Duramax pioneer thread

[LWATSON]

Saw something similar on another forum.
Who inspired you? I got the itch years ago, my first dmax was an 02, traded it for an 03 and still have my 06 I bought after that. I remember an article where guys were racing up a mountain pulling a 10k trailer. I believe Kennedy was one of the competitors. Then I read about the Spruills breaking into the 11's. Things moved really fast after that but I've met allot of strong willed people over the past few years that have pushed the Dmax to where it is now.

 

[rgullett83]

I was a gm tech when the dmax came out. I was very impressed, but back then I had no need for one(not that I do now lol), but they were out of my budget. My pioneer happens to be a very close friend(member here goes by durtymax), that happened to really get me in this game, after he bought a new lly back on 2005. Been down hill ever since. I have owned a few as he as well. He still has the 05 he bought new, however it now has a D60 under the front and has been transformed into a 2.6 pulling truck, that we have done 95% of the work to. It has been a blast, I have made some true friends, and learned so much over the last 13 years or so:thumb:

 

[TheBac]

Eric Merchant, Michael Tomac, Buck Spruill, John Kennedy, Jeremy Moss and Brandon Meyers were a few of the guys that got my interest started, and they were among many others who helped drive me to finally start building my truck. I was always a fan of what Pat and Kat were doing, and Jon (GotJuice?) and Scott (partsguy662) were some of my favorite people to talk to and laugh with.

I've learned so much over the years just talking with people like MikeL, Guy, IdahoRob, Trent, Simon, Brian and James that I just could never, ever thank them all for their help. There are so many people here who would offer help or assistance or inspiration....

I would be remiss not to mention three guys I met thru this site and the Place who I came to consider very good friends, Jeff Meyer, Mike Moore and Darius Warne. They always had my back when we were on the quest for lower times with our trucks, and they are great guys to hang around with.

 

[OregonDMAX]

Only owned Chevy my whole life, have always been into going fast. When I first saw the dmax hit the market I wanted one but it wasn't until I went to a diesel tech school that I really had to have one. Other then just wanting one my real inspiration for diesel performance was ofcorse Idaho Rob.

 

[LWATSON]

Eric Merchant, Michael Tomac, Buck Spruill, Jeremy Moss and Brandon Meyers were a few of the guys that got my interest started, and they were among many others. I was always a fan of what Pat and Kat were doing, and Jon (GotJuice?) and Scott (partsguy662) were some of my favorites to talk to.

I've learned so much over the years just talking with people like MikeL, Guy, IdahoRob, Trent, Simon, and so many more that I just could never, ever thank them all for their help.

I would be remiss not to mention three guys I met thru this site and the Place who I came to consider very good friends, Jeff Meyer, Mike Moore and Darius Warne. They always had my back when we were on the quest for lower times with our trucks, and they are great guys to hang around with.

Tom you were one of the ones that also inspired me. You worked the top 25 stock trucks really hard and allot was learned there!

 

[rgullett83]

Merchant, the Fleece boys,Nick(dmax tuner), Broviak, were great help to me in the beginning of my dmax life and still are. I dont get to talk to rob hall and tim hecker much now, but they have always shared info and helped us out along the way also. I am sure there are others that I am forgetting as well.

 

[Chevy1925]

My dad was intently watching GM as the new "diesels" we're coming out in 01. We had a 98 cc/lb gmc with the 454 and a whipple supercharger on it but pulling out 40ft weekend worrier netted us 5-6mpg. Fuel was on the rise and he was really hoping the new diesel wouldn't be a gutless rig like the 6.5.

After seeing how they ran, he waited one year and picked up the 01.5 I currently own now. Sucker would get 8-9mpg pulling the same trailer and while it was t quite as fast up the hills it pulled so much better overall. Then he saw a vid of the PPE duramaximizers and ordered one to run in his truck. It was ok but didn't seem much different than a tune in a gas truck from stock. Then a year or two later we met guy at a show here in az and bought an edge setup just before the attitude was going with them. Guy said he would ship us one as soon as they got to him.

