Renfrew man's truck winner at national show
RENFREW — A chance encounter this summer at an Indiana campground put a Renfrew man and his custom diesel truck on the road to a first-place finish at a national show.
For Dave Hackett, 74, the owner of Diesel Services Unlimited, 988 Meridian Road, a machine shop that restores cylinder blocks and heads that he started in 1986, events began in 2002 when he bought a 2000 model year Caterpillar 3126 diesel engine.
Hackett said, “Because it was a 442-cubic-inch motor, I thought it would be a good starting point to build around.”
“We bought it and went and found an Allison six-speed transmission from Penn Detroit,” he said.
“We completely rebuilt the motor. It was an overheated motor, and it needed to be redone,” he said.
But the engine and the transmission both needed a chassis to go into, and that wasn't available until Hackett purchased an old North Pittsburgh Telephone Co. bucket truck, a 1993 GMC.
“We wanted a small truck and a strong truck. That engine weighs 1,290 pounds. That's why we picked a GMC Sierra 35 HD with a solid front axle, a front axle that could support that engine,” Hackett said.
It took Hackett and some of his friends four years to put the truck together, working in their spare time on weekends and in the evenings.
He credits Kenny Noland of Renfrew, Tom Koffler in Hampton Township and Tom Coholick and Jim Miros of Gibsonia with helping in the restoration.
And Jim Kunzak of Warrendale worked on getting the rear differential working again.
Hackett said they had to install front and rear engine mounts but the biggest headache was getting the engine and the transmission to communicate with each other.
“We had to wire up two computers to talk to each other. They call it an ECM, an electric control module,” Hackett said.
Joseph “Peppy” Yerace of Hunter Truck Sales, 519 Pittsburgh Road, helped with the ECM programming.
When the interior work was done, Hackett said he had the truck painted in a color scheme of cobalt blue and chili pepper red.Bob Kirk of Shaler put new upholstery in the cab, Hackett said.“From the day we purchased the engine until we got the truck on the road was nine years. When we really got busy with it, that took four years,” Hackett said.He made a few tweaks to the vehicle.The exhaust system was crafted from stainless steel used in the dairy business.“It's a better grade and thicker material,” he said. “We got it from Lamagna Cheese Co. in Verona. I'm good friends with the owner.”“The running boards are stainless steel that came from AK Steel. I bought it off Butler Metals,” he said. The boards still have the AK Steel imprint on them.Still, Hackett and his wife, Eleanor, thought of the truck as only a means to an end.“We didn't build it to show. We built it to use,” Eleanor Hackett said.They travel across the country from April to October, pulling their trailer with the truck.“The truck's only job is to tow the camper and when the camper moves, we move,” she said.He said when the truck was finally finished, they drove it to California, towing their 27-foot Airstream trailer.This summer, they ran into a fellow traveler who convinced them their truck might be more than just a way to tow their trailer across the American West.Dave Hackett said, “We were on our vacation, we were going to go out West and stopped at a KOA campground in Indiana. We ran into a vendor who sells custom performance parts for diesel engines.
“He saw my truck and saw the engine in it. He said, 'You have to show up in Terre Haute' and said we were going to win.”The vendor was referring to the Scheid Diesel Extravaganza. For 18 years, Scheid Diesel Service Co. has thrown an annual event at the Wabash Valley Fairgrounds in Terre Haute, Ind.“It's like the Sturgis for diesel engines,” said Hackett, referring to the annual motorcycle rally in Sturgis, S.D.“They have a pulling contest, a sled-pulling contest, and they have a dyno competition to see which engine puts out the most horsepower,” Hackett said.And he noted there is a show and shine contest to pick the best looking custom diesel truck.“It took us 10 days to get the truck ready,” Hackett said. Then he and Eleanor hooked it up to the camper and drove it to Terre Haute for the three-day event, Aug. 28 to 30.The Hacketts entered their truck in the show and shine contest and their hard work paid off.Their truck was judged best out of 111 entries in the custom class.Luke Schnur, one of the seven event judges, all officers of the Purdue University Diesel Club, said “The criteria is not a set check-off list as there is much diversity and uniqueness that goes into each truck. We collaborate as a panel and look for trucks, in the custom division, that are well put together and completed projects.“For Dave's custom truck, he put together a package that was well thought out and completed. It was above average work that had uniqueness as not many choose to use Caterpillar engines in swaps,” Schnur said.“What made his truck stand out from the crowd of over 100 vehicles was he put together a custom ride that would be possible to see on a showroom dealership floor. The install and customization looked factory and is difficult to achieve for a do-it-yourself guy.” Schnur concluded.“We didn't think we had that good of a truck for a prize, but we did. We won a plaque,” said Hackett, noting it was the first time they had entered a diesel truck competition.Eleanor Hackett thought their chances were pretty good.
“It's one of kind. You will not see another one like it anywhere,” she said. “Everything about it is unique. Nothing is standard.”“This was just a personal vehicle that I put together to tow this camper,” Hackett said. “I had no idea we had such a show winner.”“We'll probably have it at certain car cruises and a couple more shows,” Hackett said, especially the car cruise at the Butler County Airport put on by the Penn Township Volunteer Fire Department.And next spring, the Hacketts will take the award-winning truck back on the road.
