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My new ride-2003 2500HD, LB7, ZF-6

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Truckman4life

Truckman4life

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Truckman4life submitted a new Build:

My new ride-2003 2500HD, LB7, ZF-6

Here she is, my "new to me" tow rig/current DD. It's a 2003 Chevrolet 2500HD. It has the LB7 Duramax and ZF-6 6 speed MANUAL trans. It's an LS with cloth seats, rubber floor mat, no cruise control, and manual shift tcase. The only thing I didn't get on my wish list was a long bed but I figured the 6 speed was worth it. It has bald 265/70r17 tires. A PO swapped in a leather back seat. Oh and only 175,000 miles. This will be a slow build. Mainly just posting to document as I do stuff to it. Long term plans are: get front bumper redone in black bed liner and also rocker panels and bed, EFI live tuning some day, stacks, and a toolbox. Oh and a solid axle swap if the ifs gives me too much trouble. View attachment 224013 View attachment 224014 View attachment 224015 View attachment 224017 View attachment 224018 View attachment 224019 View attachment 224020Just for you @bent72 look! Two shifters. View attachment 224021 View attachment 224022Its got a spectre cold air intake with a k&n filter. I think a 4" exhaust with the muffler deleted. There's also a PPE boost dohicky in the waste gate hose.
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Read more about this build here...
 
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Removed all extra wiring today under the dash. Also it had crappy battery cables ran to the front and rear I had to remove. I pulled the fifth wheel for now and cranked the torsion bars down so the front sits 1" lower than the rear. KIMG0598.jpg KIMG0599.jpg KIMG0600.jpg
 
Very nice score! An LS with no cruise control though that is an oddity. My base model even has cruise control
 
Cool! That's what I was looking for when we bought ours new in 02.
We couldn`t find one with a standard and crew cab.

Rare truck...I like it.

Must be loud with 4 inch and no muffler! We straight piped my sons 01 with the factory 3.5 exhaust and it is loud enough. :D
 
Definite fleet truck based on the options I can see. Rubber floor mat, crank windows and no cruise are common to fleet orders. Throw in the manual trans and manual t-case and it's a rare combo of options. Pretty cool. I've only seen one other Dmax/manual trans truck so far. Hard to come by.
 
Yeah it's got a 5" tip also so very loud cruising at 2000+ rpm. I knew they were pretty rare so I figured giving up a long bed for the 6 speed was a good trade off. According to Carfax it was owned by someone til like 105,000 miles then sold at auction and another guy bought it and had it for the last 6 yrs and 70,000 miles.
 
I'm curious if someone just stuck the LS badges on there now? Pretty sure LS is normally power options, carpet, and a fold down center console. Very odd indeed but either way as Dean said crew cab and ZF that's awesomeness!
 
Without seeing the option content, I'd bet it's a low level 1SB LS truck. Power windows, lock and cruise were extra cost options still. The cloth on the front seats is consistent with a LS trim level. A base 1SA truck would have had more tweed like upholstery.
 
Yeah I've seen a few oddball ones with leather interiors and rubber floor mats over the years too. I'll have to call my Chevy dealer and maybe have them look up the VIN to see just how it was spec'd. I would have like power windows and locks but oh well.
I was also looking at another '03 that was identical except longbed, automatic, and power windows and locks and full cloth interior. That one was definitely an LS.

There is/was an '01 in Burley that was a crew cab long bed with an 8.1L and manual shift 4x4 and leather seats. Can't remember if that one had a rubber floor or not. Almost bought it with only 85,000 miles but decide I needed a diesel.
 
Truckman4life said:
Yeah I've seen a few oddball ones with leather interiors and rubber floor mats over the years too. I'll have to call my Chevy dealer and maybe have them look up the VIN to see just how it was spec'd. I would have like power windows and locks but oh well.
I was also looking at another '03 that was identical except longbed, automatic, and power windows and locks and full cloth interior. That one was definitely an LS.

There is/was an '01 in Burley that was a crew cab long bed with an 8.1L and manual shift 4x4 and leather seats. Can't remember if that one had a rubber floor or not. Almost bought it with only 85,000 miles but decide I needed a diesel.
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Shoot me the vin and I'll pull it up in GM's system for you.
 
While I don't have production numbers to quote on dmax/manual trucks, they are rare for a reason. Back then the Allison was brand new to the game in the light duty market. GM's marketing at the time was pushing the virtues of the Allison over everything else, manual trans and Ford and Dodge. You never saw an ad for a manual trans and it was barely mentioned in the sales brochure.

Gm was going to sell the dmax/Allison combo and the manual trans was left out of the mix. That same push really is one of the things that killed the 8.1 big block too. They wanted the light duty diesel market come hell or high water. 8.1's took away sales from diesels. Add the changes in gas emissions standards around 06 and it finished it off.

It's a rare thing for a manual dirtymax for sure.
 
Yeah I agree, I used to own an '04 with the Allison and I loved it for towing. Same thing goes for the fords. If you look for them you can find a 6.4L powerstroke with a manual but they did not advertise them. The big three were all pushing there awesome automatics and how great they were for towing and fuel economy. Dodge perhaps was the only one to maybe advertise it since they were the last to offer a manual and they could appeal to alot of buyers with that. I was really looking for a super duty with a 7.3L and a 6 speed but the Duramax will deal with the cold winters here better and I do like the Chevy except it does have alot smaller cab and less storage space than my super duty did.
 
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