Rough start for a new member with a 2021 2500HD Z71 Sport Edition

powderMonkey · February 27, 2021

Decades long multi-forum user here - sport motorcycles, dirt bikes, USPSA shooting, long range precision rifle shooting, IT-related work forums, etc. Glad to have found this place!

Anyway - I've had a 2008 Honda Ridgeline since new - 123,000 miles later I bought a camper and started towing a new 2018, 3500lb Geo Pro camper to my favorite roadracing venue - Mid Ohio Sports Car Course. The Ridgeline did a heck of a job as a tow vehicle, managing to pull in top gear 70mph at 2000rpm on flat land. But when an ex-coworker approached me to buy my Honda for full private sale blue book - it was time for a major upgrade. I sold it for just under $8k, and was truck-less for the first time in 20 years. Well, except for my 2018 Silverado 1500 5.3L W/T max trailering package that I have from work. But I can't take that to the bar. ; )

The company I work for buys a dozen or so Chevy 1500 through 4500 trucks a year from our local dealer. I placed an order on 12/28/20 for a Summit White 2021 2500HD Crew Cab 6'10" bed LT trim Z71 Sport Edition Gasser with leather buckets. I ended up travelling for work for the next 3~ weeks. Once I got home, I checked in with the dealer to find out my order was still at status 1100 after a month. He said he was concerned because several of my options were on 'constraint' - a word I wasn't familiar with relating to ordering a vehicle.

I started googling and found out the constraint affected several of my drop dead gotta have it options 'through the end of the MY' aka end of the model year. Wow. I was super disappointed for a day or two. Based on a thread I found here, I learned the only way I was gonna get a truck was to get on AutoTrader and custom search for a truck that met my spec, find one hopefully still in transit, and buy it sight unseen. And that's exactly what I did.

I decided color was flexible but 2500 HD and Z71 Sport Edition with 18" spoked wheels and MT tires were not. After calling 10 dealerships and finding nothing but old sold listings, I finally found a White 2021 2500HD Crew Cab 6'10" bed LTZ trim Z71 Sport Edition Gasser. It was in transit, not sold, but about $6k more than my custom LT trim build. I wired money to hold it the day I found it. Financing was arranged the next day, a week later it was delivered to the dealer via rail, and two days after that I coerced a coworker to drive me from Ohio to SC to pick it up! : D

Everything went fine at the dealer, and I left SC for home 505 miles away in my gorgeous new truck...

I was all the way back into SE Ohio, where the highway went from two lane to a four lane. A line of cars started to pass me, and they spooked a red tailed hawk out of the median. It cleared the first car, but I think the aero-wake off the lead car turned the hawk, and it cranked hard right - right into the front of my truck. *THWACK*

I couldn't freaking believe it. In stunned silence I continued driving up the road, now less than 80 miles from home, and stopped at the next rest stop. My fears were confirmed. The bird had gone through the grille, and had dented the hood. With less than 600 miles on the clock. Un-freaking-believable!!!

I went to my local Chevy dealer and ordered a new grille - painted cross bar, Z71 badge, and camera not optional, so it was nearly $1,000. One week later the part was in, and I scheduled to have the local Chevy dealer's body shop to install it at a quoted $270 to install. I got impatient, found an incredibly detailed video on YouTube on how to remove the grille, and I tore into it today at noon. I didn't break a single clip, or put any marks on any panels, and by 5PM it was *DONE*. Thank the lord!!

The dent is a tiny little 1.25" shallow one on the leading edge of the hood from the poor dumb hawks tiny skull. I have a quote from a very reputable paintless dent repair shop for $200. Once that is done next week I will finally be whole again!

PS - I love the truck, the path to get it has been a red headed ****** however... Pics coming soon! ; )

powderMonkey · February 27, 2021

Here she is...Love this truck!

50F and the sun just popped out here. Thinking about running up to Summit Racing and picking up a Banks iDash! ; )

20gmctruckguy · February 27, 2021

That's quite the story! Glad you finally got your new truck. Big step up from the Ridgeline.

You should put a tiny red pin stripe on it in memory of the poor hawk.

Keith_Schumaker · February 28, 2021

Looks great, at least the dealer didn't string you along for 3 months like mine did. I lucked out and found something similar to what I ordered and it was only an hour and a half away.

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leverett.scott · February 28, 2021

Glad it worked out for you in the end. I have a Blue LT Z71 Sport Duramax and love it. First thing I bought was an iDash.

