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[sakurama]

Paden Drivetrain

So after asking around it seems that the best place in town to have differentials done was Paden Drivetrain. They're old school - no website.

This might be a good place to include this video since I knew only sort of how a differential worked and this really explained it. From 1937 and you can skip the motorcycle stunt riders... at your peril!

[video]https://youtu.be/yYAw79386WI[/video]

The key to putting in these gears is shimming them until they engage perfectly. The yellow dye allows you to see where they're meshing and in what pattern. These show a perfect central mesh and Mike explained they shim into the tenths which sort of blew my mind. Tenths are .0001" and a rolling paper is generally about .001 so that should give you an idea.

The whole shop has the patina of wear that comes from working on the same task for 35 years. All the tools are on a cart and they're only the ones needed and they're smooth and shiny - steel worn away by skin.

Masking tape and sharpie keeps things sorted and old gears are kept in buckets. Man I could have hung out there all day.

When I picked up the van it felt like it was stuck in first gear. I think the computer rethinks things when gearing or tires or things change. Or maybe it's my computer in my head. MG sent me this link from the Grimmjeeper. and I used it to calculate the gearing of the van stock as I bought it (left) with 29" tires and 3.55 gears...

and then as it was on our trip (right) with 35" tires and 3.73 gears.

And now regeared with 4.30's and the 35" tires.

Which puts it back to normal so to speak. It certainly feels better. In fact it feels normal - like you wouldn't know we've been bouncing up and down with tires and gears. I think that's a good sign. I'll need more time in the van to get used to it and certainly I'll have a better feel when I hook it up to the trailer next week. For now I can say that I think i made the right choice in not going to 4.55's or 4.10's. In reading around it seems the ideal cruising rpm for the 7.3 Powerstroke is about 2000rpm's and we seem to be right there.

Gregor

 

[mgmetalworks]

Their shop looks as hot as mine. It's been brutal the last few days around here.

 

[Jsweezy]

Congrats on getting the gears done!

 

[snowgroomer]

Which puts it back to normal so to speak. It certainly feels better. In fact it feels normal - like you wouldn't know we've been bouncing up and down with tires and gears. I think that's a good sign. I'll need more time in the van to get used to it and certainly I'll have a better feel when I hook it up to the trailer next week. For now I can say that I think i made the right choice in not going to 4.55's or 4.10's. In reading around it seems the ideal cruising rpm for the 7.3 Powerstroke is about 2000rpm's and we seem to be right there.

Gregor[/QUOTE]

Any new updates?

 

[Andrew_S]

Great build! The van looks so good. Looking forward to more updates.

 

[Arctic Travelller]

I just read your entire thread, don't know how I missed it before, but what a great build. Your photos are great too, I look forward to more.

 

[mgmetalworks]

I've had the van the last couple of days wiring in gauges (Boost, Trans Temp, EGT), plumbing/wiring in the auto hub locks and setting up the E-locker in the 2015 Sterling we put in the rear. Super fun stuff with the temp in the 90s.

Happy to report that wiring the factory E-locker is a simple affair, same as the auto hubs (though we have to chase down a vacuum leak at the hubs themselves before they're fully operational). Always fun to retrofit new stuff into old rigs.

 

[ClubWagon]

I have a BluDriver bluetooth OBD reader and it works fine on my iPhone 6S. Much more of a basic thing than you are looking for but it works fine over BT.

I have the BluDriver reader too. Works great on my iPhone 7 with Bluetooth and I with my 06 Express. Unfortunately it won't work on my 96 E350. The bludriver people couldn't understand why it wouldn't work either they even mailed me out a replacement to see if the first on was defective. After doing some research on why it wouldn't work I finally figured out that even though I have the ODB2 port under my dash it's not ODB2 it's actually ODB1. What I found was everything half ton and under went ODB2 in 1996 except 3/4 ton and 1 ton it wasn't until 97 when everything else was updated to ODB2. So mine has the ODB 1 plugs under the hood and a non functioning ODB 2 plug under the dash.

 

[sakurama]

Last weekend my wife had the chance to borrow a Westfalia camper van through a company that rents them via an Air BnB sort of deal - Go•Camp. After putting so much work into my van I wasn't sure I wanted to spend a weekend in the Westy but I figured that it might be a good insight into what a true camper van was like.

David and Goliath. Or maybe Andre the Giant and Groucho.

It was illuminating to have such a tiny self contained little home on wheels and I think it convinced me to push my build to the direction of a camper van and perhaps even to consider doing a pop top down the road. The Westy got 21mpg so that is not much better than my van got stock before the conversion and considering how glacially slow it was despite it's VR6 motor I wasn't much impressed with the power. Handling was fine - quite minivan like. Build quality inside was average but people at the campground really dug it.

