Diesel Videos

Watch the Diesel Power Challenge 2012 awards ceremony in its entirety. 

Check out all of the highlights from the first day of DPC '12 as our competitors take on the ATS Dyno! 

Diesel Power Editor-in-Chief David Kennedy and Publisher Jeff Dahlin welcome our competitors to the 2012 Diesel Power Challenge and announce the running order for the Dyno Competition. 

It seems like it always comes down to the final minutes in preparation for a big show. In this case, the 2011 CRAFTSMAN Ultimate Truck Buildout vehicles were being wrenched on right up to the moment they were strapped into the trailer of a Pilot Transport rig and pointed west for the haul to Las Vegas for the SEMA show. 

The thrash is on to wrap up the 2011 CRAFTSMAN Ultimate Truck Buildout - we're literally only a few days away from loading these two Chevrolet Silverado trucks onto the transporter to ship to Las Vegas for the 2011 SEMA show! The Diesel Power magazine truck is getting an even more intricate bed rack. It will incorporate two CRAFTSMAN boxes - one on each side - and a pair of LCD TVs. And the entire assembly will raise and lower with the press of a button! 

We're alternating between coffee and Mountain Dew as we enter the home stretch to get these two Chevrolet Silverado trucks finished as part of the 2011 CRAFTSMAN Ultimate Truck Buildout for SEMA. The Hot Rod magazine truck was shuffled off to Graphik Concepts to tune up its exterior, but not before the team at Lingenfelter Performance Engineering yanked the seats out to install the custom embroidered Katzkin leather covers. The Diesel Power magazine truck was also stripped of its seating arrangements for the same treatment. 

The Diesel Power truck hasn’t received as much attention yet, so it was shipped across town to have the CRAFTSMAN Ultimate Truck Buildout graphics applied. Both trucks will get similar graphic treatments, making them instantly recognizable as this year’s stars of the program. There are quite a few parts sitting in the back of UPS and FedEx trucks as we type, on their way to Lingenfelter to help us return to spinning wrenches. 

The truck we're building as part of the CRAFTSMAN Ultimate Truck Buildout is already one of the biggest dogs on the block: A 2011 Chevrolet Silverado HD 3500 with the latest Duramax and Allison automatic transmission. But bigger is better, so our first order of business is to increase the altitude and attitude with a BSD suspension lift. The specific BSD kit that Lingenfelter Performance Engineering is installing is a 6.5-inch High Clearance System. Highlights of the system are crossmembers made from 1/4-inch steel, CNC machined replacement steering knuckles to maintain track width and skid plates. The new steering knuckles also keep the turning radius in check. We especially like their No Torsion Bar Drop design that keeps the torsion bars high in the chassis to maximize ground clearance. The BDS kit for the rear uses 5-inch lift blocks and the factory leafsprings to retain the factory cargo-carrying capacity. BDS has worked with Fox shocks to offer performance shocks for many of their applications. 

It wouldn’t be a SEMA vehicle buildup if there was plenty of time and everything went smoothly. Heck, that wouldn’t even be fun, and it certainly wouldn’t be entertaining. No worries – we’re going to provide plenty of entertainment – especially if you’re into hot trucks and cool tools! And to double your fun, we’re going to build two trucks with completely different style and purpose for this year’s Craftsman Ultimate Truck Buildout. 

We’re living a time of economic recession, in a country with the most stringent diesel emissions standards in the world, and we’re enduring the highest diesel fuel prices ever seen. So how on earth have the Ford, GMC, and Ram come to market with the most powerful pickups in the history of the 8-foot bed? Simple. Americans want to get back to work, and we need super trucks to get the job done. Watch as we hitch three brand new dualies to 19,400-pound trailers, and take them on a 2,000-mile road trip over the Rockies to test their pulling power, fuel economy, and stamina in our legendary King Of The Hill test. It’s Cummins vs. Duramax vs. Power Stroke, in a shootout that redefines diesel truck testing.