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Budget Silverado Crew Cab

Boat Bling

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After selling my beloved 04 crew cab it was time for something new. She served me well for over 200k miles and sold to the first person to come by. Small world, buyer is a long time Boat Bling customer with a big Fountain and we have multiple mutual friends so I still get to see her every now and then.
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Picked up a gently used Silverado crew cab. Nothing fancy but had the key options I wanted, good maintenance history, Inyati spray-in bed liner, etc. After losing it in a couple parking lots in a sea of white Silverados something had to be done lol
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I'm getting older and more mature (yeah right!) so I figured tint and factory 20 or 22's would be fine. Truck was quiet & got amazing mileage, why mess with it?

Watched a couple YouTube vids on vinyl wrapping. Seemed like an inexpensive way to clean up the look. Wrapped front & rear bumpers with 3M Gloss White which is very close to factory paint and did door sections between side windows matte black, similar to F150. To anyone thinking about vinyl wrapping you'll want a helper, blow dryer or heat gun and PLENTY of patience. Also removed all badges & trim at this point. Crappy pic hooked up for Havasu boat show but you get the idea.
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Every vehicle I've owned since I was 15 has been lowered. Figured it was time for a change but nothing crazy. Went with a 2" front level and planned on running very conservative all terrains. One of our pro anglers gets a couple sets of tires a year through his sponsor so he gave me a deal I couldn't refuse on a set of 305-55-20 Dick Cepeck fun country's. I absolutely hate when tires stick out so I spent hours researching offsets to make it work and align with body. Ended up with a 20x9 wheel, +18mm offset. Zero rub even at full lock.
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Deleted the muffler at this point as well and welded on a black tip on. These trucks have a resonator and pressure valve in addition to muffler son noise isn't bad...just a very slight drone at certain rpm & load in 4cyl mode. Cheap paint burned off tip while towing back from Desert Storm in a hurry so I prepped it properly and applied 6 coats of high temp header paint. Will still chip but a hell of a lot better than what we started with.
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Would have been a heck of a lot easier painting before it was installed on truck...
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Headlight had a small crack upon delivery so I picked up some lightly smoked lights courtesy of the dealership. Pulled them apart along with the grill assembly, prepped and paint matched every piece. Neighbor paints custom bikes for a living so grill, door handles and mirror caps were a cake walk.
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After prepping, I applied plastidip with a couple coats of glossifier to grill mesh. Color & texture matches the black trim accents elsewhere. Will see how well it holds up over time.
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Also installed airbags since squatting rear end look drives me nuts. She's no diesel but pulls the brick of a Bling trailer with no problem at all. Will use the duramax for long hauls or when heavily loaded but she's pulled the rig back & forth to Havasu 2x now with no complaints.

Changes down the road...
Tires. No offense to Mr Cepeck but these things are loud and way more tire than I need for my pavement pounder. I'll prob go to a 285-55 or 275-60 Nitto all terrain or similar.

Wireless air ride control. I have access to air at home & shop but it would be nice to make adjustments on the fly.

Headlights. The aftermarket smoked lenses suck. They get hot inside so higher power bulbs tend to burn up prematurely. Installed Sylvania replacement bulbs which were an improvement but not great. Need to switch to LED. Don't want to blind anyone but seeing at night is important. Should have replaced cracked light with OEM.

-Zack
 

Boat Bling

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Looks great....what leveling kit?

Thanks Brandin. In the world of custom rides it's pretty mild but I like the challenge of DIY personalization while maintaining functionality.

Went with Suspensions Unlimited strut spacer. It's a nice machined, anodized donut looking piece of billet aluminum that mounts above strut. A little more work to install vs more common lower shock mount spacers but those just looked so cheap and weak. Spacer is about 1.3" but netted exactly 2" lift as advertised. Geometry n shit...

The Bilstein adjustable kit is really nice and reasonably priced. If I was going to replace shocks that's the direction I would have gone but she'll never see real off-road duty so the spacer works for me. Ask Outdrive1 about my off-road skills. Pretty sure I'm the only person to ever get stuck in the dirt parking lot by Windsor Beach park haha

Haven't noticed any difference in ride quality.

-Zack
 

Scott E

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Ask Outdrive1 about my off-road skills. Pretty sure I'm the only person to ever get stuck in the dirt parking lot by Windsor Beach park haha

Best story ever! But at least you had a good time hanging on the beach with the wife and I. Once you got back to the truck...not so much! :D
 

Boat Bling

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Best story ever! But at least you had a good time hanging on the beach with the wife and I. Once you got back to the truck...not so much! :D
Yep, that was a first. Tow strap is sitting safely under back seat now for next time I decide to be an idiot haha

Looks sweet, what backspace did you go with on rim?
Thanks! 20x9 +18mm

-Zack
 

hold_j

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Looks good [emoji106] I've got an on board compressor for my tow bags. I wanted the adjust on the fly as well. Glad I went that way.
 
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