After loading the edge and setting it to lvl 3, we went for a ride and my dad did a boost launch in 2wd not expecting it to do much. When the ass end let loose from the start I was hooked! Both of us went "holy shit! This thing hauls ass!!" From there, it led to where I'm at now as he bought a new 07 obs in early 07 and I bought the 02. She was all stock with the edge w/ attitude and 33" tires on some weld wheels. Boy has she changed

 

[Hot COCOAL]

This is a pretty cool idea Landon
:thumb:

I guess initially I was more provoked than inspired...
I've always been a Chevy guy, my previous truck was an 07 classic crew 1500hd with the 6.0 LQ4/4L80E w/autotrac combo. We bought it new and we loved the truck. When I sold it aside from some cognito stuff and wheels and tires, I had MBRP true duals on it, 42lb injectors, shift kit and a ProCharger D1-SC.

I thought it was totally bad ass! And really for what I had into it, it was.
Then one night on the freeway I got smoked (literally smoked out too) by a newer Dodge, and afterward I was dead set on getting a diesel.

Once I started looking for a Duramax I suppose through performance related media, Pat and Casper were what inspired me most(I wanted a white truck too, most all our cars are white and so was the 1500hd). Then as much of a showboat he is, Dimitri Millard kinda got my attention. Then "team Kuslick" and their 3.0 puller and a whole slew of you tube videos of weekend warriors...
:baby:

Probably the one thing I saw as a constant was most of the big dawgs were members here, and once I got here I was really inspired by all you guys! And
it's all downhill from there
:woott:

:rofl:

 

[Mike L.]

I arranged to have the PPE truck that was tuned by Steve Cole,to go to Transgo for their final test on the Allison shift kit early '03. Steve Younger from Transgo called me laughing and asked me what I knew about that GMC. I said nothing except I asked Cole to take it over to you. He told me the truck was insane. A couple of weeks later I had that truck in my shop for some r&d and it knocked my socks off. I was perfectly happy with my Excursion PSD up till then. I started shopping for a Duramax and with the help of Big Dipper got one at his cost.
I won't own anything else but a Duramax. I will be selling my LML soon as it's worn out and buying the new Mini Duramax for r&d while waiting for the new full size Duramax.

 

[Evan@InglewoodTrans]

I arranged to have the PPE truck that was tuned by Steve Cole,to go to Transgo for their final test on the Allison shift kit early '03. Steve Younger from Transgo called me laughing and asked me what I knew about that GMC. I said nothing except I asked Cole to take it over to you. He told me the truck was insane. A couple of weeks later I had that truck in my shop for some r&d and it knocked my socks off. I was perfectly happy with my Excursion PSD up till then. I started shopping for a Duramax and with the help of Big Dipper got one at his cost.
I won't own anything else but a Duramax. I will be selling my LML soon as it's worn out and buying the new Mini Duramax for r&d while waiting for the new full size Duramax.

I've heard that story before :hug: Buck sums up why I got hooked and he continues to do so.

 

[Dmax87]

I would have to say Dodge junk was my pioneer. Owned a 2000 ram 2500, always had something wrong with it, then moved onto a 2003 ram 2500 and experienced the wonderful death wobble and that was it. Test drove a 04 duramax and been hooked ever since!!!

 

[jacobdewey]

It all started with a 1986 6.2 diesel and my dad. I made a home built turbo kit and turned the pump up. I thought it was so cool. lol It was just a snowball effect. 6.2 led to a 94' 6.5, led to a ford 97' 7.3, led to a 03' 6.6 duramax, led to a compound turbo 05' 6.6 duramax, bought a 11' 6.7 powerstroke, bought another 04' 6.6 duramax.... I still own the 05' and 04' duramaxs' and the 11 powerstroke.

 

[Mike L.]

Eric Merchant, Michael Tomac, Buck Spruill, John Kennedy, Jeremy Moss and Brandon Meyers were a few of the guys that got my interest started, and they were among many others who helped drive me to finally start building my truck. I was always a fan of what Pat and Kat were doing, and Jon (GotJuice?) and Scott (partsguy662) were some of my favorite people to talk to and laugh with.

