Haul of Fame - Loud N Heavy: How Davis Brothers Designs Turned a Famous Show Truck Into a Legend of Its Own

Davis Brothers Designs transformed a renowned Peterbilt 389 show truck into "Loud N Heavy," a functional masterpiece defined by meticulous custom fabrication.

Paired with a custom lowboy trailer concealing an earth-shaking 34,500-watt audio system, this build proves that a rig's second act can completely steal the show.

Here's how it began.

A Show Truck With Two Lives

Some show trucks are built once and stay exactly as they were unveiled. Others get a second act — and it's the second act that turns out to be the one everybody remembers.

That's the story of Loud N Heavy, a custom Peterbilt 389 that started life under a different name, a different owner, and a very different mission, before Davis Brothers Designs got their hands on it and rebuilt it into one of the loudest, most talked-about rigs on the show circuit today. 

This truck didn't arrive with a blank sheet of paper. It arrived with a reputation.

And that's exactly what makes its transformation such a compelling story for anyone who loves custom trucks, fabrication, or the show circuit itself: this is a build about taking something already great and making it unmistakably your own.

From Lucky 13 to Loud N Heavy 

Long before it carried its current name, this Peterbilt 389 rolled out under RoadWorks as their 25th Anniversary truck for the 2019 show season.

Back then, it went by Lucky 13, styled to evoke a specific era — think two-inch beehive lights, a chicken-scoop roof piece, and design cues meant to channel a mid-1990s look befitting a 25th-anniversary tribute. 

Lucky 13 wasn't a quiet debut. With driver and designer Troy Huddleston behind the wheel and heavily involved in shaping its look, the truck became a showstopper everywhere it went, drawing crowds and building a following on the circuit. It did its job for RoadWorks for a full season. 

Then came a familiar crossroads in the show truck world: RoadWorks had a new truck coming for the 2020 season, and Lucky 13 needed a new home.

That's where Davis Brothers Designs entered the picture. Already doing business with RoadWorks and with a genuine appreciation for what the truck could become, Brian Davis worked out a deal to bring it into the Davis Brothers fold — not to preserve it as-is, but to reimagine it entirely.

The Story Behind Davis Brothers Designs 

Based in Owensville, Indiana, Davis Brothers Designs has spent years building a reputation as one of the more inventive shops on the custom truck and trailer scene — known especially for elaborate stereo installs, meticulous stainless fabrication, and a willingness to attempt things other shops simply won't.

Co-owner Brian Davis (working alongside his brother Tom) has built a portfolio that includes previous stereo-forward hopper-bottom trailers that put the shop on the map long before Loud N Heavy existed. 

That history matters here, because it explains why Davis Brothers didn't just want to own a great show truck — they wanted to build one that reflected their own shop's identity.

As Brian put it during a walkaround of the truck, once you buy a truck that's already known on the circuit, you have to change it up enough that it becomes your truck, not “so-and-so's old truck.”

It's a challenge plenty of builders and owners run into: buy a well-known rig, and you risk spending every show answering questions about who used to own it instead of what you built it into. 

Building a Truck That Became Their Own

Rather than a light refresh, Davis Brothers went through the truck component by component. The signature Davis Brothers grille went on first, immediately signaling a new identity.

The original double-round headlights were swapped for factory-style units and painted to match, softening the aggressive, high-lighting-count look of the RoadWorks-era truck into something sleeker. 

Stainless air cleaners were painted. Stainless light bars that had carried exposed two-inch beehive lights were reworked with the lighting tucked underneath for a cleaner profile.

The stainless visor was painted as well — a notable choice for a shop that also does plenty of its own stainless work, and a clear sign the goal was a more streamlined, unified look rather than a showcase of unpainted metal. 

The cab lights got a signature touch that would repeat on the trailer: watermelon-style lenses over the original two-inch lights, plus painted housings.

Custom sail plates bearing the Davis Brothers name were fabricated — small details, but the kind that quietly announce ownership every time the truck rolls into a show.

Rear fenders and the rear deck plate were replaced, and mirror brackets were sourced from 4 State Trucks in Joplin, Missouri, continuing a relationship Davis Brothers has leaned on for parts and accessories. 

Inside, the truck needed surprisingly little rework — Troy Huddleston's original interior direction had already dialed things in — but the seats were reupholstered in a green, black, and silver scheme designed to tie the cab to the trailer's color story.

The bolt-in overhead console from the RoadWorks build stayed, prized for its lower clearance profile that still accommodates a double-DIN head unit. 

