Hello all. Just found this place and look forward to hanging out here.

I've got an 01 Sierra 2500HD with a 6.0 and 4.10 locker (just turned 60,000 miles). The HD is a must for me since the truck is used daily for construction work. I'm looking to get her moving quite a bit better (for when work is over) and I'm not sure where to go next with mods. Being that it's used for hauling some heavy loads, going too radical is probably a bad idea. So far, I've got an AFE intake and a Wester's 93 hot tune. Other than that, it's all stock. I'm going to be putting green keys, KYB shocks, and 285 revo's on her next week too.

I've talked to a few speed shops in the area, and they're all telling me that other than a supercharger, there isn't too much more you can do for my truck. I've looked around for LT headers and so forth, and there just doesn't seem to be anything out there, at least that I've found anyway.

I'm tossing around the idea of putting a Whipple on her. I'm considering the Whipple only because I think the boost at lower RPM's will help out with my daily use of the truck too.

Anyone have a suggestion or two as far as what can be done to her? The Whipple is around $4k. I could always not go with the Whipple and spend the money on other things. My budget won't allow for much more than about $5k total.

 

a supercharger is great advice!

go for the Magnacharger Radix though

 

If you want to do something really radical you can swap out your 6.0 for a 5.3, and you'll really have alot to improve on...if you want I'll swap mine with ya and we'll call it even!

J/K, welcome to the site! There's actually quite a bit that you can do for your truck...supercharger, custom PCM tune, cam, nitrous, exhaust, higher stall torque converter and trans upgrades, gears,...to name a few

 

I second the Radix...I'm sure a lot of others will too. There are a few Whipple'd trucks on the site, but they are far outnumbered by Radix owners. They will both get you the low-end gains you are looking for, but the Radix is a more complete and better designed kit, IMO. It is also intercooled, where the Whipple is not. Magnacharger is also offering a non-intercooled Radix now too, but unless you're planning on running alcohol or methanol injection I would stick with an intercooled kit. You should be able to find some LT headers for it also. I'm assuming your truck is 4WD....I'm not sure how many other brands fit 4WD, but the ASM headers do. Check out http://www.azspeed.com/arspandmagmt.html the only complains I have with mine are that the ceramic coating is starting to flake off.

I would estimate that you'd be looking at $5500-$5700 installed for the Radix, or you could save $500 or so if you're comfortable doing it yourself. When I got mine I didn't have much idea of what I was doing, but stick around here and you'll learn quickly. I wouldn't hesitate to do my own install now.

Regardless of what you do, be sure to hide that wallet! Once you get the mod bug, it doesn't go away. You may think you just want a supercharger, but........

 

i'll hook you up with everything you need. i'm either selling the truck or going back to stock. check out my for sale ads.

 

If you decide to buy a new kit, the Radix is hard to beat. A turbo kit might also fit the bill.

 

say what?

do explain?

 

I have the truck for sale OR I have all my parts for sale. I need to get into a large SUV. I'm thinking Yukon XL 2500, or Excursion diesel.

 

darn, there goes another HD

good luck with the sale

 

Thanks for the comments everyone. That Radix certainly sounds like it's the way to go. It pretty much eats up the entire budget I have though. I think I'm going to wait a little and think it over. I'm sure hanging out here will give me more than enough to ponder. I guess I'm going to need to put at least another couple thousand together. Correct me if I'm wrong, but headers, putting the kitty to sleep, a performance exhaust, and a cam will all be worth doing if I'm going to add the Radix, no? I'm guessing here, but that should all end up being around $8k? That's including labor to install as I don't trust myself enough to do it by myself. Mostly because I can't afford to be without my truck for too long of a period, maybe a week tops. I think I'm going to try and save up to get it all done at once. Might take a few months at least though.

Danali... Thanks for offering on the used parts, but I think I'd be a little more comfortable getting all new stuff.

My truck, with me and my tools in the back, weighs around 6800 pounds. ECLB HD's have some serious weight to them. Think I could get that heavy SOB to run 14's with all that I mentioned above? Tools would be removed, and that would bring the weight down to right around 6000 lbs.

What would a Radix do to a truck that, at best, gets around 12.5 MPG? It's not gonna drop me under 10, is it?