Lakeland, Florida-based Bubba Branch, owner of Atlas Heavy Haul, showed this immaculate 1996 Kenworth W900 at the 2022 Shell Rotella SuperRigs working truck show in Branson, Missouri.
Branch, who started his Atlas Heavy Haul business in 2017, has gone all through this truck and customized it from front to rear. The customizations earned the rig several awards at SuperRigs, including Best Chrome, Best Engine, and second place in Working Truck - Limited Mileage.
Bubba Branch's
The "Just a Phase" moniker harks back to Branch's childhood, when the family would wait around the phone for a call from the road from his trucking father. One day when he called, Bubba was playing with toy trucks in the floor, and his mother told his father, “You better get this boy of yours; he’s driving me insane. Truck this, truck that. Trucks everywhere on the floor. I can’t clean the house.”
"As she was handing me the phone, I overheard him say, 'Hey, leave that boy alone, it’s just a phase. He’ll grow out of it,'" Branch said. "Here I am 44 years old, still playing with trucks. Don’t know how much of a phase it was, but we’ll find out one day."
The truck is powered by a 3406E Cat with an 18-speed and 3:55 rears. PDI did the paint work on the engine, and Branch has added a PDI Big Boss turbo and intake, giving the truck around 725 horsepower.
A number of custom shops played a role in building "Just a Phase," including Spare Time Fab, which did the sleeper interior; Talladega Fiberglass on the T-bars and deck cover; Roadsknz with the tank straps; Johnson Customs, who added the big hole in the sleeper; Truck'n Awesome, who did the interior panels in the cab; and others.
