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These days, it seems harder than ever to have a souped-up truck. With such stringent regulations on diesel performance, many enthusiasts are settling with a truck that, while retaining a stock drivetrain, knocks it out of the park in the looks department. It gets you more attention, opens up doors you might have thought were shut, and nabs all the likes and comments you can handle on social media. For Travis Dodd, owner and founder of the largest truck-focused Instagram page, Nasty Trucks Nation, this GMC Sierra is all of these things and more.
Travis took a great deal of pride when building his 2016 GMC Sierra 2500 Denali HD, and made every possible effort to get it done the way he wanted. To say that the result is great is an understatement.
Photography by Kyle Evers
We found out about Travis and his GMC from the aforementioned app. His truck was shared on a page called trucks_b4_after and instantly caught our attention. It was only then that we realized we were dealing with a big fish in the social media pond, and we reached out to Travis to get the full picture.
Background Of The Build
Travis’ vision for his truck was to have it be stunning and amazing, even among the competition at the annual SEMA Show.
Travis’ history with trucks started with his childhood in Tennessee. “My mom bought trucks and she got me into them as a kid,” he explains. “She owned a big ole Chevy, and ever since, I’ve had a huge passion for trucks.”
When he was 21 years old, Travis was into his third truck, a Duramax, and was quickly learning the ropes of social media. He began to see how things like Instagram could be used to attain fame and attention. “Someone gave me a page that they had started, and it only had 200 followers on it,” says Travis. “He said I had a nice truck and essentially let me have his page for free. He said I could build it up or do whatever I wanted with it, and I said, ‘Yeah, sure.'”
Soon enough, managing the page and working on his truck were hand-in-hand hobbies. Travis attended SEMA for the first time in 2014, having been sponsored by Cognito Motorsports. “I loved being out there and mingling with other truck enthusiasts,” comments Travis. “It was insane. I told myself I was going to have a truck at SEMA the next year, and that’s what inspired me to get going on this build.”
The Build Begins
From the beginning, Travis knew he wanted a truck he could be proud of. “I wanted to express my passion for trucks and make a vehicle that stood out,” he said. “It had to be a game-changer.”
To that end, Travis had his Denali become the first ever (of that generation) done with front and rear air ride suspension. This also happens to be his favorite aspect of the build. “It’s so different, and not a lot of people have it,” he comments. “Being able to raise and lower the truck at will is pretty sweet.”
From start to finish, Travis spent about nine months watching and waiting as his truck was worked on. He had to have it ready for the 2016 SEMA Show, and thankfully, he had it done with less than two weeks to spare.
Travis started his 2500 by taking care of what most of us do — the height. “I did the lift kit first, and then took care of the wheels and tires,” he says. “Then I did the exterior, which took me through changing out the bumpers, the hood, the tonneau cover, and then the headlights and taillights. I waited until the end to do the wrap, and did the stereo upgrade just before that.”
The Sierra As It Stands Today
The outside of Travis’ GMC is where it shines the brightest. Covered in a matte orange wrap courtesy of Suncoast Wraps, the rig looks like a glass of orange juice infused with Cheetos. It also helps that the suspension components match the color, too. “I thought it was going to be too much orange, but it turned out pretty sweet, in my opinion,” Travis affirms.
Bolstering the exterior’s appearance is a Royalty Core grille and RK Sport hood. The bumpers, meanwhile, are Backwoods units. The front holds OffroadLEDBars lighting, including a 20-inch light bar and four pod lights, with two on either side. Speaking of lighting, Travis had the stock headlights and taillights swapped out for custom-painted units from Plain An Simple.
The matte orange wrap on the truck was courtesy of Suncoast Wraps. It's matched by orange powder-coated suspension parts, which were provided by Ultimate Air Ride. Also, note the four massive train horns, made by Hornblasters. This is one truck that can really bring the noise.
Tucked up under the Sierra, we see again the custom powder-coated suspension components, provided by Ultimate Air Ride. These consist of a four-linked rearend and frontend, giving the truck a more desirable ride on the road. AccuAir e-Level air management lets Travis dip or raise the truck at will, and he has four 5-gallon air tanks providing a constant supply of air pressure.
Also tucked away here are four HornBlasters S4 horns. This way, if the custom stereo (more on that later) blasting tunes is not grabbing the attention of those around him, Travis can always let the horns rip and wake up birds within a two-mile radius.
Armed with all manner of Crescendo tweeters, speakers, and amplifiers, Travis can turn his truck into a rolling rock concert on the streets of his hometown in Sarasota, Florida.
For shock absorbers, Travis went with FOA polished units. He has two shocks on each corner, providing stability when things get bumpy.
The engine and drivetrain in the Sierra are mostly what you would expect. The 6.6-liter LML Duramax has very little in the way of modifications. It has stock exhaust manifolds, leading to a 5-inch downpipe-back straight pipe with a hex tip painted gloss black, and an S&B cold air intake gives a little something extra to the motor in terms of horsepower and torque.
Bolstering the dashboard is Edge tuning and accessory switches right at Travis' fingertips. Here, he can control the tune levels of his truck, monitor its vitals, activate the AccuAir air management system, blast the train horns, and more.
The rear axle is stock, while the front axle was swapped with a Dana 60, as that was the only way Travis could get the Ultimate Air Ride kit installed. Both axles run a 3.88:1 gear ratio and are painted gloss black, and the rear axle has a G2 differential cover. At the ends of these axles, a set of killer 24×16 American Force Royal wheels (with custom-painted and pinstriped faceplates) are wrapped in 40×15.5R24 Toyo Open Country M/Ts.
The Sierra Sounds Off
That does it for the outside. Inside, Travis can bask in truck command-post heaven. Here, he has a navigation head unit, as well as a stereo practically built for a concert hall. It starts with three Crescendo Mezzo SQ2 6.5-inch speakers and is supplemented with a number of tweeters and large amplifiers that make any music playing in Travis’ Sierra audible across county lines. Other features of the interior are custom black leather on the seats, an sPOD switch panel, and Epicenter Designs custom door panels.
The suspension on Travis' GMC can raise and lower between 3 and 15 inches and he has independent control of the front and back. Polished FOA reservoir shock absorbers let the truck ride nicely through the bumpy stuff, and lights from Offroad LED Bars give Travis the ability to see anywhere in front, behind, and underneath. Suffice it to say, no stone was left unturned when it came to improving this build.
All in all, Travis’ Sierra is one shining example of what a guy can do when he has a vision – and a few hundred thousand followers. The way that he was able to secure sponsorships and promote the passion for diesel trucks is something we can all get behind. To see more, check out the man’s Instagram page.
