FREE SUBSCRIPTION: This is becoming one of our favorite sections. Real trucks, purpose-built on a paycheck budget. If you'd like to submit your truck for Reality Trucks, send your name, hometown and state and description of your truck, along with high-resolution photos, to dteditor@dieseltechmag.com. Remember, if your truck is published, you get a free one-year subscription to Diesel Tech.
Frank & Danielle Moon
Superior, WI
The Moons are the proud owners of a `96 Dodge Ram 2500 4x4 with a 5-speed and 118,000 miles on the odometer.
"I'm a big fan of the magazine and love the `Reality Trucks' section," Moon said. "I was wondering if you could put mine in sometime?" Since we at DT are big fans of regular folks with a passion for trucks, we couldn't help but share trucks like this one with the diesel world. Some of the mods to this ride include: S&B cold air intake, 4-inch MBRP turbo-back exhaust, 3,000 rpm governor springs, No. 100 fuel plate, injection pump and AFC Tuning, leveling kit, Thuren Fabrication adjustable track-bar, Bilstein 5100 shocks and 285/65/18 Nitto Trail-Grapplers on 18-inch XD Monsters.
The truck used to be a two-tone black and grey exterior, but Moon worked to change that with "a few sheets of sand paper and several cans of DupliColor bed liner." The couple uses the truck as a daily driver and toy hauler and Moon tells us they get 20 mpg while pulling their boat to Canada. Guess you didn't see us with our thumbs up on the roadside.
Daniel Sanchez
Yuma, AZ
Daniel Sanchez has done just about everything you can possibly do to a truck. His slick, silver GMC has been modified with Edge Juice with Attitude CTS, a Banks Ram Air intake with Scoop, BD intercooler, aFe intercooler pipes, BD exhaust manifold and an Airdog 150. He's also added a PPE dual cp3, 4-inch straight pipe to a 6-inch RBP tip and a Snow Performance Stage 3 Meth kit. But he still wasn't ready to stop. Add to that a PPE fuel shim kit and ported fuel valves, Diamond Eye down pipe, aFe wide mouth, a PCV Reroute Kit and dual yellow-top batteries. Next up on the Sanchez truck mod to-do list is a PPE Stage V, followed by new rods, pistons and head work to cap off a set of MPI Twins with EFI live tuning.
"I know big dreams," Sanchez said. We agree, but can't help but wonder if he also knows a big pocketbook.
Jason Walker
Buda, TX
Jason Walker bought this 2005 LLY 4x4 GMC when it was brand new and since the mod bug was biting, he had it lifted just two days later. The lift is a Full Throttle 9.5 with traction bars in the rear and its got front and rear Iron Bull bumpers. As someone who knows his way around the shop, Walker made the dual shock mounts himself and custom-built the stacks from 5-inch aluminized pipe and painted them black.
His LLY has a Banks intercooler and the heads are ported with a SoCal diesel spring kit and ARP studs. The turbo is ATS 5000 with ATS manifolds and up pipes. A 4-inch down pipe goes straight back to the stacks with no muffler or cat. The tranny has an ATS 5-star converter and a copilot. The FPRV has been shimmed and this Texan is currently using a PPE Hot-plus 2 E.T., set on level 9. He also has PPE gauges in the overhead console and a 10-inch screen overhead. The interior is stock leather and the stereo has two amps with one sub and door speakers.
Considering the work Walker put into this truck, we're honored to showcase it in our magazine.
Darrell Haynie
Puyallup, WA.
Licensed "JudenMe" Darrell Haynie's crimson truck is what he refers to as "mostly stock," but that doesn't make it any less of a truck. It does have an EGR Block, PCV Reroute, Resonator delete and a LBZ mp. He's planning on more mods to come, but for now, it's red, it's fun and it gets the job done. He said he bought the truck in July because she was loaded, a 4x4, a 3/4 ton, big and red.
"I love red trucks," Haynie said. "She has 94,000 miles on her and with diesels that's just getting broken in. It was a hard decision to make because I owned a `08 Silverado 1/2 ton gasser that I was in love with. I found that my `08 just couldn't pull my 28-foot travel trailer the way I wanted it too, so it was time for a change. I have several friends that own diesels and when they pull their trailers they always talk about how they have no troubles at all." Haynie calls her his "Big Red" and uses it as a daily driver. It has after market aluminum wheels with 285/75/16 Cooper tires. He's planning on putting on a 5-inch Turbo exhaust and adding a programmer when he gets the money together. "The one thing I have noticed with diesels is that nothing is cheap so you have to do a little at a time," Haynie said. "But, once you've gone diesel you never want to go back."