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powderMonkey · March 2, 2021

Hey guys, thanks for the replies!

20gmc - Get this - I googled 'bird strikes' (I am a pilot too) and red tailed hawks are #1 on the list in annual millions of dollars of damage caused. I'm not the only one cursing them!

Keith - Glad you got your 3500 HD Dually! That's got to be a beast!

Scott - Your Blue Z71 Sport Edition all blacked out - and with a Dirtymax - man that is one BA ride! I just took my first ride since iDash install - pretty slick little piece of tech. You got all those cool fields like boost and regen and crazy high EGT to monitor with yours tho! ; )

finn5033 · June 2, 2021

I had to chime in here, also had a heck of time finding a truck. Couldn’t order what I wanted so scoured the web and found a crew cab 3500 LT gasser, blue with the Z71 sport. It was the 10th or so truck I’d called on, all of the other ones sold already or presold. Put money down to hold it right away. Mine was also 4-5k more than the one I wanted to order but with no idea when I’d be able to order it I had to jump on it. Flying out next week to pick it up and make the 5hr drive home. I was disappointed that the 3500’s come with Michelin LTX AT2 tires, I hear they are nice but they look like street tires so I made a deal to have the dealer put on some BFG K02’s. Should look much better.

Dunn · June 3, 2021

2500s going for MSRP?......am sure they are since they are sold before arriving

Dunn · June 3, 2021

2500s going for MSRP?......am sure they are since they are sold before arriving

Merc0085 · June 3, 2021

2 hours ago, Dunn said:

2500s going for MSRP?......am sure they are since they are sold before arriving

Yep, of the 27 or so dealers I called most were selling at MSRP. 2 offered 1k off as their listed price and 4 added 2-3k over msrp.

powderMonkey · June 3, 2021

18 hours ago, finn5033 said:

I had to chime in here, also had a heck of time finding a truck. Couldn’t order what I wanted so scoured the web and found a crew cab 3500 LT gasser, blue with the Z71 sport. It was the 10th or so truck I’d called on, all of the other ones sold already or presold. Put money down to hold it right away. Mine was also 4-5k more than the one I wanted to order but with no idea when I’d be able to order it I had to jump on it. Flying out next week to pick it up and make the 5hr drive home. I was disappointed that the 3500’s come with Michelin LTX AT2 tires, I hear they are nice but they look like street tires so I made a deal to have the dealer put on some BFG K02’s. Should look much better.

That dark blue with everything blacked out looks sharp AF man! Some knobby MT tires will top it off. Congrats man!

finn5033 · June 3, 2021

5 hours ago, powderMonkey said:

That dark blue with everything blacked out looks sharp AF man! Some knobby MT tires will top it off. Congrats man!

Thanks, I like the white like yours too but the wife doesn’t. We were going to order a midnight edition but I happened to come across this blue one and we both liked the look. Flying out Monday to drive it home. Looking forward to seeing how it looks with the K02’s on it

xETERNALx · June 5, 2021

Sorry for the crazy bad luck. I had similar issues finding a truck recently. I was living overseas and found our short notice I was moving back stateside. I started looking for a 3500 Denali online mid April. I couldn't find ANYTHING. My only wants was a Denali in anything but Black. I was willing to look nationwide. I emailed a good 15 dealers. Most came back with having nothing. The few that did, wanted $10K over MSRP. Then the ones that didn't have anything offered me Duallies, 2500s, 1500s, black trucks, used trucks, you name it!!

I finally got to Vegas and after renting a car the day I flew in at $1200 for 2 weeks, I decided to not be picky. Walked into the local dealer and he his lot was EMPTY, like literally all they had was 3 buicks on the lot. He said sorry and then a salesman said he had an inbound that someone ordered and backed out on. It was a black 2500 AT4. I had no choice and did it.

Its a crazy market right now!!!

Knighti2 · June 12, 2021

I did not hit a hawk but had same constraint derail my plans to order as well. First truck after that I inquired about was on hold before it arrived.

Second I found I basically inquired the same time it showed on the dealership inbound list. So I was able to get it. I had to travel from Va Beach, Va to New York. That dealership had 5 trucks the morning I inquired none made it to end of day.

I did get the Chevy $1250 rebate or whatever when I bought mine. So it was $60200.

I have not even seen one available since I got mine.

I blacked out the tailgate letters with inserts and added the DiamondBack HD bed cover.

Edited June 12, 2021 by Knighti2