How-To's

• DIY: Custom F/T Straps
  May 2010
  

  OEM Peterbilt fuel-tank straps cost more than $500 per pair with aftermarket versions setting you back at least four bills. These “backyard-build” straps will cost you less than $400 for a set of four and you can add your own custom finishing touches to really make them stand out….

• High-Beam Upgrade
  April 2010
  

  Maximizing nighttime visibility with retro-style clear headlights fitted with high-output bulbs is a win-win situation; the brighter beams enhance safety, allowing you more time to react to what lie ahead, while the retro-style crystal headlights enhance the overall look of your truck. But don’t forget to put in the right relay or all you’ll see is blackness…

• DIY: Custom Speaker Box
  March 2010
  

  Do- It-Yourself
  WOOFER POWER
  Fabricating a ported subwoofer  enclosure for maximum bass with minimum cost
  By Cesar Alvarez
  (Photos by Bruce W. Smith)

  One of the attributes of a pro-level sound system is its ability to produce crisp, clean notes with the power to seemingly shake the earth.

  Such acoustic energy is a product not of the speakers or the amps [...]

• KW Door Window Visor How-To
  November 2009
  

  WEB EXCLUSIVE: Do-It-Yourself

  Custom KW Door Window Trim
  Give your Kenworth’s cab the chopped look by adding upper window trim panels
  A popular customizing trend  among KW owners is adding a painted trim piece to the top of the door window frame to give  the cab a chopped look.

  The trim fits along the door lip at the top [...]

• Winter Interior Remodel
  November 2009
  

  Winter’s fast approaching, so now might be time to think about starting work on your rig’s interior. Few custom upgrades give as much of a mental and physical uplift to the owner-operator than a cab interior make-over. When one spends the majority of their workday inside a cab those surroundings have a lot to do with the occupant’s state of mind and physical well-being. Here’re a few inside secrets…

• Fine-Tuning Stereos
  July 2009
  

  Fine-tuning your custom rig’s sound system ensures it’ll perform at peak level. But to get your ear’s worth as well as your money’s worth out of it you need to read audio expert Grizz Archer’s article on adjusting the gain of each component in the stereo system’s chain.

• Upholstery Cleaning Tips
  July 2009
  

  SEAT WORK
  The Down & Dirty of Upholstery Cleaning
  By John Baxter, Custom Rigs Technical Editor

  Let’s face facts: An older tractor that’s clean and sharp on the interior always seems a lot newer and more inviting than one that’s dirty and ragged. That look and feel is magnified in a customized rig where one’s eyes tend to [...]

• CUSTOM RIG FLOOR UPGRADE
  May 2009
  

  There are several methods for installing a hardwood floor in a custom rig, among them going all do-it-yourself with products from a home improvement store. But more than likely you’ll start with a kit and either have a customizing shop put it in for you or do the work yourself.

• HOW-TO: Diamond-Plate Floor
  May 2009
  

  Installing aluminum diamond-plate flooring brightens up the cab of any custom rig

  By Bruce W. Smith
  Ten years and a million miles do a wear-and-tear number on just about anything in a working rig. Just look down by your feet. The floor covering, which was once pristine, probably looks as if half those miles were driven over [...]

• HEADLIGHT HOW-TO
  April 2009
  

  How to give your 389 Pete killer style with Outlaw Customs’ trick 379 headlight brackets
  By Andy Gobel
  One of the first things we all notice when meeting someone new is their looks, with the eyes being one of the many little things we register in our memory bank. Most of the time eyes don’t make much [...]