Recent content by JakeC

Over the weekend my brother came over again to help me flip the poptop. He was much happier helping when it wasn't attached to the metal top or the frame. When we flipped it over I was planning on diving straight into installing the groundwork for the headliner boards. I ended up finding that...

I have heard that about the Fantastic fan but I have also read that Maxx Air has a "circuit board" that is set up in a way to not allow this. Granted, I do not know if this is true or if it is a ploy to keep people from buying cheaper fans and reversing the fans direction themselves.

Quite a bit has happened since my last update. I've installed the bullbar on the front of the bumper, it looks alright, still need to wire up the lights but other than that it'll hold me over until I build a bumper myself. The poptop has been broken down completely - well, mostly. I chose...

Saturday morning I started on dismantling the pop top. The thin 80's wood paneling was already coming down, so I made a decent little pile of it and luckily found nothing surprising. The screws in the firring strips that sandwich the cloth to the top were mostly pretty rusty. Some of them just...

He was actually pretty flustered by it. :ROFLMAO: He's a little bit smaller than I am, a little bit shorter, and he was having a tough time keeping grip on the metal while moving or lifting it. At one point he threw his gloves off and tried to go ape on lifting it and ended up cutting his...

Took the van for a drive yesterday while the weather was extremely nice! Then I tricked my brother into helping me move the Sportsmobile top into the garage so that I can begin working on it. It was a hell of a feat for the two of us, but we finally managed to get it situated. I am so ready to...

I was actually researching this earlier on this week. I actually stumbled upon another Expedition Portal thread about it. The talk was unanimously in favor of 4WD but this was also in the Toyota section, not the Van section. I am definitely interested to see how vanners weigh in...

Thanks for replying! It's definitely a lot to think about. I wouldn't mind losing the GV because I can definitely sell it and make up some of the money for the conversion -or purchase of the Quigley. When I was asking about the differences I definitely dropped the ball. Ha! I meant between the...

For a long time, I was drawn to the Falcon conversions! If you haven't, check out Boomer. https://expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/boomer-the-quadravan-4x4-camper.94723/

Well said! You make a lot of good points! A small lift, better tires, and a locker might be much much simpler and substantially cheaper. I think the biggest difficulty I'm facing currently is tackling snow on the road. Right now, the van is awful in the snow. BUT it is also empty and the tires...

I've also thought about that, in all honesty. More aggressive tires and a rear locker; which I know lockers can make a world of difference in comparison to open differentials. Why would you opt to not go 4x4, curiously?

I know it's been a bit, but I'm curious, did you choose not to replace the body mount near the rear wheel arch? Mine has this exact rust!

I've been scouring the internet for images of the front axle set up on the late 1980's 4x4 vans from companies such as Quadravan, Pathfinder, or Quigley. I've also contacted a couple of conversion companies and have received quotes from $8,000 to $18,000. I've got a 1989 Ford Club Wagon XLT...

1989 Ford Club Wagon XLT 3/4 Ton 351w 5.8l Engine C6 Mechanical Transmission Gear Vendor Overdrive, hooked up to a dimmer switch on the floor Dana 60, 8 Lug Axles, 3.54 Rear Gears 2 Wheel Drive Dual Fuel Tanks, both operable, switch works, total capacity of around 40 gallons I'm contemplating...

I actually recently posted in the Welcome Mat section of that forum. :)