jasonh

Well, let's see:
Tires

I went with the Toyos - 35x12.50-17. This was the hardest decision. I'd wanted to go to 18's but rushing to buy wheels/tires isn't the way to go about it. I couldn't find anything that would leave me with an acceptable amount of tire sticking out (I am just over 1" now and preferred not to stick out more).

Ultimately, as you suggested, I stuck with the H2 wheels which we know work. That said, I found a 3rd version and I'm torn between black and chrome. The truck is black with chrome (I think it's the Laramie trim that does that?) so I'm leaning towards chrome. The blacks cost a bit more so that's what I've got ordered:




Clutch
I went against the advice of the board here and went with Peter's advice and got the DD 3600. I spoke to two guys who run that clutch and I think I can live with the 3600 over the 3250. I like the extra headroom, that's for sure. I don't mind the stiffer pedal (everything I have is manual and I feel that the 2500's clutch is a bit soft). I'm worried about grabbiness and chatter but Peter said they won't be an issue. Kind of crossing my fingers here...

Exhaust
Went with the MBRP cool duals & muffler delete pipe. I'm sure this flows better than stock but I do realize that my stock pipe (+ muffler delete) is perfectly fine for the amount of power I am putting out now. What it came down to is that I like the sound of the duals.

Intake
This one's tough too - I ordered a mega cannon and cfm+ but now that I've spent the weekend reading about intakes and having read the TDR articles, I'm thinking I'm going to call up and cancel these two items. I like the sound, but it's a big chunk of change to drop on 0 performance increase. I checked out the new edge monitor this weekend on a friend's truck. I like having all of the information on a single panel without having to run gauges so I'm tempted to call up and have them swap the monitor for the intake items. I like the insight CTS because it allows you to view so many items vs. the CS or Attitude. Thinking I'll go with that and pull the Juice and just sell it. I just don't know enough about stacking and I think I'd prefer to have more gauges (CTS vs. CS).

Steps
Here I went with the AMP Research Power Steps. I also got the 2" drop to help the vertically challenged that ride with me.

no_6_oh_no category
It's hard to blame the Smarty on you, I've wanted one of these for a long time!

The suspension, I can totally blame on you though! I've known for a while I'd need a leveling kit at some point. While I clear fine at the moment the Toyo's are a bit larger so this seemed like a good time to go after the kit. Springs were clearly the way to go, however I was surprised to see performance suspensions (Kore, Thuren) coming in with the same lift as the spacer and spring kits.

After doing some research I was itching to get the Kore Chase Pro. 3.0 kit. Unfortunately, Kore was closed and the dealers apparently have to call up Kent to figure out what they can do on a kit. Two dealers told me the price of the Chase Pro kit is going to go up though since Kore's offering it on their site for pre-order... I don't know, it seems to me if you pre-order that'd be the price. Anyway, you also have to cut to fit the 3.0 so I then decided to go with the Chase 2.5 kit. I told the dealer (for all the parts) to just go ahead and pull the trigger on the 2.5 kit.

Don Thuren returned my call 2 minutes later. After 30 seconds on the phone with Don I knew I wanted his suspension. He doesn't advertise a kit, but he has them. He put together a kit that was comparable to the 2.5 and cost less AND included the trackbar.

Of course, by the time it was all said and done the order had ball joints, control arms, rear springs, and the kit. The funny thing about that though is that while I got so much more, it ultimately wasn't terribly expensive compared to the items I'd have needed to purchase separately from the Kore 2.5 kit (like the trackbar). I was pretty confident ordering from Don. I've read great reviews of his gear and watched plenty of videos but just talking to him you know you're getting something customized for you.

So.. That's pretty much where I'm at at the moment. I really have to decide on the wheels and intake today to clean this up. I'm sure you guys will tell me to drop the intake but I know you're also not huge fans of Edge products. On the wheels.. I love black but I'm not sure it will look right. That said, I'm concerned the chrome will look too blingy.

EDIT: Just scheduled the 2008 steering upgrade for tomorrow so I'll be ready for the suspension next week. I think I'm going to look into a lift to put in our warehouse to get this done because I'd really like to clean up and protect some of the undercarriage pieces.

jasonh

Finally got the final piece on today (Thuren's new sway bar) and what a difference. Been driving it for a couple of months without and it was great, but obviously lacking while cornering.

What a difference all of the parts make. I'll shoot some pics when I get it cleaned (it's a mess).

From the ground up:

Toyo's are a huge improvement over the BFGs I had on. Running 50/35 front/rear on the wheels I posted earlier (air up to tow). Wheels came out great and look really tight with the stock center caps.

