2005 Chevy Silverado – Chris E.

Back in the summer of 2020, we were on our Family’s farm in Loup City, Nebraska pulling a replacement 350 for my ’79 C10 that my Uncle Larry had. Just as we finish getting it out of the other truck, my Uncle says, “that seems like an awful lot of work to restore your truck, why don’t you buy one of my service trucks?” I had an upcoming surgery, and the thought of the required time and energy had been on my mind. I told him I would think about it.

I had gotten overheated from the day’s work moving vehicles around and pulling parts, so I got a chance to ride in one of the trucks with A/C on the way to a tractor pull in Kearney at the Kearney Raceway. A 2005 Chevy Silverado 2500HD with a Service Bed on it that he bought with a group of trucks from a Garage Door Company in Central Nebraska. When it was time for us to head back to Omaha, he made the comment that he wished I would come up more, and that I needed to soon, because he wouldn’t be around for too much longer. My Uncle was diagnosed with Stage 4 Stomach Cancer in November of 2020.

Fast forward to March of 2021, I already sold my ’79 C10, and I picked out a truck with my wife’s blessing. It didn’t have A/C working, but it had a newer engine that was recently installed before my Uncle bought it. It was one of the two 2005 Chevy Silverado 2500HDs with a Service Bed. 207k miles on the odometer. It had a 6.0L V8, regular cab, crank windows, standard FM radio, and was an automatic. It wasn’t pretty, but it was a nice truck to drive and use. My Uncle Larry passed away a month later in April. The truck was already special to me, but now it was priceless.

With the help of my cousins and brother, we put a new bed on the truck. We also put on a new dual exhaust system. With the help of LMC, I’ve replaced some of the original parts like the tail lights wiring harness, junction box, and the tail gate handle to replace the “well known and easily broken” one that comes with the truck. My Dad helped me install a new speaker system to replace the worn out and popping speakers.

It’s been a great truck in the 2+ years we’ve owned it. My 6 year old son loves riding in it everywhere. I’m hoping to keep it running for at least another 100k miles.