Outback trucking legend Steve Grahame has been behind the wheel of his beloved C501 for over 25 years. Now with a new engine under the hood, he revealed how it’s been tracking nearly 18 months on.
Steve, who became a familiar face on the trucking scene through popular television series Outback Truckers, originally purchased his 1994 Kenworth C501 Brute back in 1999.
He’s been honing his trucking skills for well over 50 years.
Travelling to some of the most remote locations in the country, he’s well and truly put the truck through its paces.
The C501 had clocked up 1.7 million kilometres when Grahame bought it, most of those being hard kilometres hauling cattle for Alice Springs-based Tanami Transport.
Steve’s work extends from the Pitjantjatjara land in northern South Australia, up through the Northern Territory and across the Kimberley region of Western Australia.
He carts a lot of building supplies and equipment for indigenous communities and refers to his work as “old-fashioned, old-school trucking” which takes him into the remote parts of the outback.
Since the days he left school to become a field hand for mine exploration and drilling crews – jobs that required a truck license – to then carting livestock as he forged a place in the transport industry, Grahame has been on an incredible journey.
With so many years of trucking and millions of kilometres now under his belt, he shows no signs of slowing down. “I think I’ve got another few years left. I’ve got no desire to retire,” he said.
Today, the Perth-based truckie estimates his 30-year-old Kenworth has done close to 4 million kilometres and he talks with a definite tone of pride about the condition of the truck – testimony to the rugged strength of the C501 and the way he looks after it.
In this era of electronic engines, the big banger Cummins Inc. K19 he had relied upon for many years is hardly a masterpiece of technology.
Yet this was the reason some of Australia’s best known road train operators preached the value of trucking’s biggest cubic capacity engine. Indeed, brute strength and simplicity of the 18.9-litre Cummins were considered its greatest assets.
Steve Grahame estimates his 30-year-old Kenworth has done close to 4 million kilometres. Image: CumminsSteve says he had the greatest respect for the KTA600 in his 1994 Kenworth C501 Brute, a road train prime mover he has owned since 1999 and recently repowered with a new Cummins X15 Euro 3 engine.
With the KTA600 no longer sitting out in front, the focus is on the X15 which was slotted into the C501 chassis in a repower project in 2023.
“The KTA600 needed a rebuild due to a dropped valve and it was going to be costly, so when I looked at the economics I decided the X15 was the way to go,” he said.
“You could say I was dragged kicking and screaming into the current generation with the X15 Cummins.”
Grahame put the repowered C501 into service in September 2023, with the X15 Euro 3 engine initially rated at 550 hp and peak torque of 1850 lb ft.
“Pulling three trailers, the X15 wasn’t quite there compared with the KTA600,” Grahame revealed. “The KTA had less torque than the X15 (1650 versus 1850 lb ft) but its big lungs and long stroke gave it a better feel.
“However, with the X15 now uprated to 600 horsepower and 2050 lb ft of torque, it’s very impressive.
“I like the improvement in fuel consumption, too. I’m consistently saving between 100 and 150 litres per 1500 kilometres.”
The X15 Euro 3 engine is becoming a popular repower option. It shares the same base engine hardware as the X15 Euro 6 powerhouse but without SCR aftertreatment; it can only be installed in pre-2008 registered on-highway trucks.
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