Beachin Van -GMC Quigley 3500 Savana

[Reelsnrods]

Hello! Newbie here with a new/old 4x4 van!

After trying (and failing) to make a Ram Promaster work well in the snow for a couple years, I was able to convince my wife we needed to upgrade to an actual 4x4. Getting nearly stuck twice in our driveway in VT, and sliding backwards down the local access road was all it took Found this van on Ebay in pretty amazing condition, so I totally over paid for it and now I'm happy. 55,000 miles with manual widows and locks, but having power steering, brakes and a well working A/C.

I live on Nantucket were we can drive on many of the beaches. I'm normally at the beach on my day off paddle boarding or surf-casting, so this van is the perfect Land Captain vehicle. The van currently has near new 245 tires, but the soft sand here will eat those alive, so after reading every posting possible about what would fit with the Quigley setup, I ordered a set of Hankook 285/75/16's. They look like they're going to be pretty snug in there! Photos are a little out of proportion with the tires being in front of the currently mounted tires, so it's not quite as tight as it looks. I've left message and emailed Weldtec to see if they plan to have their mini fenders available again sometime soon, but have yet to hear back. Hoping to stick with the stock wheels for the moment and avoid any further lift than what came from Quigley... crossing fingers all around!

 

[whith]

Nice! I’m very interested to see how those work out. I want to go to a 285 at some point but I’ll need to go up a tiny bit more I believe. Does yours have a solid front axle or the 3 inch lift from Quigley? Hard to tell the setup from the photo. Looks like it may be of a vintage where they still did solid front axles conversions though.

 

[Reelsnrods]

Nice! I’m very interested to see how those work out. I want to go to a 285 at some point but I’ll need to go up a tiny bit more I believe. Does yours have a solid front axle or the 3 inch lift from Quigley? Hard to tell the setup from the photo. Looks like it may be of a vintage where they still did solid front axles conversions though.

Yes... it’s a 2001, so has the Dana 60 front axle, and I believe it has the 3” lift from Quigley. Definitely a big step up to get in.

Besides finding a nice set of steps, she needs a trailer hitch l, new radio and the Primaster spoiled me with a backup camera, which comes in handy parking around all the Range Rovers on Nantucket

We drive up and around VT all winter, so will be looking into insulating and paneling the empty interior. It came with a sweet set of tool boxes that I immediately sold to fund the new tires. I also got a nice Ford rear bench that I plan to install once I find a set of mounting brackets. There’s a great thread on the forum of a Quigley getting and insulated floor which hid the mounting brackets, which I think would be nice.

 

[whith]

I went to Nantucket for a few days one summer many years ago. I bet the fear of running into high dollar vehicles is a constant especially on some of those roads. Again, great score looking forward to seeing how it developes.

 

[Len.Barron]

Hoping to stick with the stock wheels for the moment and avoid any further lift than what came from Quigley... crossing fingers all around!

285's on stock offset wheels are going to rub...hard. Getting some wheels with at least another 1" of offset will help. A 1" body lift to go with better wheels would likely solve it altogether.

 

[Teamoatmealpie]

I have 275's/17 and can get some rub off road, not too bad. Let us know how it goes.

 

[Reelsnrods]

Sloooooooow progress on the van. That thing called work gets in the way of everything fun.

Weldtec is sending out some mini fenders, so the tires can get mounted up in the next couple of weeks! I’m holding out on the purchase of new wheels, as I’d love to keep the stockers if possible.

Can a Ford Econoline owner tell me which brackets fit this bench seat I have? They seem to have 3 types of floor brackets available, but I’m not sure of the year of this bench, so not sure if it uses the smaller two part brackets, or the long pair of brackets.

I’ve also been eyeing up a Decked drawer system for the back recentlyZ. Man, those look slick! I was going to try and piece meal a set of drawers in back, but I might need to buy myself an early Xmas present, as well as save myself a ******** ton of time

 

[Billy_Bottle_Caps]

Like the van

 

[Raul]

I had that type of bench on my 2000 E-150. The brackets on my van were one piece for each side but later they made two half bracket on each side. Make sure you have the little holes for the latch.