Have you ever looked at the 18-wheelers going down the freeway and thought, “Man, I’d like to have one of those”? We’ve all been there, but few of us have taken the plunge and bought a full-blown Peterbilt or Mack truck. But what if you could have the looks of one while still keeping it streetable? Ryan Zeller’s 2019 Ram 3500 does just that.

The truck, aptly called “White Widow,” is his interpretation of what a semi truck would look like if scaled down. We first caught sight of the truck via Instagram, where Ryan keeps a steady stream of photos of his whited-out Cummins dually.

We reached out to Ryan to find out more about him and his vehicle. In doing so, we learned that his vision for a diesel build was something that gave his rig a unique style.

Background Of The Build

A resident of Vernon, British Columbia, Ryan is an automotive mechanic by trade. His passion for diesels started in 2016 after he finished studying heavy-duty machinery in a trade school. “After I finished studying and working on my heavy-duty mechanic courses, I left the gas world behind,” he says. “No more small-block Chevys for me!”

The Quest Begins

For his first diesel, Ryan bought a 2001 Chevy HD. “It had the LB7 Duramax in it,” he continues. “I did a rebuild on it, sold it, and decided I wanted something newer, so I went and got a 2016 Duramax. That one had an LML in it.”

Ryan’s appreciation for Bow Ties faded, however. “I deleted the emissions stuff and tuned the engine,” he explains. “But after the transmission started acting up, I took it in for service and was treated poorly by Chevy. I figured it was time to make the switch to another brand.”

Ryan gave Ford a shot, but he didn’t like it. “I didn’t like how they drove when it was stock,” he states. “The ride quality was not great. The aluminum cab on a steel frame just felt loose or something. I heard they rode better with coilover shocks, but I didn’t want to pay all that money right out of the gate to have better ride quality. So the Ram 3500 is was what I ended up with.”

Ryan bought his Ram 3500 dually in mid-2019 and immediately liked it. That was until he saw a clone driving around town and realized he wanted something unique for himself. “After I saw the same truck as mine in town, I wanted to change mine up,” he says. And thus the build began.

A Ram 3500 Gets A Transformation

As his first order of business, Ryan upgraded the stance of White Widow. “I bought a 4-inch BDS Suspension lift kit, some mud flaps from Trigger Industries, and Fuel Triton wheels with Fuel Off-Road Gripper M/Ts,” he says. “That was the start of it all.”

After taking care of these essentials, Ryan got the exterior the way he wanted it. “I wanted the chrome covered up,” he quips. “The truck had to be completely white. So I went and got it wrapped in a color-matching vinyl wrap from IQ Film here in Vernon. The guys there did an amazing job. They also did a ceramic coating on top of it to keep it protected. Practically all I need to do to keep it clean is just hose it off!”

From there, Ryan made an addition to the lower part of his Ram 3500 with its distinguished valance lighting. “It took me all of one morning to get everything in there,” he states. “I measured the holes in the air dam and then drilled them out. Then I installed nine lights and powered them off the DRL signal that went to the headlights. I was really happy with how they turned out.”

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The definitive look of White Widow is thanks to Ryan's custom bodywork. He installed valance lighting into the air dam, as well as exhaust stacks in the bed, giving his dually an appearance inspired by 18-wheelers.

Just like that, Ryan was well on his way to cloning a half-sized 18-wheeler into his Cummins dually. Nighttime photos of the truck really do justice to Ryan’s handiwork and the amount of time and effort he put into this modification. But the valance lights weren’t the only modification he did to the exterior.

In the bed, Ryan crafted and installed his own custom-built dual stack exhausts, adding one more dimension of 18-wheeler-ness to White Widow. “That took a weekend to get done,” he explains. “I have a metal bender at my house that I fed sheetmetal through, and I shaped the stacks into octagons. Then I welded them up and had them powder-coated white to match the rest of the truck.” In between the stacks, he installed a headache rack and rigged up large Pro Comp HID lights to shine out ahead at night.

Power To Burn

With the looks department taken care of, White Widow was now a sight to see. But what about its driving characteristics? In that department, Ryan opted to stay stock with the 6.7-liter Cummins inline-six and six-speed automatic transmission. He also left the axles alone with their 4.10:1 gear ratio. What he did do, however, was modify the tuning and delete the EGR system.

“I wanted the truck to run better, and I found the stock tune and EGR system got in the way of that,” explains Ryan. “So I had AM Diesel Performance retune the truck. They added another 50 horsepower to the engine. Then I had the EGR system deleted so the truck could breathe better.”

With these mild upgrades to the engine, Ryan is pleased with how White Widow now drives, but he knows he can always go bigger. “At some point, I want to try out a different turbo compressor wheel,” he says. “Fueling is also something I’d like to try. Maybe an upgraded CP4 and a FASS kit. And it couldn’t hurt to get a cold air intake kit as well.”

Inside, Ryan has grown accustomed to the Longhorn trim in his Ram 3500 and has no plans to change it. “It’s comfortable and plush, just the way I like it,” he comments. “About the only thing it needs is an extra subwoofer for the sound system. Other than that, it’s perfect the way it is.”

A Ram 3500 That Turns Heads

What was it that motivated Ryan to finish White Widow? He’ll tell you it was his perceived point of no return. “Once I put those initial modifications in and deleted the EGR, there was no going back,” he says. “I knew I couldn’t get money back out of it, so I had to keep going.”

Ryan’s dedication to his build has paid off. What began as an everyday dually is now an unmistakably custom truck that’s his pride and joy, not to mention the talk of the town. “It gets a lot of looks when I take it out for a drive,” he affirms. “It’s gotten a lot of reactions from my family and friends, too. The family thinks I’ve gone overboard, but my friends think it’s awesome.”

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Asked what his loved ones make of White Widow, Ryan said, "The family thinks I've gone overboard, but my friends think it's awesome."

With the way White Widow is set up, Ryan has just one or two things he wishes he could change. “I would change the lift if I had a time machine,” he commented. “I’d like it taller than it is now. I think Kelderman would be the way to go. It might still be an option down the road.”

Whatever way Ryan decides to go, he’s got a solid truck in White Widow. Be sure to follow him on Instagram to see more of the truck. Do you want to see more Reader’s Rigs? This column is dedicated to showcasing what you guys and girls are driving and I need your help to give the Reader’s Rigs the props they deserve. If you would like to share yours, I want to hear about it — I can never get enough. If you want to see your truck featured as a Reader’s Rig, send a few pictures of your truck showing the engine, interior, and exterior, along with all of the pertinent information about it and I’ll make you internet famous. You can send your submissions to [email protected].