Because Stock Is For Farmers

Minnesota man love his diesels

September 2014 Feature Brady L. Kay

For some diesel enthusiasts, owning a modified truck is enough to keep even the most power-hungry, adrenaline junkies satisfied. But for Shane Wurm, he appears to be in the business of collecting multiple performance diesel trucks—at least it looks that way since he currently owns three. Brand loyalty can get the best of some of us, but not to this Minnesota-native who owns a couple of Rams, as well as a GMC Denali.

“I actually used to be a Ford guy, but after I had problems with my 6.0L I switched over to Dodge,” says Shane. “I’ve had other Duramax trucks and a different dually, but I love all diesels. As long as you can add power to it, I like it.”

Shane currently has a 2006 Dodge Mega Cab with a 5.9L Cummins, a 2012 GMC Denali HD with a 6.6L Duramax and a 2012 Ram 3500 Mega Cab with a 6.7L Cummins.

“The Ram 3500 is our Sunday car,” jokes his wife Bonnie who admits she tends to drive this one the most. “It’s probably the most comfortable and out of all the trucks we’ve owned, Shane tends to go a little easier on this one.”

The one factor the three trucks have in common is that all of them have spent time at Jag’s Pro Truck Shop in Zimmerman, Minn., under the watchful eye of owner Josh Gruis who has invested a lot of time in keeping all of his customers happy—including Shane. It was the 2006 Dodge that was the first to go to Jag’s, which opened the door for future modifications after Shane and Bonnie both liked the results. 

Street Sleeper

You’d never guess the 2006 Dodge Mega Cab was packing a lot of hidden horsepower under the hood just by looking at it, which is exactly what the owner was going for when he took it to Jag’s.

“It’s well north of 1000hp on fuel only,” says the shop owner. “It has a full competition engine in it, twin turbos—66 over an 88, dual 85 percent over injection pumps, fully port and polished head, a big cam in it, EFILive for tuning and a full transmission rebuild done in-house by us.”

Jag’s Pro Truck Shop started in 2006 and most of the time when the owner gets a truck it’s stock, but in some cases like with this Dodge, work needed to be done to fix previous work before he could even get started on it.

“Work had been done by another shop when we got it and a lot of the stuff wasn’t done quite right,” explains Josh. “It had 03-04 injectors put in it instead of 04 and half or newer so the spray was wrong. The twin turbos were overheating extremely fast, along with some bad tuning. So we fixed all that and took it a little farther.”

Shane purchased the stock Dodge in 2007, but knew his thirst for power wouldn’t allow it to stay stock for very long.

“The way I see it, stock is no fun. It’s for farmers,” says Shane. “I drove it for awhile and put a programmer in it and that lasted a couple of days before I got bored. I added the twins, but got in a bad situation and busted the flex plate and that’s when I decided to take it to Josh. He had to take it all apart before he could get started on it.”

Shane loves how his Dodge sits today, which includes wheels from Eagle Alloys that are wrapped in Open Country tires from Toyo, along with a 4-inch CalTracs lift from Calvert Racing and a 5-inch MBRP exhaust that helps give the truck an aggressive look. However, few could anticipate there is at least 1100hp worth of power hidden under that hood.

“I’d like to see what happens if we sprayed a little nitrous,” says the owner when contemplating his next step with his truck. “It has a solid foundation now so I think it’s time for a little more fun.”

The Classy GMC

As for his 2012 GMC Denali HD dually, this modified beast is mainly used to pull his 38-foot enclosed snowmobile race trailer when Shane needs to haul his race sleds or for when he needs to haul his 36-foot triple axle Bobcat trailer.

Shane works at a metal fab company and lives in Annandale in Minnesota that just happens to be about an hour from where Jag’s Pro Truck Shop is located—although with the kind of power he likes to put to his trucks it most likely doesn’t take him the full hour to get there.  

Like his 06 Dodge, Shane purchased his Denali HD stock with plans to modify it immediately. But this time around, his first stop was to see Josh at Jag’s because he didn’t want any other shop to touch it.

“I’ve been to other shops and there’s nothing quite like Jag’s,” says Shane. “They do what I want, how I want and when I want. The timeframe is always there and it’s just a question of how much power you want. You tell them the number as far as 600, 800 or 1000 horsepower, and Josh will get you there.”

His current goal for his GMC is to have his truck in the 850 hp range and Shane knows it won’t be a problem. The truck is already off to a great start. In just a week and a half, Josh and his crew rebuilt the transmission with help from Sun Coast Transmission, added

A S400-75mm turbo kit, H&S dual fueler kit, Fabtech 4-inch lift, 30 percent larger injectors, CalTracs suspension and a tune by Bentley Hugie at H&S Performance. To top it all off, 22-inch Fuel Wheels and Nitto tires completed the first round of upgrades, but for Shane he’s only getting started.   

Comfy Cab

As for the third truck, the 2012 Ram 3500 Mega Cab, it’s just getting started as well. A few key upgrades have been made like AMP Research steps, a BDS 8-inch lift with Fox shocks, FASS fuel pump and a Mini Maxx tuner from H&S Performance.  Under the hood includes 100 hp Industrial Injection injectors, silver 64mm turbo and a two-piece manifold.

This truck is just party of the family of diesels, which means as new aftermarket parts become available it’s sure to be back in the shop as Shane’s pursuit for power appears to be never-ending.

Support Group

Shane’s wife Bonnie is nearly as enthusiastic over diesels trucks as he is and that helps when the couple is constantly spending money to upgrade their fleet of diesel trucks.

“My wife is the backbone of all of this,” says Shane. “She’s very supportive and a lot more understanding than most wives.”

“Everything Shane owns has power,” adds Bonnie. “He’s a perfectionist and knowledge is power and that’s why he likes working with Josh. He’s confident that he knows what he’s doing.”

Shane is completely satisfied with the work that is being done at Jag’s and that’s why he’ll continue to do business with Josh and his crew at the shop. If you happen to see through your rearview mirror one of these diesel trucks roaring up on you it’s best to just move over because you know if Shane’s in the driver’s seat, he’s not going to want to stop. The same could be said for his power addiction that is clearly unquenchable.

For more information about featured products, visit our Aftermarket.

  • Like what you read?

    Want to know when we have important news, updates or interviews?

  • Join our newsletter today!

    Sign Up
You Might Also Be Interested In...
Share

Send to your friends!

WINTER 2023 ISSUE

SEMA IS BACK!

Recapping the Vegas Show

Sneak Peek


Already a subscriber? Please check your email for the latest full issue link.