Silverado Medium Duty Truck Upfitted With A Regular Box
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Ever since GM launched the Chevrolet Silverado Medium Duty range for the 2019 model year, GM Authority has been steering the conversation about giving the new commercial truck a regular truck bed. Though there’s a substantial amount of interest in getting these trucks with a regular pickup bed from the factory, GM does not have plans to offer such an option, at least as of this writing. That chain of events has led us to render such a creation back in December. But now, Tennessee-based TriCity Customs has affixed the bed of a Silverado 3500HD to a 2020 Silverado Medium Duty.
The team started out by taking precise measurements of their Red Hot 2019 Silverado 4500HD. They also measured their two Chevrolet Kodiaks, the Silverado Medium Duty’s (in)direct predecessor. As it turns out, the new Silverado Medium Duty has identical measurements on the frame and subframe as Kodiak, TriCity’s Matt McGee exclusively told GM Authority in an interview.
They then took the box from a K2-generation Silverado 3500HD Dually, added five inches at the front end to better fit the Medium Duty’s greater length, and installed it on the 4500HD truck, leaving a space of about 6 inches between the rear end of the cab and the front end of the box. For those who remember the old Kodiak Monroe Conversions with their fiberglass boxes, those models had a “no step” area in that space. Matt says that this space could either be covered up, or used to install additional reservoirs for fuel.
The bed has the factory spray-in liner, while the rear end of the truck has two sets of lights – the lower ones that come attached to the rear of the frame from the factory, and the regular tail lights on the box. Thanks to extra wiring harnesses that are included in the bed, both sets are functional, as are the side marker lights on the box’s fenders.
What’s more, this Silverado 4500HD also has a functional backup camera (rear vision camera, in GM parlance). In fact, the Silverado Medium truck comes with a camera and all the necessary wiring from the factory, so TriCity swapped the box’s original camera, located near the tailgate release handle, with the camera included with the Medium Duty truck.
Being their first, this particular build took TriCity Customs about 12 months, but Matt tells us that they can do the conversion for interested customers in a much more reasonable timeframe now that they know what’s involved. The shop is currently working on a website, but in the meantime, they can be reached using the following contact info:
- TriCity Auto Customs – Johnson City, Tennessee
- Shop number – 423 283 9434
The Chevrolet Silverado Medium Duty is a commercial truck that’s the result of a partnership between General Motors and Navistar. The vehicle is built by Navistar, using a last-gen Silverado cab and GM’s 6.6L V8 L5D turbo-diesel Duramax engine mated to a wide spectrum of Allison transmissions. The conventional medium duty truck is available in three models – 4500HD, 5500HD, and 6500HD – with various frame lengths and GVWRs.
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Yesss! About time somebody did this.
If I can just win the lottery I would definitely buy one of these an take it straight to Gail banks
Should be a factory offered option for a bed.
YES, it should be a factory option!!!
Can you say “Longhorn”? In the ’67 to ’72 body style, GM made 8 1/2 foot beds in 3/4 and 1 ton trucks. They were designed for slide in campers. They had 6″ longer wheelbase and a 6″ longer bed made by welding on a 6″ extension to the front on the bed. There was a visible body line. The bed inside had 6″ inches more usable space, unlike this bed. The floors were all wood strips, they did not use an extended metal bed flood stamping.
Would the box from the new 2020’s fit? They’re longer as it is?
2020 bed won’t match this trucks body lines.
thanks for the info i will definitely have to check the specs on the 2020 bed we are getting ready to start a another bed install
Build this truck. GM, ZYOU STUPIDLY stop making the previous gen. 4500 and 5500, one of the best looking trucks ou there. The new truck looks good also. Go should also think about a factory dropside cargo bed. Be excellent for landscapers, appliance delivery, and snowmobiles, Atv. dealers , lumber yards. Roofers. All sorts of users.
The bed lines up nice, probably because the Silverado Medium Duty uses a K2 Silverado cab!
Still waiting for more medium duty options like 22.5″ wheels and a gas engine!
Looks great, but for the love of god this needs a skirt to cover that gap between the rocker and running board!
I am with you on that gap. There are a couple MD’s around here and they have fabricated a piece to fill it. I think someone here is building it actually for commercial sale. Regardless that should not have left the factory with that gap. I cant believe it would have taken much to address the issue. Even the dealer complains about it here.
I like these new MD trucks, but it be nice to have that frame tucked in a little, and GM should of had the larger 2020 cab.
I feel looks kinda stupid. Wheel should fit the well, vise versa. Like the looks of truck otherwise tho
OK, if the gm off shelfbed looks misplaced, keep the inside structure of the bed with new exterior sidewalls. A truck like this would have instant appeal with the big trailer fifth wheel users.
If GM is making this truck with all kinds of different frame lengths, They could very easily make one to fit a standard 8 foot box. No lengthening of a new box would be needed. The pencil pushers, just sometimes miss the obvious. And I agree, the frame gap fix, would also be a no brainer from the factory. Just sayin’
Regarding making a chassis to fit the 8′ pickup box length, it’s a bit more complicated than it appears. Cab and chassis trucks are dimensioned to fit standard aftermarket bodies, and usually the shortest commercial body is 9″. A 9″ bed requires a cab-to-rear axle length of around 60″ for proper load distribution. Standard long-bed pickup boxes are 8″ and the cab-to-rear axle length of a pickup chassis is around 54″, again for proper load distribution. The difference is the 6″ gap you see when you mount a pickup box on a standard cab and chassis built for a 9′ bed. If GM were to offer a 54″ cab-to-rear axle medium duty chassis, it would only be good for mounting 8′ pickup boxes. That would be a very limited market, and the truck would have unique frame rails and drive shaft. Sales would probably not justify the expense of building a medium duty that length. However, the market for a medium duty pickup probably is big enough for a truck upfitter to make a custom bed as we see here. BTW- GM did at one time offer 8.5″ Fleetside and 9′ Step Side boxes to fit 60″ cab-to-rear-axle 3/4 and 1 ton pickups. Remember the Chevy Longhorn and GMC Sierra Grande?
I think it looks fairly good but nowhere near the fit and finish as an F-450. But then this wasn’t a Chevy built truck either. So it is what it is. I would buy one if I was loaded. But it’s not very practical from a parking or “wife getting into it” stand point…. But that is what makes it AWESOME!
Yup, totally agree with, unless they bring back and upgrade the solid front axcels, but they could at least put some kind of vanity plates option on it, and people use those removal plates off, and change them out as needed, advertise for the business, lighting, excetra, but ofcourse everyone knows this, I’m a die hard toyota man but a car guy non the less,
I can’t understand why they put the underpowered L 5 D (P) Engine in the Medium Size trucks, 350 horsepower at 2,700 R.P, M., 700 ft-lbs at 1,600 R.P.Ms when it should have the 445 H.P. at 2,800 R.P.M. and 910 ft-ft-lbs engine in it. It is a Larger truck carrying a larger load and the towing capacity would greatly be increased to compete with Ford F550 and Dodge 550. Why does not Chevy want to compete in this range?
The lower rating is to give longer engine life. The intended purpose for the 4500 and up trucks are for commercial use and commercial trucks are valued for economy and cost effective ownership even more than a private owner would value such things.
We are currently upfitting the 4500 with regular boxes if anyone is interested give us a call. 5134183754