Hold your horses its not 4x4 yet, thats the ride you'll come along on when we all pile in for a trip down UJoint Lane. There are 7 seat belts in this mini class C beast so everyone that will actually be interested in this thread can come along. ?
If you follow some of my other threads on here you might be thinking "Dont you have a K5 Blazer with a camper thats a half done project that you should be finishing?" Well the answer is yes. I also have a Tacoma thats an ongoing offroad/camping project as well as some other things in the garage/driveway/yard. Now that we have that cleared up Ill tell you why I added another big dumb project. I got married last year and the wife and I decided to forgo an overseas honeymoon (because the world is crazy and our home continent is big/cool enough) in favor of traveling North America for a year or so before we have kids. So I did what any reasonably intelligent nearly middle aged guy would do as the economy is turning down, political tensions are high, WW3 is one mistake away from beginning etc. I quit my job and bought an RV.
I know that sounds crazy but the original plan was actually to mortgage an Earthroamer for this trip. The main reason we didnt wasnt actually affordability it was usability. Earthroamers are friggin huge. You cant park it in a normal spot, you cant drive it into the city, you can go off road to access remote spots but in reality its very difficult, especially if its somewhere you havent been or there are trees. All of the enormous globe-trotting cabover luxury homes on wheels are great too but have you ever seen one anywhere other than a desert, high desert, or lumbering along the highway at a max speed of 55? Nope, because they cant. Enter @ujoint. I went straight to them when we landed on a mini class C RV for our trip. A few years back my good friend Justin @UjointoffroadCO converted his Econoline to 4x4. I watched the process and then proceeded to go on some offroad/camping/adventures with him and saw just how well the van works first hand. A regular Econoline just wasn't enough room for us...
Here are the details. 2017 Ford E350 with a 2016 build date that is titled as a 2018 Thor Majestic 19G. I guess it takes that long to build even the smallest of RVs. 78,XXX surely trouble free miles as a rental with Cruise America. 2-Valve V10 rated at 305/425, 6 speed auto, factory 4.56 gears and single rear wheels which is pretty rare for an RV. I was hoping to find a 2020 or newer for the 7.3 Godzilla V8 but they just arent for sale used yet. This thing has plenty of power though, drives and shifts like a modern truck and doesnt feel like an RV until you pass a semi at highway speed. The best part is it fits in a regular parking spot (barely) because its only about 19 feet long! Surprisingly its in great shape. These stubby Class Cs arent very popular as rentals so they dont get nearly as beat up or as many miles put on them as the bigger ones. This means you actually pay more for a smaller vehicle but Id rather have it be nicer and pay a premium. Ford no longer makes the Econolines for the general public but they do sell it as a cutaway cab+chassis to upfitters. Also, Thor no longer makes the 19G model available to the public so these are very hard to find. You basically have to buy one used through Cruise America/Cruise Canada or find someone selling an older one/used one they purchased in the past. Now that Ive bored you to death about a van, here are some pics.
Delivery day
Home
5 minutes in the Arizona sun makes for quick work removing the dumb decals.
Porky the pig isnt actually that fat. Curb weight is more than an F350 but GVWR is actually lower.
6R140 is known to be as reliable as the V10, which is very. Only downside is I have to drop the trans to swap the tailshaft so it can accept a transfer case. The older vans with the 5 speed dont require pulling the trans, oh well.
4.56s are great. These also came with 4.10s and its luck-of-the-draw what you're going to get. 4.56 should be perfect with this motor/trans and tires I plan to run.
Now for the painful part. Anyone that has followed along with my K5 build knows I recently made a comment along the lines of "well these are the most expensive leaf springs Ill ever buy." Boy was I wrong. ?♂️ Curious about the cost to convert an Econoline to 4x4 "the right way?" Continue reading.
If you follow some of my other threads on here you might be thinking "Dont you have a K5 Blazer with a camper thats a half done project that you should be finishing?" Well the answer is yes. I also have a Tacoma thats an ongoing offroad/camping project as well as some other things in the garage/driveway/yard. Now that we have that cleared up Ill tell you why I added another big dumb project. I got married last year and the wife and I decided to forgo an overseas honeymoon (because the world is crazy and our home continent is big/cool enough) in favor of traveling North America for a year or so before we have kids. So I did what any reasonably intelligent nearly middle aged guy would do as the economy is turning down, political tensions are high, WW3 is one mistake away from beginning etc. I quit my job and bought an RV.
I know that sounds crazy but the original plan was actually to mortgage an Earthroamer for this trip. The main reason we didnt wasnt actually affordability it was usability. Earthroamers are friggin huge. You cant park it in a normal spot, you cant drive it into the city, you can go off road to access remote spots but in reality its very difficult, especially if its somewhere you havent been or there are trees. All of the enormous globe-trotting cabover luxury homes on wheels are great too but have you ever seen one anywhere other than a desert, high desert, or lumbering along the highway at a max speed of 55? Nope, because they cant. Enter @ujoint. I went straight to them when we landed on a mini class C RV for our trip. A few years back my good friend Justin @UjointoffroadCO converted his Econoline to 4x4. I watched the process and then proceeded to go on some offroad/camping/adventures with him and saw just how well the van works first hand. A regular Econoline just wasn't enough room for us...
Here are the details. 2017 Ford E350 with a 2016 build date that is titled as a 2018 Thor Majestic 19G. I guess it takes that long to build even the smallest of RVs. 78,XXX surely trouble free miles as a rental with Cruise America. 2-Valve V10 rated at 305/425, 6 speed auto, factory 4.56 gears and single rear wheels which is pretty rare for an RV. I was hoping to find a 2020 or newer for the 7.3 Godzilla V8 but they just arent for sale used yet. This thing has plenty of power though, drives and shifts like a modern truck and doesnt feel like an RV until you pass a semi at highway speed. The best part is it fits in a regular parking spot (barely) because its only about 19 feet long! Surprisingly its in great shape. These stubby Class Cs arent very popular as rentals so they dont get nearly as beat up or as many miles put on them as the bigger ones. This means you actually pay more for a smaller vehicle but Id rather have it be nicer and pay a premium. Ford no longer makes the Econolines for the general public but they do sell it as a cutaway cab+chassis to upfitters. Also, Thor no longer makes the 19G model available to the public so these are very hard to find. You basically have to buy one used through Cruise America/Cruise Canada or find someone selling an older one/used one they purchased in the past. Now that Ive bored you to death about a van, here are some pics.
Delivery day
Home
5 minutes in the Arizona sun makes for quick work removing the dumb decals.
Porky the pig isnt actually that fat. Curb weight is more than an F350 but GVWR is actually lower.
6R140 is known to be as reliable as the V10, which is very. Only downside is I have to drop the trans to swap the tailshaft so it can accept a transfer case. The older vans with the 5 speed dont require pulling the trans, oh well.
4.56s are great. These also came with 4.10s and its luck-of-the-draw what you're going to get. 4.56 should be perfect with this motor/trans and tires I plan to run.
Now for the painful part. Anyone that has followed along with my K5 build knows I recently made a comment along the lines of "well these are the most expensive leaf springs Ill ever buy." Boy was I wrong. ?♂️ Curious about the cost to convert an Econoline to 4x4 "the right way?" Continue reading.
