Newly acquired 87 Quadravan

[Myvanisbetter]

Hello all,

I recently purchased this rig for a steal of a price and now need to get it road (and more importantly off-road) ready. A few questions first, what is the largest size that fits on the Quadravans from the factory? How has lift been achieved on those that have? What else should I look into upgrading while I am.

Pic from the day I picked her up

Thanks in advance.

Randy

87 Quadravan e350/BW1345/Dana HD44

 

[ujoint]

Congrats on the purchase!

Can't fit more than a 33 w/o fender mods. Any lifting that you do will have to be done custom.

 

[rockbender]

Nice - gotta love the budget vans! I would assume it has a C6 automatic - what engine? Any idea on the axle gears? These things may play a role in which way to go with tires too.

 

[Myvanisbetter]

This van was a steal! It is a C6 with the 460 engine. Best I can tell, the gears are 3.54 judging from the axle code...

P.S. the running boards were the first thing to go. Anyone want them?

 

[New River KTM]

My 89 Quadravan needed lots of maintenance on the suspension (rubber shot, shocks gone, other issues). Contact http://www.pathfinder-vans.com/index.html for replacement parts, I added 2" of lift by using longer springs and spacers. Anymore than that and you would need to do some engineering work.

 

[Itsavanman]

not bad, the 460 is kind of a gas hog, however it gets the same gas mileage loaded to the gills or empty, so that's not a bad thing.. although, that's a big engine in that little engine bay.. hopefully doesn't need engine work like my poor neglected 302 in my 89 did...

 

[Myvanisbetter]

for now it runs great. I need to fix the homebrew trackbar setup on this rig before things go too much further. Any suggestions out there?


Thanks!

 

[cwm]

It has been a few years since I worked on one so the terms, parts description, might be incorrect but I think you will understand the idea.

Which rating is the van? E150, 250, or 350? Is the front suspension coil spring or leaf spring? In the lighter chassis the 4 x 4 conversion was done using the coil spring front suspension. There was a problem with the articulation and the front coil spring design.

Here is where I am not sure of the correct terms. Each side has rod at an angle that was intended to control the side to side movement. It was fine on the road but off-road the rods limited the articulation. It puts a lot of strain on the mounts and I was told the mounts would bend or break.

The more desirable front suspension had leaf springs and had better articulation. I have a 85 Supervan (has the extended body). It has the leaf spring front suspension with D60s front and rear. 460 and a 205 transfer case.

The axles will have a number stamped on them. It is on the axle tube and has several numbers like a serial number. The rear axle should be no problem, it is stock Ford. But the front axle could be anything. The conversion companies would buy axles in groups from different sources. It could be Chevy or Dodge or ??? The axle number can be referenced so that you can get the correct parts for whatever front axle that you have.