Brian Emshoff is a company driver for Dabney Trucking out of Dixon, Illinois, hauling in a brand-new 2025 Kenworth W900L pulling a 2025 Wilson Commander hopper trailer.
Dabney does “just about everything,” Emshoff said, including hopper work, bottled propane, belt trailer work, tanker work with liquid fertilizer and more.
The fleet stays mostly regional in the Midwest, extending range when needed if freight slows down in the area.
Emshoff typically hauls grain in this 2025 Wilson Commander hopper trailer.
Emshoff started working for Dabney in March of this year and had nothing but good things to say about the company. “I love it here,” he said. “We have a bunch of fun guys to run with, and everyone runs hard, that’s for sure.”
He showed his truck at the 2024 Waupun Truck-N-Show in Waupun, Wisconsin, where Emshoff said it was originally going to be part of Dabney’s tow truck division. It was thus ordered with the smallest sleeper available. However, when he started with the company, “it got merged over to me because I’m kind of the local guy. I don’t mind staying out every now and then, but I don’t need a huge bunk.”
Because the truck works mostly locally hauling ag products, it's often exempt from the electronic logging device mandate, leading to the rig's "Gray Area" nickname.
Emshoff said he’s home every night 80%-90% of the time, and his truck is the only one in the fleet with the 38-inch sleeper. “The rest of the guys all have mid-roof sleepers, the 63-, 72-inch stand-ups. We have a couple of Studios.”
The unit came from the factory all orange. Dabney then took it and added the gray, “and then it went in for custom pinstriping, all free-hand and everything,” Emshoff said.
Dixon, Illinois-based Morley Signs did the custom pinstriping work on the rig.
In addition to the paint, other custom work on the truck includes a deck plate, I-bar, lights and more. The deck plate and I-bar were fabricated in-house by Dabney. The lights are from Trux Accessories.
The rig is powered by a 565-hp X15 Cummins with 1,850 lb.-ft. torque. At the time of the Waupun show in August, the truck had been on the road just two weeks and had fewer than 5,000 miles behind it.
The truck's interior is also customized, with an orange dash, orange and black button-tuck upholstery and more.
Dabney's 2025 KW picked up a Best of Show win in the DOT Standard Light Show category, along with second place in the Hopper Bottom category.
[Related: Double trouble: Small fleet's custom 2006 379 and 2024 W990]
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Brian Emshoff: I am Brian Emshoff. I work for Dabney Trucking out of Dixon, Illinois. We do just about everything. We got hopper work. A lot of our work is bottle propane, anhydrous, stuff like that. We do belt trailer work, a lot of tank work with liquid fertilizer. Mostly regional, regional Midwest, but occasionally in the wintertime when stuff gets slow around, we venture out a little further.
So this truck is Kenworth W900L model, 2025. The trailer's a 2025 Wilson Commander. Motor’s a 565, 1,850 torque X15.
It has been on the road two weeks. It's got less than 5,000 miles on it. Custom paint job. It came from factory with the, it was all orange when it started, and then when it came back from factory, they put the gray on it and then it went in for custom pin striping, all freehanded and everything. As soon as it came back home from the shop, it got the custom deck plate, I-bar, a few other things we do all in-house, all the fabricating is done in-house. The paint work lights, all the lights on here custom in-house and they're all Trux lights is what all the melons and the buttons are.
I have the only truck with the mini bunk. The rest of the guys all have mid roof sleepers, the 63-, 72-inch standups. We have a couple Studios, but yeah, this is the only one we have that's the mini bunk. Originally it was going to be part of our tow truck division, and then when I got hired on, it got merged over to me because I'm kind of the local guy. So I don't mind staying out every now and then. So I don't need a huge bunk.
