Truckin' Traditions

If ever there was an era for a young boy to fall in love with trucking, it would be the late 1970s.

It was a golden age in American culture for truck drivers. Hollywood stars Burt Reynolds and Kris Kristofferson graced the silver screen as leading men in the classic trucker films, “Smokey and the Bandit” and “Convoy.” Singers Jerry Reed and C.W. McCall provided the era’s soundtrack with their hits “Eastbound and Down” and “Convoy.” Everyone from moms to ministers seemingly had a “handle” for their citizens band radios. From coast to coast, casual conversation filled with CB slang — 10-4, good buddy.

But for Phillip Williams of Weatherford, Texas, popular movies and music paled in comparison to another influence much closer to home. Whereas some sons might follow in their father’s footsteps, Phillip followed in his father’s tire tracks.

“My dad, Condy, owned his own truck, a ’78 Mack F-series cabover,” he recalls. “I’d go out with him on some runs. We had a lot of fun, but he always used to threaten me, ‘You ever get in a truck, I’ll break your legs!’ Well, look at me now.”

Like his father before him, the now 49-year-old is an independent owner-operator, hauling loads of brick, block, rock and other building materials for Acme Brick based in Fort Worth, Texas, about 30 minutes east of Weatherford.

“My dad hauled grain and, before that, milk off the local dairies. When I was 6 years old, he started hauling for Acme, and he hauled for them until 1999,” Phillip recalls. “Everybody wants to see their kids go to college and do better, and I guess that’s what he wanted for me.

He’s gone now, but growing up, driving a truck is pretty much all I knew and what interested me, so I just kind of fell into it.”

Trucking in Small-Town Texas

Though Weatherford has nearly tripled in size since Phillip’s childhood, the north-central Texas town has tried to maintain its small-town character. Locals still uphold a Texas tradition, cheering for their Weatherford High School Kangaroos on the gridiron on fall Friday nights. The town celebrates its designation as the “Peach Capital of Texas” with an annual festival and lauds its favorite son, Larry Hagman, known to most as J.R. Ewing from the TV series, “Dallas.”

“A lot of people moved out here to get away from the city, but the city followed them,” says Phillip, who adds that he keeps a longhorn cow in his backyard. “Between here and Fort Worth, land that had been pasture for all of my childhood is filling up with thousands of homes. I haul building products, so the more who move here, the better for me business-wise, I guess.”

Most of the time, Phillip makes runs between Acme’s manufacturing plants and sales offices within the Longhorn State, but occasionally when freight needs moved in other states, he’ll make longer runs.

“Acme has plants from Texas all the way to the Carolinas, so if anybody needs help, they’ll ask for volunteers,” he explains. “I’ve taken materials up to Jonesboro, Arkansas, and Springfield, Missouri. Just depends on who is behind.”

For nearly eight years, Phillip has pulled those loads with a 1996 Kenworth T800. By last summer, the truck’s 410-horsepower Cat 3406E 5EK engine had logged more than 2.4 million miles and needed an overhaul. When his local mechanic couldn’t get the truck into the shop, Phillip went online looking for other options.

“While I was searching, a Facebook ad from Foley RIG360 Truck Center popped up, and it mentioned brand-new crate motors, everything straight from the factory,” he says. “I couldn’t believe it, but after I talked to the salesman, I thought, ‘Man, I just can’t go wrong by doing this.’”

He initially ordered another 3406E 5EK engine, set to 475 horsepower instead of 410. While waiting on delivery, the power plant in his truck started showing signs of “giving up the ghost.” He checked back with his salesman, who offered him a 475-horsepower 3406E 6TS engine that was enroute to the truck center.

“I said OK, but then when it came in, it was set to 550 horses, which wouldn’t work with my 10-speed transmission,” Phillips says. “They offered to turn it down to 475, but I was like, ‘whoa, whoa, whoa.’ I had them shoot me a price on an Eaton Fuller 13-speed, and it was just something I couldn’t pass up. Now, the whole thing is brand new. I’ve got peace of mind.”

New Life for a Trusted Rig

Phillip and his wife, Angela, drove his truck to the Foley RIG360 location in Wichita, Kansas, where mechanics switched out the engine and transmission in less than five days. He says that whatever questions he had during the process were answered quickly.

“Had I gotten my old engine overhauled, I would have been out of commission for at least two weeks,” he adds.

In the months since, Phillip says his Kenworth is like driving a new truck. Not only does he have more power, but he’s also getting better fuel mileage.

“I pick up loads at the Acme plant in Oklahoma City and come back down Interstate 35 through the Arbuckle Mountains,” Phillip says. “Used to be, I’d drop three, maybe four, gears and slow down into the 40s going over that hill.

“With the new setup, I rolled right over the top at 64 mph and never dropped a gear while pulling almost 80,000 pounds. It was like it wasn’t even there. It was just amazing.”

All Roads Lead Home

Like his father before him, Phillip puts in long days out on the road to provide his children with opportunities. He and Angela have two daughters: 22-year-old Hannah, who is studying to be a respiratory therapist, and 17-year-old Kenley, who intends to study business after high school.

When not spending time with family, Phillip likes to coyote hunt on occasion. But most of the time, when he’s not on the road, he’s out on his driveway doing what he and his dad used to do.

“When you own your own truck, you can’t go to a mechanic all the time,” Phillips says. “As corny as it sounds, tinkering with this old truck is one of my favorite pastimes.”