Thuren's suspension is by far the best investment. If I could have only done one thing that would have been it. I went with a more aggressive valving so it's a bit jarring over ripples in the pavement but it soaks up hits like you wouldn't believe. And it just works, all the time. Nothing funky whether towing or empty. The front's great, but the rear is just downright amazing. Don Thuren was incredibly helpful, offering advice all along the way and keeping me in the loop constantly as to when parts would ship, etc. That was money well spent and I'd recommend him to anyone. Like I said earlier, without his sway bar the suspension was a massive improvement over stock. He recommended just driving without until he had the parts ready and, I have to admit, I thought it was a bit crazy to do so. He was right (of course). A good bit of sway in turns but I don't corner too aggressively (rubber is $$$). It also didn't like weight high in the bed. That would cause it to sit a bit funny. Also when towing the lack of the swaybar was much more obvious. With the sway bar on though. I could just go on and on about this.

Southbend DD - I can't remember off of the top of my head which model I went with (I know it was higher-rated and it's the one Pete recommended) - this thing's great too. It's noisy in neutral and it doesn't like to be lugged so it took a bit of getting used to. I have no problem slipping the heck out of it when I need to (say, backing my trailer in - it's a tight fit) and I can't say I noticed the pedal being noticeably stiffer. It grabs like all hell though and it never slips under load. This went in first because my flywheel was shot with the stocker. It made driving with my worn BFGs challenging as the stock clutch was probably a) a lot more forgiving and b) slipping like hell. The BFGs lit up constantly.

Smarty - wasn't really planning on this as I'd been pretty happy with the Edge (I'm not much of a tweaker here so 0-3 was alright with me). So far, I'm pretty **** impressed. Currently running SW7 + Edge 0 (which is where I intend to keep the Edge at - if only I could lock it there, I worry if someone drives my truck, while rare, they might adjust it). I just played with the stock settings, I haven't adjusted anything individually yet. Initially the Smarty tune felt softer than the Edge on 3 and I was surprised due to both the warnings in the Smarty documentation (look out, off idle torque is massive) and the advertised gains. I suspect I can make up the off-idle torque by playing with the TM but the mid range to top end is where the Smarty's at IMHO. Where the edge would drop off like a rock the Smarty's still hauling coal. It's a very large HP gain over the Edge but I don't know torque numbers. The HP increase is extremely apparent on the top end and has me wishing (once again) for two more gears.

Intake - (read: waste of money). Sounds great, did the silencer ring mod too, but an immediate decrease in MPG. I'll probably end up back with the stock airbox (yeah, you guys were right) and mod that if I get around to it. It sounds REALLY good but I'd like to have that 1-2 MPG. If there's any increase in power, which I doubt (and suspect the opposite), it's not felt. Sure looks nice though.

Exhaust - went with the MBRP duals. Turbo back, but forgot to put the muffler delete on. Glad I did, it's LOUD. It sounds OK but it didn't mount up terribly well and if I had to do it again I think I'd probably go with something else. It does make a lot of beautiful noise when you're on it though. And it's nice off-idle as well.

Dealer - I hate dealers. I have yet to find one I like and there aren't any more in my area. I took it in for the cruise control enable and power on key off flashes. I said - and wrote - DO NOT FLASH ECM - BILL ME FOR THE FLASH. What did they do? Flashed ECM. They tell me there's no way back, but I haven't had time to look into it. I have been cursing them daily ever since - another 1-2 MPG drop. Oh, and just to add insult to injury, a german car dealer (wife's car) had that in for warranty work the next day and had the door open under the lift next door and dropped it. 50 days in the shop for warranty and body work (which still isn't right). 4,000 miles on it and now it rattles, parts are broken, scratches. Oh, right - I took it in for the 08 steering but didn't need it. Got the parts cheap online (someone on this forum recommended a Mopar wholesaler, that was easy). Right, but when I took it into the dealer, god knows what they were doing but they left a battery lead loose. Came off mid-corner and the truck died and wouldn't start. Not fun. I hate dealers!

Steps - AMP research steps. Ended up getting a great deal on them and man, they were worth it. No complaints whatsoever. Just need to wire in a toggle so I can leave them down when I'm cleaning the truck. I got the extensions but ended up returning them, no need and I think they may make them show a bit, though I could be wrong.

All of that said, the relationships I have with vendors really determine what I'll buy. The service I received from Don (Thuren) and Pete (SouthBend) was just phenomenal. If they didn't answer they ALWAYS got back to me and were always helpful. I'll buy whatever they're selling for the rest of my life. I also used WunderKarParts and JJ there was pretty helpful. A few snags along the way but in the end he took good care of me.

Thanks to everyone for their advice, and a special shout out to no_6_oh_no - thanks man! Thanks for answering all of the PM's - you really helped point me in the right direction! So appreciated.