Dylan Fortner 2005 Chevy LLY 2500

Owner: Dylan Fortner
Truck: 2005 Chevy LLY 2500

On the day he turned 19 years old Dylan decided it was time to venture into the diesel world. After spending a decent amount of time scouring Craig’s List, and sorting through all the overpriced and cleverly worded listings, he had finally found the right truck at the right price. Buying your first diesel, the 2005 LLY pictured above, is a great present to give yourself on your birthday. Dylan has been on the GM bandwagon for a while now. His first truck was a 94 Z71 Chevy. However, it was his best friend’s 96 7.3L Power Stroke that really introduced him to the industry.

Dylan’s always had an interest for a career in law enforcement. With all of the negative publicity that officers have received the last few years, he felt inspired to pursue this Thin Blue Line theme. These men and women garner a lot of negative criticism, so designing his exterior and interior look around the theme was a very simple yet genuine way for Dylan to pay respect to their sacrifices.

If you happen to find yourself in Covington, Ohio keep an eye out for Dylan and his Thin Blue Line LLY. These days he mostly uses the rig to commute to and from work, however if you time it right you might catch him out cruising the town.

“I saved her,” Dylan said when he sent us the picture of the truck with the stack above. That’s what it looked like on the day he picked it up. Here are the modifications he has made thus far.

6 inch Lift
Dylan started his build off with simple shocks and blocks lift kit from Rough Country.

Wheels and Tires
For the shoes and laces Dylan stuck with Fuel Off-Road. He decided on a 20x12 in the Fuel’s Full Blown design and then chose to wrap in in a 35 x 12.5 x 20R Fuel Tire.

Bumpers
Ranch Hand bumpers seem to be making a bit of come back in popularity. Previously you would only see these robust steel contraptions on the front of a beat up farm truck. However, it is becoming common now to see them on these really nice builds like Dylan’s. We really like the fact that he chose to go with the matching rear bumper as well though, where as most people opt to keep the stock one.

Rhino Lining
If you take a closer look at the pictures above you notice that Dylan decided to coat the lower portion of the body with Rhino Lining. This is a great option for anyone with body rust issues or if you’re like Dylan and just want a more aggressive looking rig.

Accessories
To cap the truck off Dylan added custom clear headlights with blue pearl accents, paint matched blue shocks, and a paint matched blue exhaust tip.

Head Studs
Head studs from ARP to hold things together.

Intake Manifold
For the mouth piece, Dylan opted for a Bladerunner Intake manifold from aFe. Intake manifolds are an often over looked upgrade, but on the LLY especially, they can really make a huge difference in airflow and turbo spool.

Cold Air Intake 
An S&B Stage 2 intake was the preferred intake for this truck. Since he already had increased his CFMs with the aFe manifold Dylan wanted to go with an CAI that would give him performance but also provided the best filtration.

Exhaust
Almost all aftermarket exhaust systems for LLYs are downpipe back only. So the first exhaust component that Dylan chose was a 3” downpipe from MBRP. Replacing the down pipe on the LLY isn’t a big horse power gain, but it is a really good way to lower EGT’s and to improve the sound from your turbo. To complete his exhaust system, he added a 5” downpipe back exhaust system from Silverline.

Tuning
Dylan chose to go with EFI Live with tunes from ATPTrucks, the tuning artist formerly known as Idaho Rob.

Other Engine Mods
To finish out the engine, Dylan also added a 3” Y bridge, a coldside intercooler pipe, a PCV reroute kit, and a complete EGR Delete.

Transmission / Drivetrain / Steering
Chevy’s and GMC’s are notorious for their weak tie rods. Most people opt to just sleeve their tie rods, however Dylan decided to step it up a notch and just upgraded to new tie rods from Rare Parts. Dylan continued to strengthen up the front end of the truck by adding new Moog pitman and idler arms, and finished it out with braces from Cognito. Dylan then installed a Tru Trac locker from Eaton in the rear, and finally added color matched PPE deep transmission pan to finish off the truck.

Future Plans
Dylan says he goes back and forth all the time on whether or not to sell the truck. However, if he does keep the truck his next upgrades will be a new set of traction bars, a Titanium 150 GPH from FASS, and rebuilding his transmission with a kit from Suncoast.

1. Is your truck male or female & does it have a name? 
A. I refer to it as a she more times than not lol.

2. What is the one diesel event you never miss?
A. Not really diesel only event but Wapak Tug fest and the Lima 4x4 jamboree

3. What is the one piece of advice to those just entering the diesel market?
A. It's an awesome community to be a part of and there are tons of guys willing to help you get where you want. As long as you're not "that guy" asking about a lope tune, or how do I make my truck black smoke. You will regret having ever asked that question.

4. What is your favorite #dieseltips?
A. #065 when asked if your daddy bought your diesel. The correct response is, "your mother did, and she made me earn every penny."

5. Favorite place to buy Diesel parts?
A. Atptrucks and Thoroughbred Diesel

6. Is there a mistake you made along the way you would like to warn people against?
A. No not really. Just do your research and wait for the right truck don't jump on the first thing you see.

Want to keep up with Dylan and his build? You can follow him on all the social channels listed below.

• Instagram - @duramaxdylan
• Twitter - @duramaxdylan
• Snapchat – duramaxdylan