New Red

kmborland · October 5, 2014

Hey y'all,

I used to be 95liftedred2500, because I used to have a 1995 LD 2500 truck that I traded in for my new truck, New Red. The main reason for trading Big Red in was the A/C didn't work and mileage never got better (no matter what I did). Big Red would get 12mpg going 45 or 75, hot dogging it or driving like a grandpa. The only time mileage changed was when pulling a trailer. It did ok pulling around town but seemed to run out of power on the highway. What I loved about Big red was how it sounded,how it rode, how it looked. The GMT-400 trucks are one of the toughest truck look GM made. The LD 3/4 ton suspension rode like a truck should, not too car like but not too dump truck either, and handled very well for what it was(I like to drive fast on twisty roads with my trucks). Before I traded Big Red in, I did some modification to it. I put 35x12.5r15 Toyo AT, Summitracing 3" glasspack in the smallest length they sale that is routed out the left side in front of the rear tire(pointed right at the head of all the little cars beside me ha), HD tow mirrors, bigger radiator, Summitracing tonneau cover.

New Red is a 2004 CC z71 4wd. Having learned how to drive on the exact truck, (my dad custom order one of the first 2004 CC 4x4 in charcoal grey metallic) driving it felt so natural. The only grip I had was the throttle response was horrible. Big Red was snappy, soon as you put your foot in it, she went as fast as she could (more like slow as she could). New Red had a lag to it like 3 secs or so before taking off. I also didn't like the way it dragged the 1-2 shift. I got a vette servo to fix the shift but never could get the response back until I got it tuned. I got New Red dyno tuned at a shop in Richmond. Made 8 pulls and got 244.5 php and 278.2 ptq when it was all said and done. The best part about the tune was being able to see how the torque cover looked. At 2200rpm, she made 265 ft*lbs and never dipped below that till 5500rpm. People who say the 5.3 has not guts are dump. My truck is fast, strong, and gets great mileage. He fixed the lag, it was the fuel enrichment that causes the delay in power, firmed/quicken the shifts and adjusted some of the tq management. That was probably the biggest improvement I have made to New Red. Other modification are Rough Country 1.5"-2" complete lift kit, Summitracing glasspack (same as Big Red), Century Camper-shell, and 315/70r17 bfg tires.

Sorry for the long story, just wanted to put down as much of my experience with my trucks for people to see and give some advice or get some when I can. I also have pics of my trucks in my gallery for anyone who is interested to view.