Father Teaches Son to Wrench on Duramax

Tony La Rosa is the kind of father that wants to pass on his love and appreciation for anything on four wheels to his 9-year-old son. “I use to turn a wrench for a Chevy dealership right out of high school, and worked for another one for about 9 years. I have a big toolbox. I want my boy to be able to do routine maintenance and accessories, then we’ll move on to bigger things.”

Tony saw the COVID situation as a perfect opportunity to instill this by building a garage with a lift filled with all the tools needed for these automotive tasks. He has a range of vehicles to work on, gas and diesel. He recently acquired an ’06 Duramax dually that only had only 68k miles, which turned out to be the perfect project vehicle for father and son.

The Duramax is now officially their tow rig, towing both a 36ft fifth wheel and a 20ft center console boat behind it. Tony and his family took what he calls a “rolling circus roadshow” on its maiden voyage to Blue Mountain Lake. “I’ve only had this truck for about a month and this was her maiden voyage. But I was honestly disappointed. I like the ride and the stability of the truck better than my old LLY, but that truck seemed to have more pulling power than this one. The topic of discussion on the drive was how we needed to do some improvements.” Tony thought a Banks Monster Exhaust and the Ram-Air Differential Cover was a great starting point for the father and son team. “We were looking for that towing power.” And, that’s exactly what Tony got. “The truck already feels stronger,” he exclaims. “The next purchase is going to be a Six-Gun and intercooler and my son and I will install them together.”