And now the moment you didn't know you've been waiting for...Atl-Atl's 4x4 Ford E350 RV documentation thread!!

[b. rock]

10-4. I'll kick that around. I'm sure after a big ride a shower is pretty valuable. Could also be a bike wash though! (kidding, obviously)

I have been noodling around some other bike storage ideas on the back. Mounting a self contained box on a lifting moto carrier is one of them, or fabbing up a bracket like yours where your gear storage is, but for bike storage. I'm close to pulling the trigger on one of these, just trying to dial in bike plans since that was a big factor of our current van (they're sideways inside right behind the rear doors).

 

[jronwood]

I didn't look thru all the pages. ..
But first thing I would do is get some "g series" full steel cases tires on that thing. LT tires in 16"...MAKE me nervous. It may be light but TALL. Full steel cased are stiff and run at high pressure . I generally convert to railroad 19.5" rims if you can find them. There were a few higher end tire makers selling 16" gull steel cased tires. But ALL 19.5" are. "Singled out" red ambo is running on 4 rims/tires now instead of 6. 19.5" are far superior.

 

[b. rock]

So...however many thousand miles later, have you had a chance/reason to use the 4x4 yet? Since this thread has started, I have picked up a 20' Class B and I'm leaning more and more to just a mild lift kit, proper leaf springs in the back, and sending it. Sand driving is the only thing giving me pause. But that's a lot of work for a very limited use case.

 

[Bikersmurf]

Guess I should update this in light of another thread I decided to post in. After Yellowstone we headed towards Denver pretty quickly. Only stopping at a hot spring and my brothers cabin in Grand lake for a couple nights. Had a couple more serious mechanical things done to the rig in the last week or so. Over the past couple months the front suspension has started to get really soft. To the point where the front axle would bottom out on the frame. The way the UJoint suspension is designed it should never bottom out, the kit doesnt even use bump stops, but lucky me guess what was happening? Frame meet axle. More like frame meet track bar mounts but none the less it was behaving in a way it shouldnt. Off we went to Alcan Spring in Grand Junction CO. Arguably the best leaf spring manufacturer in the world and you wouldnt know it. Its just another small shop in a commercial park in anytown USA 🤷‍♂️ . The short story is the guesstimate for my fully loaded front axle weight post 4x4 conversion/camper remodel was off by 400lbs or about 10% which was enough that after 10,000 miles of abuse the front end had gotten really soft. Like bouncing along the highway, shocks can barely control it, bottoming out while on relatively mild gravel roads soft. So Alcan decided I needed to stop in for a beef-up of my front springs. After 4 hours and $750 I was back on the road and the rig felt much better, hopefully it holds up this time.

Evidence of the axle contacting the trackbar mount. It was also knocking loose the locknut on the trackbar. Not a catastrophic issue as the track bar isnt holding anything together but annoying none the less because it would start to make noise when it wasnt locked down.
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New leaf installed(the shiny one just below the middle)
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Alcan Spring
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Stopped by this little overland shop that opened in Fruita CO. Seems like these things are popping up everywhere. Hopefully its a sustainable business. These guys had some cool rigs out front.
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Another unfortunate result of this being a former rental RV that most likely got the ******t beat out of it for 75,000 miles before I bought it, the steering box was wearing out. Nearly every time I went offroad or hit a large pothole, or drove down a washboard gravel road or hit a fresh pavement ledge in a construction zone the steering wheel would spontaneously offset itself by 5-15 degrees. Ive grown sick of adjusting the tie rod so I ripped off the band-aide and got a new steering gear installed at UJoint Offroad Colorado while I was in Denver for a friends wedding. The new one is a Red-Head that is a beefed up stock version that makes the wheel harder to turn and doesnt seem to do anything else. After 3 hours and $900 I was back on the road, hopefully this one also holds up.

A lot of the trip has looked like this.
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New steering gear. Great pic, I know.
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Ujoint in Colorado is right across the highway from Earthroamer and there are a few other offroad oriented shops in the area that do various work. This guy parked next door for some reason and we were all drooling. That will be my next rig.
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Helped the guys install a full length roof rack, awning and RTT with "deck" on this van they are just about done building.
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We spent about a week in Colorado but didnt get to do much in the way of camping or offroading due to the wedding. We will obviously be back. Once we made it to SLC we camped in the shadow of the capitol building which was pretty rad. Thats all for now!
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Can you bump up the pressure or flow in your steering pump to make it easier to turn?

