REDZILLA Ford F-350 7.3L Lariat Crew Cab Kelderman Air Lift 52" Tires Custom

Truck was featured in 8 lug Magazine. Here is the link to the article. Article does a good job telling about the truck. The truck currently has 52" Michelin XZL tires on it and not the 44" swampers pictured in the article. Awesome huge truck! Over $100. 00 invested!For a kid growing up in Nephi. Utah (population less than 4. 00). Curtis Jones dreamed of big trucks. His first truck was a red '87 Dodge D50 that was totaled after smashing into the rear of a loaded flatbed tractor trailer. Don't ask. If size means safety. then Redzilla is Curtis' personal aircraft carrier. Redzilla was born as a '99 Ford F-350 Crew Cab that remained bone stock for all of about 15 minutes. The first round of modifications was a leveling kit and 35-inch BFGoodrich Mud-Terrain tires. which lasted about 4 years. Next. a 10-inch lift was installed on the truck by the same shop that does all of Karl Malone's (formerly of the Utah Jazz) trucks with 38-inch Swamper TSL Radials. this lasted for another four years. After this modification. the truck officially became Redzilla thanks to Curtis' friend Shannon Peatross who came up with the name after a long day of snowmobiling with Curtis. When Curtis was tired of the look and feel of the stiffened leaf springs and 12 shocks that were knocking his teeth out with every pothole. he turned to Kelderman Air Ride for some relief. The boys at Kelderman hooked Redzilla up with one of their 14-inch adjustable air-ride suspension kits-powdercoated red with chrome bars to match the truck. Firestone airbags and 2 1/2-inch Sway-A-Way shocks sit at all four corners to give this beast a ride more like Barney than an aggressive red dinosaur. The four Firestone bags are fed by two red powdercoated 5-gallon air tanks mounted to the framerails and an Oasis XD3000 compressor mounted behind the left rear tire. By the way. to do all of this work. Kelderman picked up Redzilla in Salt Lake City on the way back from the SEMA show in Las Vegas in November of last year and transported the truck to their plant in Oskaloosa. Iowa. free of charge. Now that is what we call customer service!Curtis Jones can't leave his '99 Ford F-350 alone. He modifies it and modifies it and modiSo after those modifications. all that was needed was a set of 20-inch Weld Racing Dune wheels and 44-inch TrXus STS tires to complete the look. right? Wrong! The 44-inch Swampers were big. but not big enough. so they were upgraded. Curtis is an accountant and owns New Horizons Computer Learning Center in Salt Lake City. Three years ago. Curtis wanted to be crazy and have some tires and wheels that would get him noticed by his fellow accounting pals at his many CPA luncheons. So he found five Michelin 52-inch XZL tires (where the hell is he going to mount the spare?!) and spoke to Daniel at USA 6x6 in Oklahoma to fab up some 20-inch three-piece wheels. Daniel had the centers for the wheels custom made. and polished the aluminum to a blinding shine. To complete the custom look. the wheel shells were chrome powdercoated with a beadlock welded to the lip and then inscribed with iron crosses and "Redzilla. " With these wheels and tires Curtis has no worries about being confused with a "normal CPA. "With that much weight at each corner. Redzilla needs a little help turning those meats. A TS Performance six-position flip chip was installed. along with a K&N FIPK filter and 5-inch Magnaflow exhaust that was capped off with a 7-inch chromed tip to extricate the hot gases spewing from the tail of the 7. 3L fiery beast! As if this wasn't enough. a Bully Dog propane-injection system (with a polished tank located where the stock spare tire used to be) and a Snow Performance water/methanol injection system are used to provide the required grunt. Some old-school Auto Meter gauges located on the A-pillar make sure meltdown temps are not reached. To ensure the engine's torque is well used. a Banks Trans Command was installed along with the front and rear differentials receiving Genuine Gear 5. 13 gears and synthetic fluid. capped off with a Mag-Hytec diff cover in the rear. Power Slot brake rotors and ceramic pads were added in the front and rear to help Redzilla stop on a dime and leave 5 cents change. To help turn the overgrown front tires from port to starboard. an Off Road Unlimited hydraulic ram steering assist was added and allows Curtis to turn the steering wheel with his pinky at a complete stop. That is some pinky!The truck's paint is the stock Ford Red. and has received many coats of wax over the years to help it remain sharp. A fresh coat of red paint was sprayed on the cowl-induction hood. Xenon lower air dam. Bushwacker cut-out flares. and A. R. E tonneau cover to help them blend in. The tonneau cover makes a home for a BedRug and a 5-gallon tank for the water/methanol injection system. Custom polished billet-aluminum Redzilla and iron cross badges replaced the stock Ford emblems and were made by Billet Badges in Ramona. California. The letters and symbols were painted red to match the truck. Since Curtis' wife Angi and daughters Brookelyn (9) and Reese (2) fell short in their attempts to qualify for the high jump at the Summer Olympics. AMP Research Power Steps with extensions were installed to get the entry point of the truck to a manageable level. Illumination for the road is provided by chrome-housed SUV Sport LED-style headlights. If this street machine ever finds its way to the dirt. two PIAA 520 series chrome foglamps and two PIAA 520 series chrome driving lamps mounted directly to the front bumper will light the way. These lights are mounted in front of a painted grille with polished billet inserts and a custom iron cross badge made by. you guessed it. Billet Badges. The interior touches were taken care of by Jason "Donger" Chounlamay at Kelderman. Jason has supplied many of Kelderman's SEMA trucks with sound. but he says this one is his loudest. A Clarion VRX935VD located in the dash provides the brains to the audio system and controls the Sirius Satellite Radio. A Clarion VCR and six-disc changer are located under the rear seat along with a Sony PS2 to satisfy the game playing demands of any occupant. Two Clarion LCD monitors are mounted in the backs of the front seats to provide Brookelyn and Reese (and also Mom and Dad) with hours of uninterrupted entertainment. To add thump to the system. three 12-inch Infinity Kappa speakers housed in a custom enclosure between the two front seats provide a nice launching pad for any item misplaced there. Ten Infinity Kappa Perfect 6. 5-inch component speakers are mounted in custom enclosures in the doors. Power to the subs is supplied by a 4. 00-watt Lanzar Max-Pro Series amp. and a 1. 00-watt Phoenix Gold amp supplies the oomph to the component speakers. Both amps are housed behind the back seat and are either lit by red neon lights or provide their own illumination from the heat being produced. You be the judge. You don't need a curling iron to do your hair in this truck!The headliner and armrests were wrapped in red suede with many other dash and trim pieces receiving a coat of red paint. After 10 years of customizing you would think that Redzilla is done. but based on its history. who knows?The Kelderman Air Ride suspension completely transformed the big truck into something thatRead more: http://www. 8-lug. com/features/ford/0811_8l_1999_ford_f350/#ixzz3S7dLxm56Read more: http://www. 8-lug. com/features/ford/0811_8l_1999_ford_f350/#ixzz3S7dAxpup