Acheateaux
Adventurer
sounds great.
Another E350 build thread
- Thread starter witt
- Start date
sounds great.
Got new tires for the van over the weekend. Went with Cooper Discoverer ATPs; 285/75R16. The old tires were BFG All Terrains, and they were wide - 305s. Since I can't get the bushwhacker fender flares because of the sliding door, I like the look of the slightly narrower tires better.
derjack
Adventurer
Hi,
can you- or anyone- tell me how high the interieur high with that roof is, max.? As far as I know the roof is 16" from the rain drainage.
copescobra
New member
smaller tires
Hi There,
Followed your build and think you did an incredible job. Love the rear dinette and fold down bed
it makes.
I see you changed to smaller tires. I also have a slider and was going to get 17's thereby having to have
the slider door extended.
How do you find the smaller tires compared to wider one's ? I would love to save myself having to extend
the slider door and go with smaller tires myself as just now getting ready to put new wheels and tires on
as converted it to 4x4.
Kindly advise,
thanks
Hi There,
Followed your build and think you did an incredible job. Love the rear dinette and fold down bed
it makes.
I see you changed to smaller tires. I also have a slider and was going to get 17's thereby having to have
the slider door extended.
How do you find the smaller tires compared to wider one's ? I would love to save myself having to extend
the slider door and go with smaller tires myself as just now getting ready to put new wheels and tires on
as converted it to 4x4.
Kindly advise,
thanks
Thanks for the kind words! We're planning to leave on our overland trip in about a month (*gulp*) so we'll be testing it out full time very soon!
By 17's do you mean 17" rims? I'm not sure that would make any difference on whether the door will clear. It's more the width of the tire - my old ones were 305s, and the door opened all the way but rubbed on the tire. The new tires are 285s, and the door just barely clears the tire. The only real difference is that now I can move the van with the door open if I want to.
Personally I like the look of the 285s better than the 305s. They're the same height (diameter) as the old tires, so being narrower they look a little taller even though they're not. Also, now that we can't get the bushwhacker fender flares for the slider anymore, it's nice that the tires don't stick out from the wheel wells as much.
As for performance, I don't think I'm going to notice any difference. We're building our van for long term travel; the 4x4 is mostly insurance to allow us to camp on the beach or turn down a dirt track in the rain without worrying. So we're not going for extra large tires, additional lift, or anything like that.
Oh, and I'm also hoping the narrower tires will improve my fuel economy a little, but I haven't driven it enough to figure that out yet.
By 17's do you mean 17" rims? I'm not sure that would make any difference on whether the door will clear. It's more the width of the tire - my old ones were 305s, and the door opened all the way but rubbed on the tire. The new tires are 285s, and the door just barely clears the tire. The only real difference is that now I can move the van with the door open if I want to.
Personally I like the look of the 285s better than the 305s. They're the same height (diameter) as the old tires, so being narrower they look a little taller even though they're not. Also, now that we can't get the bushwhacker fender flares for the slider anymore, it's nice that the tires don't stick out from the wheel wells as much.
As for performance, I don't think I'm going to notice any difference. We're building our van for long term travel; the 4x4 is mostly insurance to allow us to camp on the beach or turn down a dirt track in the rain without worrying. So we're not going for extra large tires, additional lift, or anything like that.
Oh, and I'm also hoping the narrower tires will improve my fuel economy a little, but I haven't driven it enough to figure that out yet.
With our departure date fast-approaching (mid June), I've quit work and am now in full-time trip-prep mode. Unfortunately there's a lot of boring logistical stuff like finding credit cards without foreign transaction fees and finding a property manager to rent our house for us and a million other little details and not enough working on the van. But there is some of that too:
Today the van is at the mechanic having amsoil fluids put in the engine, t-case, and diffs. We got a chance to go up to Curt Gowdy State Park in Wyoming last weekend for some camping and mountain biking. You know it's going to be a windy spot when you pass a giant wind farm 10 miles from the campground!
- The electrical distribution panel is built up against the wall under one of the dinette seats; I'm building a hinged partition so we can use the rest of the space for storage without stuff pressed up against the wiring.
- The diesel cooktop kept overheating after a few minutes of use. Turns out it was lack of airflow to the unit, so I drilled three nice big holes in the front of the cabinet where the cooktop is installed.
- Need to find and install some map lights for the cab
- Minor modifications to the cabinets to make better use of space
Today the van is at the mechanic having amsoil fluids put in the engine, t-case, and diffs. We got a chance to go up to Curt Gowdy State Park in Wyoming last weekend for some camping and mountain biking. You know it's going to be a windy spot when you pass a giant wind farm 10 miles from the campground!