Brandon Naivar grew up around cars. His father raced stock cars on dirt and asphalt circle tracks while Brandon was growing up, but Brandon went a different route. Brandon's parents, James and Betty, took him and his brother to several monster-truck events, so when it came to driving, his first love was mud. Brandon spent the first few years after he got his license driving his Jeep through any mud hole he could find.
However, things changed when he bought this '00 Silverado, then a brand-new truck, back when he was 18. Soon, the truck was lifted and had its share of off-road excursions, gracing the Readers' Rides section of Four Wheeler magazine along the way. This time, though, Brandon decided to keep this truck clean, retire it from off-road duty, and build it up to turn some heads.
Fourteen-inch Baer brakes...
Fourteen-inch Baer brakes stop the massive 40x15.5R22 Toyo Mud Terrain and 22x11-inch driv Blitz wheels.
Jason, his father, James, and his brother, Dustin, did the majority of the work on the truck. The first step was to get enough tire under the truck to give it more of a monster-truck feel, while keeping it road-worthy. To get huge 40x15.5-inch Nitto Tire Mud Grapplers to fit under the comparatively small wheelwells of the Silverado, a 5-inch body lift was installed. With the body apart from the chassis, the guys took the opportunity to fully box the frame and add additional crossmembers using 2x4-inch -inch-wall tubing. Knowing that 5 inches of lift won't clear 40 inches of tire, a 12-inch 3rd Coast Suspension lift came in.