Atl-atl
Adventurer
38 states and counting! (havent put on the SD sticker yet) Currently in Rapid City. Cant tell you how happy we are to be back out West!!
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And now the moment you didn't know you've been waiting for...Atl-Atl's 4x4 Ford E350 RV documentation thread!!
- Thread starter Atl-atl
- Start date
Atl-atl
Adventurer
Update time!! Apologies for being terrible this go-round, posting long form on a forum is difficult when you sleep in a different place every night. Y'all should really follow @darlington.adventures on instagram. We spent a couple nights in Rapid City which turned out to be a super fun little place. Good hiking/mtb trails right in town, some decent food and breweries, super friendly people etc. Cruised through Sturgis but it was empty because its only busy for about 1 week a year. Made our way into Bozeman which is a cool car/truck/motorcycle gold mine and is also desirable for a multitude of reasons not related to motorized transport but thats not why we're here is it.
Somewhere between Omaha and Rapid City my ghetto-fab exhaust flex pipe let go. Thankfully every gas station in rural Nebraska is also an agriculture vehicle repair shop and the nearest one was able to accommodate my nearly 12 foot tall rig for a quick exhaust fix. An hour and a whopping $36 later I was back on the road, much more quietly too!
A snippet of my Bozeman sightings over the 7 days we were there.
From there we hit Yellowstone. A first for both of us and all I can say is WOW!! We will be back, what an incredible place.
These arctic vehicles are everywhere around Yellowstone. Not sure exactly what they do with them but obviously it must be some kind of touring in the winter. Going to try to look at one up close tomorrow. Such insane rigs, they're giving me really bad ideas for the RV...
There are also a ton of European adventure vehicles inside the park. Countless Sprinters and various other euro plated "caravan" type rigs, mostly French plates from what I can tell. This Defender was an interesting one. It has a very American camper(Overland Explorer Vehicles "Camp-X") that looked WAY too big for it. I mean, the camper must be two feet wider than the truck. Not sure what the story is, maybe someone on here will know so I can follow up. Its gotta be a handful going down the road.
Somewhere between Omaha and Rapid City my ghetto-fab exhaust flex pipe let go. Thankfully every gas station in rural Nebraska is also an agriculture vehicle repair shop and the nearest one was able to accommodate my nearly 12 foot tall rig for a quick exhaust fix. An hour and a whopping $36 later I was back on the road, much more quietly too!
A snippet of my Bozeman sightings over the 7 days we were there.
From there we hit Yellowstone. A first for both of us and all I can say is WOW!! We will be back, what an incredible place.
These arctic vehicles are everywhere around Yellowstone. Not sure exactly what they do with them but obviously it must be some kind of touring in the winter. Going to try to look at one up close tomorrow. Such insane rigs, they're giving me really bad ideas for the RV...
There are also a ton of European adventure vehicles inside the park. Countless Sprinters and various other euro plated "caravan" type rigs, mostly French plates from what I can tell. This Defender was an interesting one. It has a very American camper(Overland Explorer Vehicles "Camp-X") that looked WAY too big for it. I mean, the camper must be two feet wider than the truck. Not sure what the story is, maybe someone on here will know so I can follow up. Its gotta be a handful going down the road.
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.
Atl-atl
Adventurer
Chance? Yes. Reason? Really only because we wanted to. There have been plenty of opportunities over our current 14,XXX miles to do gnarlier stuff than we have but typically we chose not to. Mostly out of a desire to not break something or get stuck while living out of the vehicle we are off-roading. There is a fine line between want and need on this trip. Yes we built the rig to be capable in 4-lo situations. No we did not expect to need it on this trip but wanted it just in case. 4x4 was an insurance policy. Have we gone anywhere that a 2wd rig with high clearance couldnt have made it? Most likely not. Did we take some harder lines through obstacles that absolutely required 4-lo? Yes and it was fun and we were happy to do it. Did we have fun tackling some obstacles with confidence and poise that would have required a lot of questionable decisions and skinny pedal from a 2wd rig? Absolutely. Did we future proof the rig? Yes. Im excited for the day we get a big enough dump at our local ski hill that 4WD is required to get to the parking lot and we are the only RV there, eating lunch in the warmth and comfort of our home away from home.
Atl-atl
Adventurer
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.
New leaf installed(the shiny one just below the middle)
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.
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.
New steering gear. Great pic, I know.
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.
Helped the guys install a full length roof rack, awning and RTT with "deck" on this van they are just about done building.
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!
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.
New leaf installed(the shiny one just below the middle)
Alcan Spring
View attachment IMG_8084.jpeg
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.
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.
New steering gear. Great pic, I know.
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.
Helped the guys install a full length roof rack, awning and RTT with "deck" on this van they are just about done building.
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!
Bikersmurf
Expedition Leader
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.
Atl-atl
Adventurer
I was told it would start to ease up as it breaks in. It has definitely gotten easier but Im still waiting for it to re-center with a little less effort. I dont mind having to work a little to turn the wheel and Im driving so much on this trip that its breaking in quickly. I would love to have more power but I probably wont mess with it until I go to bigger tires.
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.
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.
