Legend SAR Owner Review

As owner Peter Mills rightly suggests, it’s probably best to start at the beginning to understand the reasons behind ‘Legend Ranger’ and a few of the other neat-looking Kenworth trucks in the fleet.

Peter Mills and his brother Robert head up the Mills family’s trucking operation, trading as MFT State Wide Haulage. As the signwriting on the truck door suggests, their head office is Hughenden, in outback north-western Queensland. Logistically speaking, it is an ideal location to base a remote transport operation, but more on that later.

“Ever since we started, we’ve always had a slogan on the side of the bonnet that pertains to food,” Peter told us. “We’ve had Ribs & Rump, Lamb Shanks & Red Wine Gravy, Master Chef & Mixed Grill, and so on. But probably one of the better recipe names stems from a story from our grandfather’s day.

“He used to carry a rifle in his truck while out logging, and one time, he got nabbed by the police for having the rifle in the truck. A few weeks later, he stood up in court and told the judge that he had to shoot pigeons every afternoon because of the depression to feed the family, and they used to make pigeon pie. So, the 75th-anniversary truck has Pigeon Pie and Mashed Potatoes written on the bonnet.”

“We do a lot of cooking out on the road,” Peter said. “The boys jokingly started a social media blog called Chefs on the Road because we often travel together. When we pull up together, one will cook the veggies, another will cook the steaks and so on. It has reached the stage where we are now cooking gourmet meals on the road.

“All our trucks now have big Projecta inverters and an air fryer, so we are very capable of cooking healthy meals out on the road. Given the theme of this truck it only seemed fitting that the Legend Ranger recipe was Spur’s Wallaby Stew. Mind you, I haven’t cooked it yet, but it’s on the list,” Peter said.

“We are heavily into NHVR compliance on mass, maintenance and fatigue,” Peter said. “Thankfully, our new Pittsworth operation is right on the Gore Highway, so we don’t require additional permits to get to our new depot.

“Eventually, we’ll have a four-bay drive-through shed to better facilitate servicing through to transhipping of freight when required. For us, Pittsworth is the gateway to the south.”

Not surprisingly, further to the north, the Northern Territory is finally catching up to the rest of the country regarding regulations. A little over 18 months ago, they changed the requirements of road train couplings.

Whereas 190-D-rated couplings sufficed in the past, today, road trains operating in the NT require 240-D-rated couplings and equipment is weighed and inspected to ensure it complies.

Many industry advocates are pleased with these changes, some even joking, saying the NT has finally arrived into the 21st century, now they’re only 30 minutes and ten years behind instead of 30 years plus 30 minutes. “It’s a good thing,” Peter adds.

“Now I’m specifying the Jost big plate 37 greaseless on all our gear,” Peter said. “Because we’re now doing more and more Territory work, and we’re slowly converting the fleet to the 240-D-rated couplings.”

“Down the back of the chassis, I’ve got double return hydraulic lines with underneath hook-up because our AB-triples have a short lead with slider, like a rollback for when you’re tipping cotton seed.

“Behind the bunk, Icepack has custom-built two boxes to my specifications. They’re 700mm wide and higher than normal, mounted on the chassis gantry with the Icepack unit in the middle.

“I’ve also put in a 140-litre aluminium water tank underneath the bunk, running a new hot water system off the side of the motor. I have a switch inside the cabin to turn on the system. I can set the temperature that I like, and it will generate hot water instantly.

The freshwater flow is via a 12-volt Seaflow pump with an automatically controlled pressure switch that delivers 55psi/9.5litres/minute as soon as the tap gets opened. That leads to a remote portable shower unit which is extremely useful when we’re away from home for a few weeks at a time.”

“Blaze Industries did a mighty job wrapping the stainless around the tanks,” Peter said. I also had them incorporate LED fuelling lights, which make it easy to see when fuelling up at night. They shine straight down in each tank.

“TTSC did all the fit-up of the lights and the taillight bar with the rubber guards. Up front, I chose a Barup bulbar with Ultravision 180 driving lights.”

Nine-inch Silverback exhausts allow the big red 600-horsepower Cummins under the hood to breathe easily.

The custom work continues inside the cabin. The sleeper bunk has a separate air-conditioner with cabin-mounted controls that Peter can adjust from the driver’s seat.

“I put a 16-litre fridge under the passenger’s seat,” Peter continued. “It’s big enough to hold a few drinks and snacks. Even though it’s tucked away, it is still easily accessible. Furthermore, it keeps the area between the seats clear, and you’re not tripping over a fridge trying to get into the sleeper.”

“TTSC literally pulled the sleeper bunk to pieces and rebuilt it to suit our requirements better. On the passenger’s side of the sleeper, we fitted two 40-litre Engel fridges on sliders, one on top of the other.

“One is a dedicated fridge, and the other one is a freezer. We’ve had a couple of 60-inch sleepers over the years, and the usual thing is that when there are no doors on the cupboards, everything falls out when you’re driving. Consequently, I requested that TTSC install doors in all the cupboards.

“Up on top of the cupboards is a microwave and TV. The other unique thing we did to this bunk was add a half-size bunk above the main bed with a rail all the way around where I can store my bags and gear. And finally, a rail to hang my towel.”

Entertainment-wise, Peter added an Alpine sound system, including a subwoofer and extra speakers.

Outside, the back of the sleeper features a tribute to the 1982 film Man from Snowy River, where the young Jim Craig rode his mountain brumby to round up the wild mountain horse and became a legend, much like the story of the Legendary SAR.

But like all good things, they come to an end much quicker than we’d like, and so too did our tour of the impressive ‘Legend Ranger’ SAR because Peter was about to turn the key and head north to collect another load of cattle. After all, it is a working truck.

Model: Kenworth Legend SAR (6x4)
Engine: Cummins X15 ADEPT
Horsepower: 600hp at 1900rpm
Torque: 2050 lb/ft (2780Nm) at 1000 to 1450rpm
Air Intake: Hi-rise with Stainless air-rams
Transmission: Eaton RTLO22918B 18-Speed
Engine Brake: 600hp (447kW) @ 1900RPM
Front Axle: Meritor MFS73L
Front Suspension: 7.2 tonne multi-leaf
Rear Axle: Dana D52-190
Rear Axle Ratio: 4.78:1
Rear Suspension:Neway AD2469/10 Tandem
Fifth Wheel: Jost JSK37 on Slider
Exhaust: Nine-inch Silverback
Extras: Stainless Visor, Red Dot air conditioner, Conveyor rear guards, stainless tank wrap, alloy water tank Hot water heater, external Shower, custom sleeper cupboards, rear of chassis hydraulics, Icepack bunk air-conditioner and more.