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That would have been the way I would go about it - pull the 4-door cab and replace it with a regular 2-door cab, cut a section of the new cab's rear wall out for a pass-thru, then drop the box behind it and cut a section out of that front wall to match the opening in the cab. Then connect the...

If that thing had power widows and locks, put your rear doors on Craigslist - someone with an earlier crew-cab truck will scoop them up in short order. They tend to be very desirable as they're only a few years worth of production run, yet they will fit all the cabs all the way back to 1980...

The big transmission cooler can often be found in V10 gas-powered trucks as well, not just the 6.0 diesels - should give you some more options for locating one. Also IIRC one of the big aftermarket manufacturers sells the exact same thing sans the Ford-proprietary mounting brackets as an...

You need more clearance, plain and simple. Drop some 2x6 or 2x8 boards under the plywood (2x4 is kinda narrow and will not spread the load from your camper very evenly on the bed floor) and then do what IdaSHO suggested and see if that was enough or you need even more clearance and thus extra...

Well as long as you got a decent deal on what you consider a decent winch then all is good :D 10k ought to be more than enough for a Dakota.

All I gotta say is holy cow rear lift blocks!!! If you buy this, plan on getting a pair of proper replacement springs for the rear axle.

The E4OD is a picky transmission, she wants everything to be perfect or she will throw a hissy fit. Often the issue is just a bad connection at some harness connectors, the one on the passenger side of the trans behind the small sheetmetal heat shield (make 100% sure that piece is still in...

Generally speaking, lifting a leaf-sprung vehicle is easy enough with a pair of new leaves, for the rear even just a pair of blocks shoved between the leaf springs and the axle will accomplish it (and that is exactly what many OEMs do as well). Your van has a leaf-sprung rear axle, so that...

The_Dude, that's just it though, you have proper sliders, and obviously also a trailer hitch, so you got the jacking points covered. But on our travels we've seen quite a few peeps with lifted trucks with no sliders and still factory bumpers, yet a nice Hi-Lift chilling in the bed usually above...

Yeah they're not bad in price at all. The one I mentioned we actually bought NIB for 200 methinks, but since it was from a good friend who bought it new at the store we technically did have warranty on it. Seem to recall us buying one on sale with a coupon straight from the store as well, I...

Regarding the 12k Badland winches, we'd never buy one off CL for anything over $200 even if it's NIB. Reasoning is they go on sale for $299 fairly regularly (normal sale, not one that calls for a coupon), and if you slap a 20% off coupon on top of that you just got a brand new winch with a...

You got some a fling-wing ejection system surplus hardware or something? What's your desired spring-perch width. Axles from E350 and E450 vans are pretty widely spaced, with GAWR of up to over 9k, and most importantly disc brakes. Dana 70s and 80s they are, bolt pattern is the same as what you...

Had to do brakes on a old motorhome once, don't remember details on the chassis was but I remember why I remember that particular job - the springs were about as close to the backing plates as you're setting yours up to be, replacing the wheel cylinders was interesting...

Well that sucks, just as soon as you got that Calen on and you gotta get rid of the whole thing, didn't get to take it out on a trip even once... So if you sell this how will you do your Baja assaults? Gonna get something smaller, like a Taco? In a stop and go traffic I'd much rather have a 7.3...

Actually I think it's good that you mentioned it - it was bound to come up sooner or later, especially with this "doomsday" type of engine that will run on just about anything that will burn :D

The belt style swap is pretty involved, you basically have to replace EVERYTHING off the front of the engine sans the water pump. It's a bolt-off-bolt-on job, but it takes a while, and lots of parts. Not worth it IMHO unless you really really want V-belts. Thing about the V-belts is on these...

Correct, two batteries in parallel, winch is only hooked up to one but it's still pulling from both at the same time - just like the glowplugs and the starter, so as long as winch cables are nice and fat you're good there. With 3.55s you will be spending some time in 4th if hooked up to a big...

Sounds like a solid plan to me! Like I said SRW vehicles tend to fare much better that us fools who never outgrew our training wheels and thus run extra-wide all the time so we don't roll over :D Your van also gets the benefit of more weight on the rear axle, that alone can make all the...

True, packed snow wasn't much of an issue with ours either. Them fields tho... But yeah, if your travels mostly take you down some sort of semi-beaten path that is not overly slick or soupy, 2wd is just fine. Ours kinda does many things at once, so it made sense to make it extra capable - so far...

And that's really all there is to it! If the new truck works better for you then great, if eventually you find your needs changing again change the truck to match the new needs.