I recently did a P/S conversion on my Fj40 using a Scout II box and Saginaw pump. By carefully selecting the pump and pressure regulator components, I can now palm (or 1 finger) steer 33x10.50 A/Ts on dry pavement while stationary. I haven't drilled out the passage to increase flow but that can be done also. In my case I merely selected a 1980 Chevy 3/4 ton steering box and it had the parts needed already.

I'm sure simple mods can be done to your Ford pump to increase pressure also.

 

[b. rock]

Got it, and thanks for the response on using 4x4. I did manage to get my EB, 2wd, unlocked van uphill through Longs Canyon in Moab's one rock section, but it did require more momentum and tire spinning than I would have liked, and that's with an empty-ish van. The hive mind would tell me that a loaded camper van would be heavier and have more traction over those rear tires, but it also need more juice to get up and over.

Low range in itself is just as useful to me as having all 4 wheels driven, so yeah, looks like we'll commit to the 4x4 swap then.

 

[Todd780]

What ever happened to your RV? Do you still have it?

 

[Todd780]

Apologies for the lack of response and terrible job keeping this thread up to date. Hopefully you followed along on instagram where we posted a lot more. We finished the trip last November and have been using the rig locally in Arizona since then. We do still have the RV but just listed it for sale. https://forum.expeditionportal.com/...-ujoint-4x4-full-interior-remodel-etc.243421/

Sorry, I don't do the Instagram thing.

Glad to hear you're still enjoying the RV!

 

[Bigly]

If you come through Durango before the 28th, we are around with our Sportsmobile. After that, off to CH.

 

[Bigly]

Oh you poor guy. We have so much good mountain biking around here. I'm off to do one right now before the rain comes. Do you know where you are going to stay/camp yet?

 

[PaddyPlatanos]

So I spent a couple days getting familiar with the roof. Turns out there is a mini solar panel up there which is cool. Theres a light on the control panel that has a label that says "solar charging when lit" but I missed the panel last time I was up there since its about 12" x 18" and stuck to the top of the AC unit. I cant imagine it does much but its better than nothing.

Also the two vents are enclosed in these massive boxes that are meant to allow the vents to be open during any weather. Thats great and all except they render the vents nearly useless. When wide open they have almost no air flow. So I ripped out the one above the bed in favor of a powered fan. Super pumped about this one. I happened to have the exact fan new in the box because I was going to install it in my Go Fast Camper but never got around to it.

Old vent box
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Old vent
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The name of the game on RV roofs is GOOP and lots of it. What a pain in the ass to remove, especially since the roof is thin rubber. Best tool I found was this fiber strand removal wheel. Too much force and it will go through the rubber but it did a great job.
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New fan
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Next up I cut the opening for the new range hood. This one actually vents to the exterior unlike the old one that did nothing.
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Installed some fake subway tile as the backsplash.
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Also installed a new tinted operable window with a screen. Its a slightly smaller size than the one I removed which is not great. It also uses a slightly different mounting flange that Im not happy with. Looks great but its not sealed correctly and Im kinda stuck about what to do. Just waiting on the new faucet to arrive so I can finish putting the kitchen back together.
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I am in the process of buying a 19G, and may be following you down this path albeit at a SLOW pace and with more outsourcing as I am 100% new to this world. Your work is incredible. Quick question: was there electric wiring for the roof vent fans already running to the cutouts, or did you have to run it yourself? I couldn't tell here.

 

[PaddyPlatanos]

Thanks! Have fun with yours. There was no wiring because it had a vent in both spots. There was wiring to a light in the ceiling above the bed so I ran wires from that, about 2 feet away. Unfortunately the way the ceiling/roof is constructed there is no easy way to get wires into that area. I was fortunate in that I installed new paneling on the ceiling so I was able to simply run the wires above that before installing it. If you are planning to keep the factory ceiling it will be very difficult to run wires.

OK, that’s what I figured considering how bare bones they try to keep these things for Cruise America. I might end up doing some kind of peel and stick finish on the ceiling, so I’ll keep that in mind.

Having rented this unit a few times before, fully aware that the stock range is pretty much useless for anything beyond boiling water, so that is going to be the first upgrade, I think we’re going to skip the oven as we don’t even use an oven all that much at home.

Might attempt the soundproofing a little earlier in my upgrade process as my wife and kid tend to sit in the dinette and the noise is definitely intrusive. Really appreciate all of your step-by-step photos here.