powdermonkey
New member
TL
R - I'm looking for experiences in the snow with a camper van (2 and 4wd) with AT tires vs getting a set of true winter tires.
We've got a 2002 VW Eurovan that I found here in Oregon as a 1 owner, 175k miles, with a blown auto transmission. It was the perfect base for my plan to swap a TDI and a manual gearbox into it. I found a local 2004 Passat with the BHW TDI for cheap, towed it home, and harvested everything I could out of it. I initially built it with an 02D 5 speed syncro gearbox, but wasn't happy with the lower gearing options, so when we moved 2 years ago that got taken out and I've been futzing with a 6 speed box from a 2012 T5 Transporter van from the UK. Lots of delays and issues with parts and fitment, but I got to buy new tools and learn new skills. Well, 6 years after I brought it home, and it's finally rocking and rolling!
I finally got it buttoned up, moving, and road safe/ready (mostly) last week, just before we were leaving for the PNW Overland Expo in Bend, OR. We made it from Salem to Bend and back, up and over the Santiam pass at almost 5k feet, with not a hiccup or problem. I still have some lights on with the dash, but I think I know how to address them.
Before I get too far into the build, my question is about tires.
We like to snowboard regularly in the winter up on Mt. Hood, and my wife and I have been running snow tires year round for the past 6-7 years + on our daily drivers, with very few issues. The General Altimax Arctics are my go to, and we typically get 40-50k miles out of them, 2-3 winters at least, and feel very safe and happy with them and their performance. I'm having a tougher time with tires for the van since it is heavier, and needs a minimum of load range 100 tire. I'm not interested in getting into too much body modification, so the biggest tires that will fit are about a 225/75-16, at roughly 29-29.5", most of the clearance issues are going to be in the rear. Much more than that and it gets dicey. I can't fit 15" wheels due to caliper size, and the way the trailing arm moves in the rear, it starts getting into the pinch welds at the front of the rear wheel well with tires much larger. I'd LOVE to fit a set of 30-31" tires, but I don't think they would fit without some more significant body mods.
General makes an LT and a Grabber Arctic, which I'm leaning heavily towards one of them if I can find the right size. But I'm curious about experiences with real world vans running AT style tires that have a few sipes and have the 3 mountain peak snow rating for severe snow service such at the Grabber AT3, BFG T/A KO2s, Falken Wild Peak AT3W, Goodyear Wrangler Trailrunner AT or AT Adventure, etc. I'm not against getting two sets, but one that is pretty good in the snow, and ok on the highway would be awesome.
I still have to install the rear end to turn it from a FWD into an AWD/4motion beast, but for now, it's just a FWD little guy. We will have a lot of highway miles, occasional fire road and mild off-road to campsites. We aren't interested at all in rock crawling or mud bogging type off-road travel or trails, I understand the capabilities of this rig. Rocky/washout type fire roads to more secluded campsites will be our biggest obstacle. Or off camber, wet hills. Luckily, the rear end I have for it has a rear locker, so that will be fun once it's installed.
Some pictures for the masses, and to keep you interested.
First up on the last trip is the fill up before we left town. I'll include some just rolled out of the garage shots from the first test drive too, to get an idea of the stance and the bumper. I'm not totally happy with the bull bar I came up with, but it was literally finished last minute and painted the night before, just wanted some radiator and front end protection while driving through the mountains. Bumper is an ARB for a 2012 Tacoma that I got for $500 at 4wheelparts as a scratch and dent, made mounting plates for it after studying how XJs stiffen the unibody front ends, and the track width was close enough to make it work. Any thoughts on bull bar aesthetics are welcomed.
And here is one of us at camp the last night of the Expo
You may notice the wider front wheel track... Well, to fit the newer generation 6 speed 4motion gearbox I wanted, and to use the stock axles, I had to widen the subframe and make adapters for the flange style Eurovan axles to fit the stub shaft style T5 gearbox. After months of back and forth over the past few years, I ended up with this as the easiest option, so if I manage to pop a CV joint or bust and axle, I can get a newer one fairly quickly from any of the local parts stores still. Finding shortened axles is basically non-existent, and I was worried about the CV angles being too sharp and busting CV joints. Long story short, I had to widen, lower, and move the control arm mounts forward to fit the gearbox into the van the way I wanted to. I have ET+24 wheels from GoWesty, but I actually need wheels with lower offset to clear the coilovers I ended up using since they rub at full lock on the steering.
Oh, turns out First Gen Tundra coilovers had the right dimensions for what I needed. I was able to pilfer some buckets from the Pull-A-Part, weld them on with bracing to the actual unibody frame horns, and they are close to what I need. The stock springs were too soft, so I ended up getting a set of Rancho leveling shocks to help get the ride height where it needs to be, but they've settled and after driving this past weekend, they're a bit too soft. I think the Rancho's basically raised the lower mounting plate and added preload without much actual stiffening of the coils.
Any one know if I can get some stiffer springs for stock Tundra coilovers, or the Bilstein 6112 type struts? I need the stock length because of CV axle angles, I will probably need to get some limiting straps if I have to go up in travel/length of the shocks so I don't have too much droop.
