[Invictus Duramax]

Alright guys, I guess I am going to start my build thread now since I finally get to take leave next week and get my truck lifted and all. Ever since the day I picked her up, February 13, 2013, I've been ordering parts every payday and storing them in my living room and dining room....unfortunately I live in some apartments so I don't have a garage. Now, that I finally have everything I need for my lift, I'm going to haul it all down to my hometown in Cabot, Arkansas, and have Cabot Tire & Off Road install it all for me. They have done all the work on all my previous trucks since I was a kid, and I have never had an issue, therefore they have my complete trust.

I'm going to start from the beginning with a picture of when I picked her up next to my previous truck, to all the little things I've done to her leading to the present day.

 

[Invictus Duramax]

The very first thing I did on the first day was have the dealership swap out my handles from the 1500 to the 2500, and then I drove on up to Hendersonville, TN. and met up with a guy to swap out my factory 18's for his factory 20's.

 

[Invictus Duramax]

A couple of days later, I finally had all the tint done and got a Truxxx 2.5" leveling kit installed. I had the side windows tinted 15% to match the back windows, and then I had a buddy tint my windshield with 30%. I think it looks pretty good.

 

[Invictus Duramax]

The next payday, I picked up some GM bed rail covers and a black TSC low profile tool box, which you will see the add-ons to the box in a little bit.

 

[Invictus Duramax]

I then figured that I needed some protection for my bed, so I took her and got her Line-X'd. I had them spray the Premium Line-X on her, which is suppose to maintain its shine for years to come....only time will tell. Along with my Line-X, I had them put on some DeeZee tie down anchors in all the holes around the bed.

 

[Goose2448]

Subbed!

 

[Invictus Duramax]

These next few photos consist of some vandalism that was done on the plastic parts of my rear bumper. It looked like someone took their key and just started to scrape away at different sections. They even did it to the inside of the housing to the license plate lamp!!! All of this happened in the one place I didn't think it would happen, in the parking lot of my MSLC course at Fort Benning, GA.

 

[Invictus Duramax]

Well, after getting back from Fort Benning, I couldn't stand the fact that my bumper was jacked up, so I ordered some parts from GM and replaced them. I had to replace the driver side plastic, the center step, and the license plate lamp housing.

 

[Invictus Duramax]

Now, moving on from the vandalism......I went and ordered some GM rear wheel liners and installed them the same day I fixed the bumper. I love how they give it a more complete look.

 

[Invictus Duramax]

Alright, so now is when the big money spending started to happen. The first thing I did was get ahold of my buddy Nick at Cabot Tire & Off Road and order my BDS lift. I decided to order from them because he beat every price I could find online, and that's including my upgrades and shipped to my door. I got the BDS 6.5" High Clearance lift with the 5" rear block, upgraded to the Fox Racing Shocks, and got the BDS 9500 series steering stabilizer. It all got delivered within the week in the back of an 18-wheeler.

 

[Invictus Duramax]

Next, I turned to Alligator Diesel Performance and ordered the Cognito Pitman and Idler Arm support.

 

[polaris7x]

looking great so far!

 

[Invictus Duramax]

The next thing I did was modify my tool box to carry my 60" Xtreme Duty Hi-Lift Jack and mount some CB antenna base plates to the side. Both of the tasks took a little bit of time to modify and mount.

To mount the Hi-Lift jack, I ended up ordering the Loc-Rac system, and the Hi-Lift isolator to keep it in place. To get the jack to sit properly on the tool box without being pinned up against it, I looked for solutions to get some distance between the lock and the toolbox. I ended up picking up some coil spring boosters from Auto Zone and putting two together and mounting the Loc-Rac system to it. It gave me the perfect distance I needed, and I think it turned out pretty good.

 

[Invictus Duramax]

The finished product.....not too shabby if I say so myself.

 

[Invictus Duramax]

looking great so far!

I appreciate it man, I hope she turns out like this picture I have in my head.

 

[Invictus Duramax]

Now, remember I said I wanted to mount some CB antennas to my truck, or at least have the wiring mounted for when I want to mount the antennas. Like I said before, neither the CB antenna mounts and jack mount were simple. The problem with having a low profile tool box is that I cannot mount the antennas where I want to, without making or modifying some mounts. So....that's exactly what I did, I bought some generic antenna mounts and cut off the bottom pieces. There was some ugly jagged cuts, but I took my pieces and smoothed them out, and then ended up buffing them.

 

[sparepartsracing]

awsome man. I miss these small but accomplishing projects. Once i get this motor finished up i have so many small projects i want to do! Keep up the good work man!

 

[Invictus Duramax]

Now, I did some mocking up before I drilled, ensuring that I got them even on both sides. Measured three times and then finally drilled. Before I did the final mount, I scuffed them up, primed them, and painted them flat black in my make-shift paint booth...lol. You got to improvise when you don't have a garage.

 

[Invictus Duramax]

Alright, now the next payday has finally come, and I've been scouring the internet and calling all the major distributors to find a set of 20x10 BMF Death Metal Novakanes over the last month. After ending up empty handed and finding out that they were on backorder for 6-8 months, I didn't know what I was going to do. I had planned on waiting until they came out, but I ended up stumbling across a set of 20x10 BMF Death Metal REPR's at Signature Performance. I decided to pick them up, and they were delivered to my house within a week.

 

[Invictus Duramax]

After getting the wheels delivered, I stumbled across a deal at Discount Tire on some 37x12.5x20 Nitto Trail Grapplers. I ended up paying 454 a tire, so needless to say, they are sitting in my dining room right now, making my apartment smell like a tire store...lol.