This month’s truck was ordered for Frisco Construction Services (FCS) of Frisco, Texas. FCS was founded by Clay Thomas, Brett Brantley, and Ryan Griffin in 2004. They, along with a team of industry veterans with a broad range of backgrounds, have grown FCS into a full-service excavation and development firm, serving North Texas and its surrounding states, specializing in large-scale excavation projects. One of FCS team members is also my friend that gets to run this new lowboy truck, and I would like to share his story of “faking it” for years with you.
Duane Eperjesi (52) grew up in the Lake Dallas area, where his dad Larry and mom Donna had a paint and body shop and were involved in drag racing (they are both still around). Growing up, Duane really wanted to be a cowboy, and he considered his Uncle Dave to be a cowboy. Uncle Dave had a CDL and hauled bulls when he wasn’t being a fireman. Duane got accepted to play college football but decided to work instead. His first real job was with Uncle Dave, building pipe fences and barns. During these days, Dave told Duane about his old bull-hauling days, and that got Duane really excited about trucking.
Getting a job at 18 years old on a freight dock in the evenings as a side job when he wasn’t working with Uncle Dave, he did this for about a year. He then convinced the freight company that he could drive a truck and got to run the yard jockey and hook up doubles. He basically BS’ed his way into trucking. You know what they say – “Fake it til you make it!” As soon as he could, Duane went and rented a truck and took the CDL test, which he passed. At age 20 he got a driving job at a cattle company, where he got to drive a Freightliner cattle truck. Running the state of Texas until his 21st birthday, the night of his birthday, he went on a trip to New Mexico, and he’s been “faking it” ever since.
Later, he got a job with The Container Store in Dallas, running a big hood Peterbilt (they owned the 3rd Unibilt Peterbilt ever built), equipped with an American Class interior and an Alpine radio. Duane said, “I cranked some Led Zeppelin on the radio, and I was done. This was my way to be a Cowboy.” His coworkers didn’t always know how to take him – he was just a punk kid with pressed pants and shirts, out delivering containers. In 1994, they decided to close their trucking operations, and Duane was forced to find another opportunity.
On one of his multiple trips north, Duane came across a bright red 4-axle truck that had the biggest pipes he had seen – 8” stacks – so he followed that guy until he got off the highway for fuel to look at the truck. Asking the driver where he got the stacks, he said, “At Classic Chrome, from a guy named Kenneth Dooley.” Ken would later go on to open his own chrome shop, KD Chrome in Euless, TX, and became a longtime advertiser and distributor for 10-4 Magazine, until just recently, when he sold the business. Duane asked the driver of that truck who he drove for, and it was Rodman Excavation (the company was partially owned by basketball great Dennis Rodman), and this ended up being his next place of employment.
So, now Duane was “faking it” in the world of heavy hauling, because when he started, he didn’t even know how to break the neck of his trailer, but he picked it up pretty quickly. After three years, Duane really found his niche – for him, heavy hauling was it. No more faking it. After Rodman, he went to work for a local utility company for five years driving a nice long hood lowboy truck. Duane is passionate about heavy hauling and loves every facet of the job, which led him to his next opportunity working for Elmer Lindamood of Lindamood Transportation.
As a frequent visitor on the Murray Trailers forum page, Duane had a fascination with the trunnion type trailers. A trunnion axle trailer is a lowboy that uses a trunnion style suspension and a shorter axle assembly to achieve a 16-tire wheel area. The 2-axle trailer has 8 wheels per axle for a total of 16 tires. Trunnion trailers are a popular solution to adhere to Western axle laws or to haul anywhere you need high capacity on a shorter, versatile trailer. And, come to find out, Texas did a study in 2005 and determined that the trunnion style trailers would work in Texas, as well. Elmer and Duane went to California in 2009 and bought one of the first types of these trailers and then brought it back to Texas.
Working for Elmer for seven years, Duane drove whatever truck they needed him to run. In 2014, Duane got offered a job in California from Mike at Performance Transport – a dream job for Duane. He and his wife Heather decided to give it a try, sold their home, and moved to California. After just ten months in the Inland Empire area of Southern California, they realized they weren’t in Texas anymore. At about that same time, Elmer called and asked if they were ready to move home, and they were. After speaking to Mike about it, he understood.
Heading back to Texas, Duane worked for Elmer for another year until he got a job with FCS in 2015. In October 2018, Duane had another once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that came through that online forum – a sales job at Murray Trailers in Stockton, CA. Hoping that Central California might be a better fit for them, once again they packed up and moved west. Not even a year later, in July 2019, Clay at FCS called to check in on them, to see if they were ready to move back to Texas, and they both were! However, this time, they returned home with FCS having a Murray Trailer franchise in Frisco, TX. Now they could not only run the trailers, but sell them, too, and Duane really enjoyed the selling part.
FCS decided to drop the Murray line in 2023, but Duane stayed on as a sales rep for Murray, along with operating the white truck pictured here. If you are interested in getting a Murray trailer quote, please reach out to Duane, because he can definitely help you. Like I said, Duane is passionate about heavy hauling, and he loves the opportunity to help people spec their trailers for the job they need (and this help comes from a guy that knows his stuff because he is out doing it every day).
I originally heard of Duane from my friend Neal, and when we met, we hit it right off. We got to talking about a new 589 lowboy truck, and during our discussions, the Endurant XD Pro 18-speed automated transmission came up. I feel like there’s always been a before and after – like sliced bread – once you’ve had it, it’s hard to go back. Not saying the unsliced bread is not good, it’s just that sliced bread is easier, more uniform, and consistent. It has taken a long time to get to where they are with this newer XD Pro transmission, but it works pretty slick. The easiest way I can describe it is we know it will eventually break, but when it does, you won’t be looking for an alternative, you will fix it.
I was happy when FCS decided to upgrade one of their tandem lowboy trucks and had Duane call me to spec it out. I love my job, but I love nice people even more (Duane and FCS were a treat to work with). The new truck is a 2026 Peterbilt 589 long hood lowboy tractor with a short wheelbase, a 605-hp X15 Cummins, an Endurant XD Pro automated transmission with 2-speed auxiliary, painted in “business model bright white” with a jet black frame.
When the truck showed up, Mike was given the task of getting it dialed in for Duane and FCS. The truck was fitted with four extra grill bars, the cab lights were changed out with painted housings and LED lights, and the paint crew painted the backs of the headlights, fuel tanks, and air cleaners. Then, Mike installed some 12 Ga. breather panels with RoadWorks lights, hid the DEF tank, and added some painted Shift half-fenders over the drives. It wasn’t quite done until Duane picked it up and took it back to Texas where a very well-known heavy hauler and now fabricator Greg Sadberry in Ponder, TX installed his custom half rack, special tool and step boxes, and some awesome ramps on the back. Duane felt like it needed a drop visor, so he got one from 12 Ga. for the finishing touch.
Married to his wife Heather for 32 years, the couple has been together for 37 years (they were high school sweethearts that have been together since they were 15 years old). They have two sons, Zane (32) and Cole (30), along with four grandkids. Duane sent me pictures of the truck after it was finished and out working, so I wanted to share them with you here, along with a few photos of some of his past trucks.
I wanted to give a special “thank you” to FCS for the opportunity to order such a cool truck and for them to give the talented crew here at KC Peterbilt the opportunity to customize it a bit. We are all doing our best to make these new trucks look as good as possible, and, little by little, we (and many others) are getting there. If you or your friends are interested in a new Peterbilt, we can get one pretty quickly, and I am happy to say we can once again sell them to people in California, as well. I appreciate any and all opportunities. No faking here – I love my job. Let me help you love yours again, too!