R - I'm looking for experiences in the snow with a camper van (2 and 4wd) with AT tires vs getting a set of true winter tires. We've got a 2002 VW Eurovan that I found here in Oregon as a 1 owner, 175k miles, with a blown auto transmission. It was the perfect base for my plan to swap a TDI and a manual gearbox into it. I found a local 2004 Passat with the BHW TDI for cheap, towed it home, and harvested everything I could out of it. I initially built it with an 02D 5 speed syncro gearbox, but wasn't happy with the lower gearing options, so when we moved 2 years ago that got taken out and I've been futzing with a 6 speed box from a 2012 T5 Transporter van from the UK. Lots of delays and issues with parts and fitment, but I got to buy new tools and learn new skills. Well, 6 years after I brought it home, and it's finally rocking and rolling!
I finally got it buttoned up, moving, and road safe/ready (mostly) last week, just before we were leaving for the PNW Overland Expo in Bend, OR. We made it from Salem to Bend and back, up and over the Santiam pass at almost 5k feet, with not a hiccup or problem. I still have some lights on with the dash, but I think I know how to address them.
Before I get too far into the build, my question is about tires.
We like to snowboard regularly in the winter up on Mt. Hood, and my wife and I have been running snow tires year round for the past 6-7 years + on our daily drivers, with very few issues. The General Altimax Arctics are my go to, and we typically get 40-50k miles out of them, 2-3 winters at least, and feel very safe and happy with them and their performance. I'm having a tougher time with tires for the van since it is heavier, and needs a minimum of load range 100 tire. I'm not interested in getting into too much body modification, so the biggest tires that will fit are about a 225/75-16, at roughly 29-29.5", most of the clearance issues are going to be in the rear. Much more than that and it gets dicey. I can't fit 15" wheels due to caliper size, and the way the trailing arm moves in the rear, it starts getting into the pinch welds at the front of the rear wheel well with tires much larger. I'd LOVE to fit a set of 30-31" tires, but I don't think they would fit without some more significant body mods.
General makes an LT and a Grabber Arctic, which I'm leaning heavily towards one of them if I can find the right size. But I'm curious about experiences with real world vans running AT style tires that have a few sipes and have the 3 mountain peak snow rating for severe snow service such at the Grabber AT3, BFG T/A KO2s, Falken Wild Peak AT3W, Goodyear Wrangler Trailrunner AT or AT Adventure, etc. I'm not against getting two sets, but one that is pretty good in the snow, and ok on the highway would be awesome.
I still have to install the rear end to turn it from a FWD into an AWD/4motion beast, but for now, it's just a FWD little guy. We will have a lot of highway miles, occasional fire road and mild off-road to campsites. We aren't interested at all in rock crawling or mud bogging type off-road travel or trails, I understand the capabilities of this rig. Rocky/washout type fire roads to more secluded campsites will be our biggest obstacle. Or off camber, wet hills. Luckily, the rear end I have for it has a rear locker, so that will be fun once it's installed.
Some pictures for the masses, and to keep you interested.
First up on the last trip is the fill up before we left town. I'll include some just rolled out of the garage shots from the first test drive too, to get an idea of the stance and the bumper. I'm not totally happy with the bull bar I came up with, but it was literally finished last minute and painted the night before, just wanted some radiator and front end protection while driving through the mountains. Bumper is an ARB for a 2012 Tacoma that I got for $500 at 4wheelparts as a scratch and dent, made mounting plates for it after studying how XJs stiffen the unibody front ends, and the track width was close enough to make it work. Any thoughts on bull bar aesthetics are welcomed.
And here is one of us at camp the last night of the Expo
You may notice the wider front wheel track... Well, to fit the newer generation 6 speed 4motion gearbox I wanted, and to use the stock axles, I had to widen the subframe and make adapters for the flange style Eurovan axles to fit the stub shaft style T5 gearbox. After months of back and forth over the past few years, I ended up with this as the easiest option, so if I manage to pop a CV joint or bust and axle, I can get a newer one fairly quickly from any of the local parts stores still. Finding shortened axles is basically non-existent, and I was worried about the CV angles being too sharp and busting CV joints. Long story short, I had to widen, lower, and move the control arm mounts forward to fit the gearbox into the van the way I wanted to. I have ET+24 wheels from GoWesty, but I actually need wheels with lower offset to clear the coilovers I ended up using since they rub at full lock on the steering.
Oh, turns out First Gen Tundra coilovers had the right dimensions for what I needed. I was able to pilfer some buckets from the Pull-A-Part, weld them on with bracing to the actual unibody frame horns, and they are close to what I need. The stock springs were too soft, so I ended up getting a set of Rancho leveling shocks to help get the ride height where it needs to be, but they've settled and after driving this past weekend, they're a bit too soft. I think the Rancho's basically raised the lower mounting plate and added preload without much actual stiffening of the coils.
Any one know if I can get some stiffer springs for stock Tundra coilovers, or the Bilstein 6112 type struts? I need the stock length because of CV axle angles, I will probably need to get some limiting straps if I have to go up in travel/length of the shocks so I don't have too much droop.
