Monster trucks aren’t something one can just go out to buy. They’re not sitting on dealership lots waiting for eager customers, though the Ford F-150 Raptor is a close stand-in. Monster trucks are something you build, and that’s what one Canadian did, building his own 10-foot-tall monster truck.
The build took Jordan three years to complete, $100,000, and a lot of pinched pennies to become a reality. The build began as a chalk outline on the ground as he slowly started constructing the frame. Eventually, enough was there to attach the cab, which sports a roll cage.
Jordan’s pickup doesn’t use the standard gasoline or alcohol engines most other monster trucks use. Instead, he picked a 6.6-liter Duramax diesel. It lacks horsepower but makes up for it with torque, Jordan says in the video. It pairs with a purpose-built two-speed Powerglide race transmission, which he picked because General Motors made a ton of them between the 1950s and the 1970s, making parts readily available.
In the five years that he’s been driving the truck, he’s had to rebuild the transmission five times, which is not all he has had to fix. One of his first outings ended with two bent rims, a bent fender, and other damage after pushing it a bit too hard. The truck wears custom tractor rims beefed up to support the truck’s high-flying antics. They’re attached to massive rice field tractor tires used in China. It measures 18 feet long and 9 feet wide, tipping the scales at 10,500 pounds.
The truck body appears to be a second-generation Chevy C/K pickup from 1970 or 1971, though it’s not specified in the video, not that it matters. Monster truck bodies are for looks as they often crash and need repairing. It doesn’t make sense to spend money on the body.
Instead, those funds can go toward more vital things like the frame, tires, roll cage, wheels, and powertrain. Without those, you don’t have a monster truck. When you’re building something yourself, money is always tight, as Jordan’s build shows. However, once it’s done it’s yours, and that’s a great feeling.
