Finally got me a beast of a truck!
 

Hello folks! New guy here from Indiana. Just bought a 2003 2500hd LS extended cab 4x4 with the 6.0 and 89K miles - all stock from there. I've spent the last couple weeks reading through thousands of threads in this forum and have learned a lot. I've got some plans to personalize my truck for my use over the next few weeks. My truck is the dark gray and I plan to add black wheels and some capable mud tires. I'm thinking about going with a 16" wheel and 285's, maybe Nitto MT tires. I figure I will just crank the torsion bars up for now and see how that looks. I would like to go with at least an 8" wheel and maybe even a 9" wheel with a little offset to give it a little more of an aggressive stance. Any advice on what would be a good offset to get and work with this setup? Also, anyone out there have any pics of your trucks with torsions cranked and 285's? I've not found very many pics here of this setup.
I'm hooked on this site already and plan to be around for a while. Happy trails!

You could crank it up and run x9 -12 offset on the 285s no problem. I definitely get new shocks for the front, bilstein 5100s are the best bet IMO.

Thanks, Country! I am familiar with the bilsteins as they have always been the favorable shock amongst the jeep crowd as well. If I remember correctly I will need a shock mount extension, correct?

Appreciate the feedback on the wheels. That was a major concern of mine on running a 9" wheel. I've always preferred a tad wider wheel to give the tires a wider look. Thanks brother!

When I had a levelin kit and 1.5" body I ran 20x9 -12 offset badlands on 33x12.5 toyo mud tires and looked great. It sat probably about how you will with just some crank on the keys as you're a 2500. Bilsteins come in the length you'll need. I ran em and they had the size for a 2.5" lift

Just what I wanted to hear! Thank ya sir