with yet another impressive 389 -- the 2023 day cab featured in the video up top. Hammett company driver Brandon Mendenhall showed the unit paired with its 85-ton 2024 Rackley steerable heavy-haul trailer.
The full trailer boasts 48 tires on the ground, plus two spares, for a total of 60 when including the 10 tractor tires.
“It gets around like no other,” Mendenhall said of the trailer’s maneuverability. “You can steer it yourself,” but “most of the time, you don’t really need to” with how it’s built.
Mendenhall got his trucking start by accident when he lived in California and was working for a fencing company, moving fence panels around without a CDL. That company upgraded its truck to one that would require a CDL to drive, so Mendenhall got his own and got the itch to haul bigger freight.
“I went to work for a low bed company, and the guy” that usually drove the low bed truck “didn’t show up one day," he said. A month later, Mendenhall was “doing it full time.”
[Related: Kenny Ziglar's 'Scrapin' By' 2007 Peterbilt 379 wins top honors at SuperRigs]
He would go on to meet Kaleb Hammett at a truck show in Ventura, California, and the two hit it off. Hammett invited him out to their operation in Texas. “I wanted to get out of California a little bit, went out there, and I loved it," Mendenhall said. Three months later, he was working for Hammett, and "it’s been great ever since.”
He hauls the company's construction equipment from job site to job site. This particular setup is used to haul the company’s excavators.
The 2023 389 is spec’d with a 20,000-pound front axle and 48,000-pound rear axles. It’s powered by a 600-hp Cummins with an 18-speed and 4.11 rears.
When the Hammett team was deciding on paint colors, Mendenhall said they wanted something “where it’s kind of one-off” that “looked a little different in the sunlight, and a nice, cool color.” They settled on a Black Cherry with Diamond Red frame and accents. The Black Cherry paint looks almost purple in the sunlight, and black at night.
The engine is painted to match the truck’s exterior with custom hand-drawn pinstriping and lettering to really set it apart.
“We tried to keep it simple and clean,” Mendenhall said. “That was the whole thing to it.”
Mendenhall said this job was the first semi truck the pinstriper had done. "He knocked it out the park," he said.
Randy Martin with Spare Time Fab in Pennsylvania completed interior work with the same goal -- “simple, clean, lots of detail, and kind of like a hot rod” look to it,” Mendenhall said.
Between the seats, a full center console includes switches for the seat controls, cup holders and more. Red LED strips “light up the whole cab and everything,” Mendenhall added.
The truck got its nickname, “Dressed to the Nines,” when the Hammett team was talking with a friend from Australia. They had a name in mind, but given the nine-axle setup with the trailer he suggested otherwise.
Hammett gave his driver a lot of freedom to design the truck mostly how he wanted it, Mendenhall said. Hammett wanted stripes on the cab, for instance, but the operator sought “a little bit of the West Coast kind of style.” Mendenhall won that argument.
The whole setup boasts 110 lights, with all but two being glass lenses.
[Related: Mint green 1990 379 boasts TV credit, three decades-plus in Kimball family]
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Brandon Mendenhall: So it's a 2023 Peterbilt 389, just a heavy-haul spec, 20K fronts and 48 rears. 4.11 gears, 18 speed, 600 Cummins, full lockers. It's fun little ride.
Hi, my name is Brandon Mendenhall. I'm out of North Dallas, north Texas. Worked for Hammett for about three years now. We just haul heavy equipment around the state of Texas. Have fun doing it. We call this truck "Dressed to the Nines." One of our buddies from Australia, we were going to name it something, and we told him, he's like, we consider this a nine-axle setup. So he's like, "it's going to be some elegant little truck, 'Dressed to the Nines' would work." And we were like, "that works there."
So the paint color, it's a Black Cherry and then the red is a Diamond Red. We wanted it where it's kind one off. It looked a little different in sunlight and nice cool color. We saw House of Kolor had a color similar to it, and then it's just kind of in the sunlight, it just looks purple and at night it looks black, and kind of just a little chameleon effect. And then wanted to make it simple, clean and elegant, like a little hot rod theme. It's all hand painted, too. The guy did an amazing job at that, and this was his first truck he ever done. He knocked it out of the park.
So we took the engine out, had it painted and all put it back there. I wanted to keep it really simple but very detailed. So our pinstriper went through and put this lettering on each side of the tubes. We have a PDI intake. The radiator supports are actually for Can-Ams. They just fit. So one of my buddies did it back home and did that, and then we got King Shocks on here to help the ride a little bit. It's still such a short truck, it rides we're a little rough, but other than that, we try to keep it simple and clean. That was the whole thing to it. Had some handwriting here and handwriting on the other side.
We had Spare Time do the interior up in Pennsylvania, and that was the same thing. We wanted simple, clean, lots of detail and kind of like a hot rod little theme there. And he killed it. I mean, I love it. The center console, it's got the full center console from the back to the front, cup holders. I mean all the switches for the seats and everything are in the center console. It's got red little LED strips that light up the whole cab and everything. And he did a lot of detail to that. We were very, very happy with it. It's got bus glass, front windshield, I mean the whole glass -- side windows, back window, everything. That's another little detail that we wanted to do, and then it just ended up happening.
So it's a 2024 Rackley, steerable 85-ton trailer, gets around like no other. I mean, you can steer it yourself. Most of the time, you don't really need to. It kind of works off a little gravity deal back there. But the whole setup, it's got 110 lights on it. I mean, they're all glass besides, it's got two little blinker lights that are plastic, but it's a working trailer. It gets with it and it helps us out a lot.