I've learned so much over the years just talking with people like MikeL, Guy, IdahoRob, Trent, Simon, Brian and James that I just could never, ever thank them all for their help. There are so many people here who would offer help or assistance or inspiration....

I would be remiss not to mention three guys I met thru this site and the Place who I came to consider very good friends, Jeff Meyer, Mike Moore and Darius Warne. They always had my back when we were on the quest for lower times with our trucks, and they are great guys to hang around with.

Tom, you were no slouch as far as promoting the Duramax. You were one of the key players.
The DP was the key. It was magic and it may never happen again.
Never have I seen more enthusiasm by a bunch of smart people working together to make something work.
Some great friendships developed back then and a lot of enemies were made as some people got greedy. Too bad that had to happen.

 

[Josh2002cc]

Jeremey moss, Phil Hockey, Bobo, AJ Hynick and many others. This was awhile ago though.

 

[countrycorey]

I have always been a Chevy fan and I followed the Duramax from the get-go. I was the reason dad got his '04.5 and my brother got an '11. I bought my 07 classic after I graduated from ole miss.


Corey

 

[rgullett83]

Tom, you were no slouch as far as promoting the Duramax. You were one of the key players.
The DP was the key. It was magic and it may never happen again.
Never have I seen more enthusiasm by a bunch of smart people working together to make something work.
Some great friendships developed back then and a lot of enemies were made as some people got greedy. Too bad that had to happen.

Agreed. Back then I did tons of reading, and it seemed like everyone there that knew anything would share their knowledge and opinions. This is still a great board, but the good knowledge isn't turned loose as it once was



Sent from my SM-G900H using Tapatalk

 

[The Neens]

I had a beautiful 2003 Suburban 2500 with 8.1L...Hypertech, muffler, intake...I thought it ran fairly well...I borrowed Dad's '02 one weekend, entered the freeway at 1/4 throttle, felt the TQ difference and had my '05 Dmax ordered later that week...I ordered Banks parts for it, then later found out about the "internet forum" phenomenon and The Diesel Place...That introduced me to Dan Grant and John Hamlin, then John informed me SoCal Diesel was 5 min from my house...Guy told me about some trans "expert" named Mike L...In the meantime, I had been reading posts about EFILive from this maniac that called himself "McRat"...After spending an hour on the phone with Pat, I purchased EFILive from him and got my LLY race tune...The rest is history, I won't bore you with details

 

[countrycorey]

I have always been a Chevy fan and I followed the Duramax from the get-go. I was the reason dad got his '04.5 and my brother got an '11. I bought my 07 classic after I graduated from ole miss.
Seeing videos of bobos and others trucks in action really opened my eyes to the capabilities of these trucks.

Corey

Corey

 

[Chevy1925]

i wasnt around DP when all the great stuff was going on but damn did i learn alot searching around that place back in 07-08. after i found out about how hot tunes kill the trans, i made a call to that mike l guy to see what it would cost me. little did i know id be on that cell phone till it damn near died but i wouldnt have it another way. Then met up with this kid hondarider, totally made sense on why he posted the way he did :roflmao:.

this site had lead me to alot of great guys (and the we cant forget the WWW ) and lots of you i consider good friends. thanks for all the good times and help guys!!!

(yeah, more of a wussy cry baby reminising moment here than how i started into dmaxes :rofl

 

[paint94979]

It all started for me in 05 buddies dad had an 02 GMC and I knew I wanted a Duramax. Got one in July of 05 and joined the DP shortly after. Read a bunch of tech stuff posted by these crazy tequila drinking McSwains, joined this boars 8/06 then met Chris The Neens Beanes who guided me into limping my trans the first few times. A year later I'm buying his trans from his 05 and were going to Mikes old shop in Inglewood. Then a year later after Pat and Kat showed us how far these stock bottom ends could go Chris, Simon, Dale, and a few other So Cal guys helped me install a GT4094R kit from PPE and the quest for 11's began... Glad I got to meet and become friends with the aforementioned