Under the truck, an often-overlooked detail: because it's an emissions-era truck running a warm-side exhaust routing, Davis Brothers rerouted the piping to exit further back and turned it down on both sides, then had the eye panel powder-coated in a finish rated to 750 degrees to handle the heat. It's a small, practical fix that speaks to the shop's broader philosophy — this truck was built to be driven, not just displayed. 

Why “Loud N Heavy”? 

Naming a truck is its own art form, and Brian Davis says the name came to him almost by accident — the way the best names tend to.

Between the long wheelbase, the heavy-duty Cummins power, and the sheer scale of the sound system being planned for the new trailer, nothing described the build better than Loud N Heavy.

It's also a nod to the shop's fondness for Texas red dirt and outlaw country music, giving the name a personality that fits the truck's unapologetic character. 

The Loudest Lowboy on the Show Circuit 

If the truck represents a careful refresh, the trailer is where Davis Brothers went all-in.

Built in partnership with Move All Trailers, the custom spread-axle detachable double-drop lowboy was specced over months of back-and-forth, with Davis Brothers requesting unusual modifications to accommodate mounting points and equipment that most lowboy buyers would never ask for. 

The trailer arrived at the shop in January and the team worked through it in time for what was supposed to be its debut at the Mid-America Trucking Show — before COVID-19 pushed those plans back an entire season. Even without that early spotlight, the trailer became the centerpiece of the build. 

Every crossmember is wrapped in stainless. The toolboxes have been reworked into show-quality trim pieces, and even the outriggers received custom stainless covers. Dual “revolution” lights run down the center of the deck, and — matching the truck — green accent lighting shines up under loaded equipment, a detail that doubles as a practical nod to the type of heavy green equipment Davis Brothers regularly hauls.

Custom Fabrication & Design Details 

What separates Loud N Heavy from a typical showpiece lowboy is that almost none of its standout features are purely cosmetic. The stainless work throughout the deck and toolbox areas was designed to be functional first, striking second.

The deck flooring is genuine Apitong tongue trailer flooring — the same rough-cut material used across flatbeds and step decks — sanded, stained, and clear-coated to a finish that looks more like furniture than heavy equipment flooring. 

Every piece of pinstriping and lettering on both the truck and trailer, including the trailer brand markings, was hand-painted by Darren Bean — there's no vinyl decaling anywhere on the build.

That's a detail worth pausing on: in an era where most fleets and show trucks lean on vinyl for speed and consistency, a fully hand-lettered truck and trailer combination represents a serious investment of time and craft. 

The Trailer That Steals the Show: The Sound System 

Here's where Loud N Heavy earns its name.

Davis Brothers had already built a reputation with stereo-equipped hopper bottoms, and the challenge going into this build was clear: go bigger, but keep the system hidden until it's heard. 

The solution was ingenious.

Toolbox openings that would normally house, well, tools were rebuilt as sealed speaker enclosures. Under the front deck alone, the trailer hides eight 13-inch JL Audio W7 subwoofers and sixteen JL Audio Marine 7.7-inch high-mid speakers.

Move to the rear of the trailer — built on an eight-foot spread specifically to create extra low-deck space that doubles as speaker real estate — and you'll find eight more 12-inch subwoofers firing straight down at the ground to maximize bass response, plus sixteen additional high-mid speakers split evenly across both sides, hidden behind custom grille panels that echo the same punch-out pattern used on the truck's grille and back-lit for effect. 

Add it all up and Loud N Heavy carries 16 subwoofers and 32 high/mid speakers, delivering a combined 34,500 RMS watts across the truck and trailer — a figure that reportedly peaks well beyond that on transient hits. Powering all of it takes 32 batteries total: 24 in the trailer and 8 in the truck.

By Brian Davis's own account, the system was too loud to even test indoors — the team had to move testing outside after the first attempt rattled the shop's walls and ceiling. A neighbor roughly two miles away once texted asking if they were test-firing the trailer again. 

And yet — this is the detail that makes the build special rather than gimmicky — every bit of it is fully functional. The trailer isn't a static display piece; it detaches, hauls real equipment (including a John Deere 4320 loaded for shows), and drives like a working lowboy when the music isn't playing.

Complete Truck & Trailer Specifications

Shop at 4 State Trucks

Want a truck or trailer with this kind of standout detail? Explore the parts featured on Loud N Heavy above, or reach out to 4 State Trucks to start building your own showstopper — from custom lighting and grilles to full stereo installs.