Home on the Road: Aussie Destinations Unknown's Silverado 2500

Most built trucks get a weekend away. This one gets every day of the year. Chris and Miriam of Aussie Destinations Unknown sold up in 2020 and have travelled Australia full-time ever since, towing a caravan of about four and a half tonnes. Their truck has to be a tow vehicle, a camp, a storage unit and an off-grid base, all at once, on whatever road the next destination happens to be at the end of.

This MY24 slate-grey GMSV Silverado 2500 HD is their third Silverado. They know exactly what they want from one by now. The factory drivetrain is the foundation: GMSV's 6.6-litre Duramax turbo-diesel V8 makes 350kW and 1322Nm through a 10-speed automatic, with a 4500kg braked towing rating. Big Dog Builds took it from there. The truck was engineered and upgraded to NB2, then built out for lift, load, light and towing.

Lift That Carries a House

A truck that tows a caravan full-time on outback roads needs more than ride height. It needs suspension that copes with weight, corrugations and heat day after day. This one runs the BDS 6.5-inch Lift Kit with FOX Performance Elite shocks.

BDS doesn't just space the factory front end down. The kit uses CNC-machined ductile iron steering knuckles, high-arched quarter-inch steel crossmembers, relocated torsion bars, a differential drop, heavy-duty skid plates and stainless brake lines. The FOX 2.5 Performance Elite shocks use remote reservoirs and DSC adjusters, with 10 low-speed and 12 high-speed compression settings, so the damping can be tuned for an empty truck on the highway or a loaded rig on a corrugated track.

The kit is designed around 37 and 38-inch tyres, and ADU runs 37x13.5 Yokohama G003 mud-terrains on 20-inch Method wheels. Big Dog Builds added BDS traction bars, a rear leaf spring retune with an extra leaf, and Air IQ-managed triple-bellow airbags fed by an on-board quad compressor, so the rear stays level when the van goes on.

The Tow Setup

ADU's caravan is about as heavy as the Silverado is legally allowed to tow, so the hitch matters. Behind the truck is a Gen-Y BOSS Torsion-Flex Hitch for a 2.5-inch receiver, rated to 7000kg with a 900kg tongue weight rating and a 7.5-inch drop.

The BOSS replaces a rigid steel connection with heavy-duty rubber torsion cords, so it flexes and absorbs shock instead of passing it straight between truck and van. Gen-Y's figures put it at around 10% of the trailer's inertia coming through, compared with 100% through a solid hitch. Over thousands of kilometres of rough roads, that means less fatigue on the van, on the truck and on the people inside. The ball height changes with a single pin, and a mechanical tongue weight scale is built into the hitch, so loading the van correctly doesn't involve guesswork.

The 7000kg rating is headroom, not a licence. The real limit is always the lowest-rated part of the setup, and here that's the truck's 4500kg.

An Infinite Rule stainless locking hitch pin, made in the USA and rated to 7000kg, keeps the hitch secure in the receiver. A Gen-Y GHM-030 Serrated Hitch Step makes a lifted truck with a canopy easier to work around: it's rated to 226kg, has a serrated no-slip face, slots into the Gen-Y hitch and can be used with the van still hooked up.

KC Lighting for Dust and Dark

Full-time touring means plenty of driving in dust, dark and bad weather, and KC HiLiTES does the lighting work on this truck.

Across the front of the roof rack is a 45-inch KC Gravity Titan LED Light Bar with seven lights. Each one uses KC's Titan Core with three-source LED optics, covering short, mid and long range from a single housing. A switch flips the whole bar from high-power white to an integrated amber dust light, which makes the truck easy to see in dust, rain or a convoy. Pass-through front cooling keeps the bar running cool in outback heat, and a MoistureBlock plug built into the housing keeps water out. Down in the front bar, a second row of Titans does the same job closer to the road

At the back, KC Flex Era 3 pods handle reversing lights, which matters when you're backing a caravan into a dark campsite. The Flex Era 3 throws 226 metres in combo and switches between an amber backlight and full white. Underneath, a six-light KC Cyclone V2 rock light system in clear lights up the ground around the truck for spotting a line over rough ground at night or setting up camp after dark. It mounts with quick-release DZUS quarter-turn fasteners, the same kind used on race vehicles.

The Rest of the Kit

Behind the cab is a full touring canopy with a kitchen, storage, power, a boat loader for the tinny, and a 270-degree awning. Up front, a winch-equipped bar carries the recovery gear and the second Titan bar. A 210-litre replacement fuel tank gives the range for remote country, and electric side steps make getting into a truck this tall easy. It's a complete home on wheels, and it has carried Chris and Miriam to some of the most remote corners of the country.

Built for the Long Haul

This build was designed for years of use rather than a weekend away. Every part on it has a job to do, it's built to do that job every day, and it suits a couple who spend their whole year on the road.

Every part on this build that Tough Trucks supplies is listed below. Add what you need to your build list to order online, or send it through as a quote request and the Tough Trucks team will build it for you.