Project Over/Under

Our Mission is Complete

We’re finally calling it done. The $500 work truck we picked up well over a year ago has had all manner of work done to it, and the miles we have put on it both on and off road are proof of the quality of work we performed on the truck as well a testament to the manufacturers we chose for the long list of aftermarket components on the truck.

It all began with Editor in Chief Jeremy Cook’s idea to do a lower buck version of all the overland-style trucks out there that have gained so much attention lately. We’re all for functional off road trucks—and putting your truck to work on the weekends— and the huge support the truck aftermarket has provided with their wide array of aftermarket parts is just the icing on the cake.

But where to start? Always one for a challenge, Jeremy decided to pick up what is currently the ugly duckling of the GM truck world—a 2003 Silverado. Not only that, the truck is a longbed, a standard cab, a two-wheel drive, and has the 4.8L powerplant in it. As if that wasn’t stacking the cards enough, this work truck had seen its fair share of wear and tear—it actually had a utility bed on it the first time Jeremy saw it!

So, with nothing but a tired cab and chassis, we set out to build a reliable daily driver that could also handle rough terrain and be camped out of when the need arises. The first task was to find a bed and tailgate locally that were cheap and in good condition and preferably white like the cab. Somehow that all happened, and soon we had a complete truck to work with. For some reason, we decided to work from the inside out on this build, which is almost never the case, but it’s just the way things worked out.