Chrysler AWD Minivan

[ChuluTravels]

Among the full size 4x4 vans, SMBs, and some gorgeous Westys in this forum, this post may be a little sacrilegious, but here goes.

I own a 2001 Town & Country AWD. It's the family's grocery getter as well as trip vehicle. It performs excellent in snow, and I only had it once on soft sand but it performed well. Its main handicap however is its low ground clearance coupled with no armor/protection. Chrysler claims 6" ground clearance, but I doubt it although I've never measured. We'd like to explore a little further into the woods now. Maybe rougher gravel roads and mild fire roads for more interesting camping spots. No serious off-road stuff. So here are my questions:
-how come this van is never mentioned in this forum? (I think it is comparable to the Toyota 4wd, Westy, Astro, etc which get a lot of mention)
-Can this van be lightly modified to tackle mild off-road (maybe a 2" lift, bigger tires)?
-Am I delusional and should just buy a full size 4x4 van? (but going from 20mpg to 12mpg will hurt)

I appreciate your thoughts/opinions on this.

 

[Patman]

I think the main reason for the lack of mention is its carlike design. Not a bad thing, just not generally thought of as a robust/capable platform by most.

I personally think they are great, a rental Caravan is responsible for my absolute vanlust (stowngo has to be one of the all time great inventions).

The others mentioned are more readily modified for offroad, Syncro's really don't need any (I'm a little biased :smiley_drive: ) A locker equipped 2wd E350 will most likely be more capable in the dry than the AWD TC due to clearance issues, but that all changes when it gets wet.

I think the ability of the TC is directly related to what you plan on doing. If a custom lift and some larger tires will allow you to go where you want, and falls in the budget, then you're set. If not, perhaps a change is a better choice.

Are you better off? Whats your budget and your wanderlust say?
Syncro's are great, capable and decent mileage box stock, but expensive to get into and maintain.
Astro's are great, but need a lift and some would argue a tcase swap to be truely capable.
Toyota's are the closest to the TC, but hard to find clean.
Fords. Fuel sucking, expensive, and SO AWESOME!!! But unless you find one predone, in need of a bunch of mods.

 

[RocKrawler]

Fords. Fuel sucking, expensive, and SO AWESOME!!! But unless you find one predone, in need of a bunch of mods.

Currently getting 17-18mpg avg to & from work on my $3000 97 E350 so not that bad, but I'm paying more for diesel than you cheap gas guys!

 

[ihatemybike]

Westy, Toyota, Astro are all RWD based vehicles, which seems the norm when it comes to vans and off-road.

While Chrysler mini vans aren't my thing, I appreciate anyone making a go with something different. Here's a thread where they haven't done more than install 30x9.5R15 tires on a FWD Voyager, but I'm digging it.
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=51674

I say give it a go with what you have until it no longer meets your requirements. Looking quickly online it appears that a spacer lift could be made for the front and a lift block or custom lift shackle made for the rear.

My limited experience says most IFS vehicles can be lifted 1.5-2" without hurting the CVs. I'd make a bunch of 1/8" and 1/4" spacer plates and try adding a plate at a time till the CVs are almost maxed out. Once you have the front figured out lift the back to match. This might be a good time to upgrade the shocks, struts and springs too.

Note: On independent suspension a 1/4" spacer = about 1/2" lift. This is because the suspension mounts mid A-arm. Thus the wheel will be moved about double what the suspension is.

 

[BCHauler]

Front wheel drive coupled with unibody design is the likeliest reason that type of van doesn't have much of a following in these types of environments. Either one alone isn't necessarily a hindrance but both together is a pretty big compromise for most I would think.

One of the neatest things about this site is the accepting nature of the people here. Have it, bring it, work with it, and you will likely receive encouragement, help, and respect from the other members.

So show us what you have and what you want to do with it.

 

[The Adam Blaster]

I would run it as long as it meets your needs, as ihatemybike said.
Don't spend too much on trying to improve its offroad performance though - if you find it is too limited to take you where you want to go, dumping a couple thousand bucks at it will only marginally help and you'll still be looking at a different vehicle.
It should be fine for most gravel and logging roads as long as they are maintained. I took my '08 FWD Gr. Caravan on a fairly sketchy logging road through the mountains this summer and had no issues, other than dust. lol

Chrysler has totally disco'd the AWD minivans now. They made up something in the neighbourhood of less than 10% of their sales, so they dumped that offering.

 

[nemoaz]

Looking for components off a used wheelchair van makes sense.

The transmission issues alone would be enough to make me shy away from a Chrysler minivan but some people are more adventurous. :sombrero: