Falkor - 2001 Crew Cab 2500HD

krazytoy

Adventurer
Falkor - 2001 2500HD

I recently purchased at an auction a 2001 GMC 2500HD Crew Cab, long bed with the 6.0L, 4L80E and manual shift NP263 T-Case with only 147K on the clock to replace the Yukon that I built. Now, you may be wondering about Falkor… Well, if you are anywhere near my age you may remember a movie called the Never Ending Story that had a big white luck dragon named Falkor. After rolling my Yukon, in a fluke accident off a sand dune, I figure the truck is big and white and I am going to need all the luck I can get! Plus, this is just the latest instalment of my never ending story of building 4x4’s. You can read the Yukon story here. The truck itself is VERY basic, vinyl floor, manual windows, cloth seats and the reason I really wanted the truck, the manual shift t-case.



The plan for the truck is to copy Timzr2’s front suspension design, I have seen and built plenty of suspensions and Tim’s is hands down the best I have seen. The time and effort he put into this is beyond belief and I cannot give him enough props that he shared his design for anyone to use, again this is not my design and Tim deserves all of the credit! I will be using the Super Duty 60 just like Tim and if you want to read Tim’s build you can find it here.






For the shocks I reached out to Ryan at Accutune Offroad and I will be using Fox 2.5”x8” Factory Series Remote Reservoir shocks for the front with custom valveing and a 450# Eibach spring.



From there I reached out to Green Speed Research here in Boise to help me get all the bending and laser cutting done for the front suspension, a few emails and phone calls back and forth and the plate was into production, Patrick at Green Speed had to slightly tweek the design for the tooling that is available here in Boise, it should all be done in a week or so. If you have a chance check these guys out do, they built a bad *** diesel land speed truck that went 209 mph and they are now building a diesel trophy truck that is off the hook! These guys get off-roading and engineering and they were again super impressed with Tim’s suspension design.



So the back of the truck is where I’m going to go off the deep end… I am going to chop the frame right behind the cab and ditch the bed. I will retain the FF14 bolt out back and will add an Atrec truss along with a dual triangulated 4 link with Smooth Body Fox 2.5”x12”, Low Take Off, Remote Reservoir Shocks, again from Ryan Accutune, and will use Firestone air bags with onboard air to support everything. From there I will wrap everything with a tube bed and incorporate a custom 40ish gallon fuel tank and Decked bed drawers that will be built into the tube bed using the top of the drawers as the top of the bed, so it will have plenty of drawer storage and be strong on top, while still keeping weight to a minimum. I will have to substantially modify the drawers to make them work, but I am confident I can make them work!





For wheels and tires I will be running 40”x13.50”x17” ProComp Xtreme MT2’s and the same Walker Evans Wheels I ran on the Yukon.





At this point I have everything I can think of on order with the shocks being the longest lead time. I should start cutting on it in the next few months. Here are some pics of the truck.
 

jeep-N-montero

Expedition Leader
Must have some luck on your side already, finding even a stripped down gmt800 chassis with manual shift case is pretty tough to do.
 

krazytoy

Adventurer
Must have some luck on your side already, finding even a stripped down gmt800 chassis with manual shift case is pretty tough to do.

I looked for one for about a month before I found this one at an auction, best part is it was an online auction and this truck didn't go up until 10:00 PM or so so nobody was bidding on it and I got it for a song...
I certainly do have luck on my side, considering no one was hurt in the Yukon roll and I was able to sell off all the parts to fund this build.
 

chilliwak

Expedition Leader
Wow:Wow1:Krazy, you certainly have thought this build out. It looks like you are going to have a super fabbed rig that can do almost anything. I like the pics you posted. Did you use autocad to do the layout? Anyways I cant wait to follow your build. Cheers, Chilli...:)
 

owyheerat

Adventurer
Krazy Toy for sure. You are so creative and imiginative. I could have stared at that truck for a month, and never thought "now this could make a great adventure rig'.

I already know...IT IS GONNA BE AWESOME!!! Will it be your DD?

Great start!

Durwin
 

locrwln

Expedition Leader
Going to be a great build. And Tim's design is off the charts good. I have an internal struggle several times a day on whether to keep the IFS or go with his design. His is the first that has made me think of SAS.
.
Can't wait to see the build.
.
Jack
 

krazytoy

Adventurer
Did you use autocad to do the layout?
Not being an ***, but please read the post. Just trying to give credit where credit is due.

Will it be your DD?
What's the point of having a rig if you can't drive it everyday? Thanks for the kind words.

Going to be a great build. And Tim's design is off the charts good. I have an internal struggle several times a day on whether to keep the IFS or go with his design. His is the first that has made me think of SAS.
I can tell you I have built a lot of suspensions and Tim's is the best I have seen, it is what made me choose the crew cab in the first place and what made me choose this route, it is that good! The parts and price was cheap (relative to what I have done in the past) and the geometry is spot on. If you are thinking of doing it, the guys at Green Speed have adjusted the drawings and I can either get you the parts or drive your truck out and I'll put it on. I am fairly confident I can do the front in a weekend, stay tuned as that is my goal.

Excitedly following this one.
Thanks, Me too... If it comes out as good as it is in my head, it should be awesome.
 

doublegwhiz

New member
Subscribed. Been a lurker here for too long...your last build was incredible. Excited to see what happens here and follow along. I just picked up almost your trucks twin...2007 classic long bed crew, w/t trim, manual tc, no power accessories. Nothing as impressive planned, but excited to see your plan unfold.
 

locrwln

Expedition Leader
I can tell you I have built a lot of suspensions and Tim's is the best I have seen, it is what made me choose the crew cab in the first place and what made me choose this route, it is that good! The parts and price was cheap (relative to what I have done in the past) and the geometry is spot on. If you are thinking of doing it, the guys at Green Speed have adjusted the drawings and I can either get you the parts or drive your truck out and I'll put it on. I am fairly confident I can do the front in a weekend, stay tuned as that is my goal.

I agree on his being the best and why it has me debating. I will keep that in mind for Green Speed as I'm not sure who I would have make the parts. I appreciate the offer, but I would do the install if I decide to go that way. Looking forward to your removal of the factory brackets. Everything I have read on SAS'ing these trucks, everyone always says that is the worst part.
.
Jack
 

locrwln

Expedition Leader
Just as an aside...
.

I stopped by WFO Concepts today and took Trevor's truck (2008 Duramax on their 3"/35's SAS) for a drive. It drives and rides better than my truck. I had my wife drive it and she thought the same thing. The steering is so positive and precise versus the IFS. We were both very impressed with the ride and handling. My only complaint with WFO's kit is the control arms, they hang way too low in comparison to Tim's kit. But it did help us make the decision. My SAS won't happen until probably next year, but it will happen (using Tim's kit/design) using a lot of WFO's parts as well.
.
So even more interested in your build now.
.
Jack
 
Last edited:

Bojak

Adventurer
I've bought from and used some wfo stuff. It was all quality stuff. Kind of cool you are near enough to just go by. No cool shops like that on the east coast that I know of.
 

Bojak

Adventurer
Krazytoy, do you have a link to Tim's build? I searched under the timzr2's name and the only thing that came up is where you mention it on page one here.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
185,538
Messages
2,875,655
Members
224,922
Latest member
Randy Towles
Top