Exploring the 1978 Kenworth K125

Joel turned up to the Kenworth Klassic with a few vintage Kenworths and old trucks but the one he has known the longest is the 1978 Kenworth K125 that his dad, Ray, bought in 1979 as a secondhand 6-month-old vehicle. Ray used this truck for over 35 years on the Metal Manufacturers contract he had bought, running mainly out of Port Kembla, NSW, to Adelaide, SA. Joel says there is not one memory that doesn't have this truck in it - it went everywhere with them, even on their only holiday for the year at Christmas. It always carried the same colour scheme, though Ray had it repainted around five years ago, and originally had a Small Cam 290 Cummins engine running through a 9-speed gearbox on torsion bar suspension. The original single stack and air-cleaner pot have now been changed to a double air-cleaner gantry and the two original fuel tanks were kept on the truck but moved to one side when the long-range tank was added. Ray kept the original Kenworth light brackets, which are quite rare now, and added the Keith bullbar, and airbags. It's now on its fourth block which is a surplus ex-military (out of the USA) Big Cam 3 running at 400NTC, with a 15-speed direct drive gearbox running through 3.55:1 ratio 38,000lb Eaton diffs. The current 10-stud front wheels replaced the original spiders - this was mainly done for maintenance and to create a bit lighter tare weight on the front. Ray still runs jobs with the truck on various local and interstate jobs.

[@roblachman8919]

Great vid boys. Truck still looks great. Always saw it round Mossy always well kept and Ray could tarp the trailer perfectly. Cheers

[@robertarrol4374]

Awesome,i love the rattle of the old pt fuel system👍

[@TruckStopTV]

Me too!

[@bigal878]

Great truck and story 👍🇦🇺

[@TruckStopTV]

Glad you enjoyed it