Atl-atl
Adventurer
The benefits of 4 low cannot be overstated. While its possible to get very far in 2wd, the ease with which 4 low tackles obstacles is laughable.
Atl-atl
Adventurer
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/
Todd780
OverCamper
Atl-atl
Adventurer
Well, the RV is technically still for sale, though Ive pulled all the ads. We really love it and have been using it a bunch. Im about to embark on a two week trip around Colorado and Ive done some mods to make it a little nicer. Added a swivel base to the front passenger seat and completely gutted the interior of the cab to install sound/heat barrier. What a difference, holy crap.
This heat/sound barrier stuff is SO satisfying to install. Its surprisingly easy to work with and the installation goes pretty quickly. I ran it all the way up the footwells, down inside the cubbies at the bottom of the doors, inside the entirety of both front doors, on the back side of the doghouse cover and on whats left of the metal roof. The difference is so noticeable Im completely blow away. Even just sitting still in the driver seat, with the engine off, you can tell the difference.
From the Thor factory this thing had essentially no insulation and had incredibly poor fit and finish. When I pulled up the rubber flooring I immediately noticed there was simply two pieces of 1x3 forming a "ramp" from the cab floor to the coach floor and they were fastened with 3 sheet metal screws and then had rubber flooring over the top. Beneath that there was literally just a piece of galvanized sheet metal angle that was rusting and not even secured. It had about 12" of glue and a little bit of spray foam on it and it was just loose. You could look right through to the ground below. I know RVs are built as cheap as possible but wow.
So I cleaned everything up and this was my starting point. That tiny bit of insulation is all that was there from the factory. its not wonder the floor was literally hot to the touch any time you drove.
I installed new 1/8" 3x3 aluminum angle to fill the gap, sealed it with butyl tape and fastened it with a bunch of sheet metal screws. I slightly oversized the screw holes in the angle to allow for some chassis to coach flex. I havent ever noticed any flex and there arent any signs of flex where the cab and coach meet but better safe then sorry. It is now air and water tight.
And here we are!!
Here is what the stock heat shield for the doghouse looks like. A few mm thick of fiberglass with some aluminum backing. Pathetic to say the least. And it just loosely sits inside the cover.
I added an entire layer to the inside of the cover and then reinstalled the stock stuff on top of this.
Here is the headliner view. This should cut down significantly on wind noise. In stock form this was one layer of sheet metal and then vinyl loosely hanging from it as a "headliner" that did absolutely nothing.
Hard to photograph but this is inside one of the doors. The most notable change here is the sound when closing the door. It is now a solid thud where it used to be a rattly clang.
Here is the swivel base. This should be pretty rad. I cant believe I didnt do this sooner. It takes all of 10 minutes to remove the seat and swap the base since its an entire replacement.
This heat/sound barrier stuff is SO satisfying to install. Its surprisingly easy to work with and the installation goes pretty quickly. I ran it all the way up the footwells, down inside the cubbies at the bottom of the doors, inside the entirety of both front doors, on the back side of the doghouse cover and on whats left of the metal roof. The difference is so noticeable Im completely blow away. Even just sitting still in the driver seat, with the engine off, you can tell the difference.
From the Thor factory this thing had essentially no insulation and had incredibly poor fit and finish. When I pulled up the rubber flooring I immediately noticed there was simply two pieces of 1x3 forming a "ramp" from the cab floor to the coach floor and they were fastened with 3 sheet metal screws and then had rubber flooring over the top. Beneath that there was literally just a piece of galvanized sheet metal angle that was rusting and not even secured. It had about 12" of glue and a little bit of spray foam on it and it was just loose. You could look right through to the ground below. I know RVs are built as cheap as possible but wow.
So I cleaned everything up and this was my starting point. That tiny bit of insulation is all that was there from the factory. its not wonder the floor was literally hot to the touch any time you drove.
I installed new 1/8" 3x3 aluminum angle to fill the gap, sealed it with butyl tape and fastened it with a bunch of sheet metal screws. I slightly oversized the screw holes in the angle to allow for some chassis to coach flex. I havent ever noticed any flex and there arent any signs of flex where the cab and coach meet but better safe then sorry. It is now air and water tight.
And here we are!!
Here is what the stock heat shield for the doghouse looks like. A few mm thick of fiberglass with some aluminum backing. Pathetic to say the least. And it just loosely sits inside the cover.
I added an entire layer to the inside of the cover and then reinstalled the stock stuff on top of this.
Here is the headliner view. This should cut down significantly on wind noise. In stock form this was one layer of sheet metal and then vinyl loosely hanging from it as a "headliner" that did absolutely nothing.
Hard to photograph but this is inside one of the doors. The most notable change here is the sound when closing the door. It is now a solid thud where it used to be a rattly clang.
Here is the swivel base. This should be pretty rad. I cant believe I didnt do this sooner. It takes all of 10 minutes to remove the seat and swap the base since its an entire replacement.
Atl-atl
Adventurer
We will be in Durango Aug 20-23. Ive also got my Blazer in tow behind the RV. Plan is to have a basecamp with the RV and use the Blazer for cruising around. Wife will be working so Ill probably just be riding my mountain bike all week.