Anyway, the last week saw me high tail it to Idaho to retrieve the trailer from storage and while I did that I dropped the van back at MG's to finish up the wiring we didn't get the chance to do before.

I'm very grateful to MG for doing such a nice job on the wiring. He made a killer harness that is not only beyond my ability but also beyond my comprehension. A fuse block is fed by a 100amp circuit breaker under the hood and which ties in relays that are switched by the center console switches.

I got back from Idaho and headed straight to MG's to try to help where I could. I got a few PM's about the A-pillar gauge pod and it if fit well. The first one I got wasn't the right one but I didn't figure that out until I started cutting it in an attempt to make it work. Once I realized I got the wrong one I ordered the correct one from Amazon (Auto Meter 17316) and took it down to MG's to fit it up.

The instructions called for placing it on top of the stock A-pillar cover and then drilling through both and using these small plastic buttons to hold them together. That didn't really make sense or seem like a clean solution and MG had some 3m VHB tape which works great for holding things together so I cut pieces and stuck them wherever the two touched and then clamped them together with my hands.

To get the wires through to the gauges I used a step drill through the stock A-pillar cover.

The fit of this one is perfect. It covers the stock one completely and fits exactly. Top marks.

MG ran vacuum tubing from the front hubs...

To a relay under the drivers door but we weren't able to get the hubs to pull. MG checked it and it looks like I may have a bad o-ring seal in my hubs so next time I'm in there I'll replace that and hopefully get them working - for now my kids will get to experience how I spent my childhood. They're all wired in however.

I got home and decided to build another center console box since my first attempt wasn't quite the best fit to the switch pod. Having the switch cluster with me allowed me to make a better fitting box. I tested covering the first one with some of the vinyl and then dove in on the new one.

The basic process is to spray both the vinyl and the box with contact adhesive. I used 3M 80 for Vinyl and Rubber but I think any contact adhesive will work. Once you get a good coat that is pretty heavy but not dripping you let it dry until it's no longer tacky.

I started with the bottom and pulled the vinyl tight and used 1/4" staples in an air stapler to start holding it as I pulled it tight. Corners require a little heat to help stretch the material and of course practice makes perfect. Actually that's not true. My practice one was perfect and the "real" one had some small mistakes.

Surprisingly the dark gray I chose matched the surrounds of the ceiling lights. Total accident but I figured a contrasting gray would be better than one that I tried to match and missed by a shade. It works great, fits well and looks pretty good too.

The Auto Meter gauges match the stock Ford dash pretty perfectly in terms of color and type. The gauges do block a bit of your vision in corners but it's not too bad. I think I'll get used to it as I spend time with them. It's nice to be able to have a read on the engine and I'm looking forward to towing the trailer with the new gears and seeing how that works.

Oh, and while I don't have a bumper with a tire mount yet I made a ring that I bolted to the last row seat belt anchor that I removed and then added some 1/2-13 eye hooks and a ratchet strap to hold the spare in place out of the way. It's been laying on the floor which hasn't been the best solution obviously so this is a good temporary fix.

Lastly some decoration.

The irony here is that my pickup is an FX4 and the first thing I did was remove all the stickers and black out the chrome. The van however is rather large and white and I thought that it looked great when Josh (Jsweezy) did it to his van so I shamelessly ripped off that idea and ordered up the same stickers (from the correct year). I think it's a nice detail and adds a tiny bit of color.

Thanks MG for spending hot days in the garage working on the wiring. I can't wait to hit the coast and try out the rear locker in the sand.

Gregor

 

[86scotty]

Gregor, did you match your A pillar on the right? My old van was a pre OBDII 460 so I had to go with that same 3 pod gauge to get tranny temp and a couple other gauges. My plastic was all tan and the Autometer cover came black, so I painted the passenger side one black too and it worked just fine. This was much easier, I think, than finding and matching trim color paint to the Autometer piece.

Upper console-switch-extravaganza looks nice!

 

[snowgroomer]

How does it tow with the new gears? Have you checked fuel mileage since gear swap?

 

[Stopwatch]

What method of fastening did you use for the switchbox to the ceiling? A small antigravity pod?

 

[locrwln]

I hope you are able to go into depth about the process of making the hubs operate.

Jack

 

[mgmetalworks]

I hope you are able to go into depth about the process of making the hubs operate.

Jack

Trade secret!

Just kidding... I plan to do a write up about it. I can do a write up of the factory E-locker too if anyone is interested.

 

[another_mike]

Trade secret!

Just kidding... I plan to do a write up about it. I can do a write up of the factory E-locker too if anyone is interested.

Id be interested in hearing more about the factory ELocker. I wanted an ELocker for my build but having an 2005 10.5, I couldnt find any info on one that would work.. so I went with an OX Locker instead.