Thanks man! I'm doing some marketing for this new private off-road park, we may have to pull you down out of the city with that beast of yours to do some wheeling!
The Lunchbox Build... 4x4 chevy shorty van
- Thread starter Lunchbox2
- Start date
Thanks man! I'm doing some marketing for this new private off-road park, we may have to pull you down out of the city with that beast of yours to do some wheeling!
He keeps asking to drive it, so I said "when you can reach the pedals AND see over the steering wheel at the same time, I'll let you drive it...." haha
Thanks for following along! She's come a looooooong way since I drug her out of that field, that's for sure.....
djbonsu
Adventurer
Nice!! Let me know....I definitely need to stretch its legs out!
I think I killed the kingpin bushings in my dana 60, but it was worth it! Oh well, just means it's time to get bronze bushings instead...:victory:
That's when I'm gonna teach my daughter. And she'll get 3 pedals to play with.
Grandpa had a few classic cars, '67 firebird convertible, a '64 ford truck, and a '50 chevy truck. The trucks were both 3 on the tree, and I learned how to drive in the '50 when I was 10... He'd let me drive ALL OVER as long as it was a back road, then once we pulled to a main highway, we'd switch places and he'd drive on into town...haha
That's one awesome Grandparents. That is my plan with my daughter, teach her to drive n let her ASAP so get gets to practice before being let loose. My old house was 8 miles up an old non-County road that never saw traffic and everyone's kids in the area learned to drive on it. Unfortunately the whole town burned down last year so have to start over. Not gonna be same place as County is now taking over the area, so no more fun.
350outrage
Adventurer
Just checked back on this thread after a few months away. Congratulations on getting it DONE! What a monster project. Honestly, I was afraid you would run out of steam before you got it rolling,...but NO! I especially like the bumper you fabbed. Yours looks great. I've built a few myself, including the one on my current van. Why pay thousands of $$$ when you can fab your own for less than $100.00??? I weighed mine out, and by keeping it minimalist, its even lighter than an Aluminess. Yours looks a little cooler though! Keep up the good work! (PS, the dog butt extending down from the driver side of the bumper was a no cost option! :-D)
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KeyserSoSay
Adventurer
I'm kinda new around here, but just binged on all 49 pages of your build. Great van, but an even more epic build thread that is truly helpful to those of us in similar spots at the ground floor of such a build. If Colorado is in your sights, concider the Durango/Pagosa area- I'll be moving there soon and would love to get the Lunchbox and Tortuga together for a play date. for that matter, swing through northern NM, it's much more Coloradoish than people realize, and cheaper to live.
I was also a single dad for many years (until we met my sweet Wendy) and can relate to your efforts there. My son is 13 now which I mention as a reminder that it won't be long before they get old enough to want the keys :Wow1:.
I was also a single dad for many years (until we met my sweet Wendy) and can relate to your efforts there. My son is 13 now which I mention as a reminder that it won't be long before they get old enough to want the keys :Wow1:.
Hell ya man thanks! Yours turned out great! This build has kicked my *** man, not gonna lie. The worst part about it has been this transmission, the ONLY thing that I didn't do myself, and it's given me problems since day one. I'm about to pull it out for the 3rd time, and pay a well-known guy to go through it for me, so hopefully I can have this thing operable for more than a week at a time! smh....
I appreciate the kind words man, and I cant wait to get out there and explore! That is, if I ever get this damn transmission to hold up...UGH...haha La Tortuga looks friggin awesome man! I think a converted short-bus is in our future, so much more room for activities!
I haven't posted much lately, because these past couple months have really kicked my *** man.... I have been plagued with transmission problems almost since day one, and it has been BEYOND exhausting, it is NOT a fun job pulling and re-installing this trans/transfer case combo in my garage by myself. I literally built this entire van from the ground up, and the only problem I've had, is the transmission that I paid somebody ELSE to build for me, a man that is supposed to know what he's doing.
Well....about 3 weeks ago it randomly started to not shift hardly, and it wouldn't hit overdrive at all. I did a bunch of reading and came to the conclusion that it was in the valve body, specifically the throttle valve. So I dropped it out, and we pulled it apart and went through literally every inch of it. I sat right there while my buddy pulled parts out, and I scrubbed them down and got every little piece of dirt off of them. Every single valve came out of the body for a good soak and scrub, and every little internal piece was examined.... We found some build up in the valve body, so I attributed my problems to that. Everything went back together, and it went back up in the van. I also added a big trans cooler, and decided to run synthetic fluid this time.
I pulled the trans out in record time, 1 hour and 20 minutes and she was on the ground...
pulled it apart and went through every inch...
Luckily all of my clutches/bands still looked like new, so it was just a clean and rebuild job...Back to the house we go
I got it back up in the van, and it was time to take a trip to LBL to test it out...
I added a heavy duty trans cooler to the mix to help control temps..
Well....about 3 weeks ago it randomly started to not shift hardly, and it wouldn't hit overdrive at all. I did a bunch of reading and came to the conclusion that it was in the valve body, specifically the throttle valve. So I dropped it out, and we pulled it apart and went through literally every inch of it. I sat right there while my buddy pulled parts out, and I scrubbed them down and got every little piece of dirt off of them. Every single valve came out of the body for a good soak and scrub, and every little internal piece was examined.... We found some build up in the valve body, so I attributed my problems to that. Everything went back together, and it went back up in the van. I also added a big trans cooler, and decided to run synthetic fluid this time.
I pulled the trans out in record time, 1 hour and 20 minutes and she was on the ground...
pulled it apart and went through every inch...
Luckily all of my clutches/bands still looked like new, so it was just a clean and rebuild job...Back to the house we go
I got it back up in the van, and it was time to take a trip to LBL to test it out...
I added a heavy duty trans cooler to the mix to help control temps..
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We loaded up, and decided to take off for a day of wheeling, and a night of camping....
We ran into a fellow fullsize rig on the trail, and ran with him for a little while. He eventually had to duck-out, as his transfer case was making a little noise and he didn't want to get stuck out on the trail. We were hitting some pretty hard stuff and it would be a ***** to get his rig out if it took a dump.
We had a great time, but by the end of the day I started to lose reverse... I was beyond angry, and just decided to set up camp for the night and try to not think about it and relax... a good meal cooked over the fire, and a couple of cold ones, and the day was complete. time for bed....
The trans pulled ok in low range, but if I put it in hi, it would barely pull in reverse. Every other gear worked great, just reverse was giving me problems... So back to the house we go.... Of course, my buddy that built the trans wouldn't answer my phone calls and texts, and still hasn't returned a call. I told him this last time (2nd time he's gone through it), that this trans will be the reason him and I quit speaking after knowing each other for 18 years, I've had enough. I paid him just like anybody else does, and I even did all the ***** work of cleaning. Not to mention having to pull this f#%king thing out every time, this ******** is getting old REAL quick...
We ran into a fellow fullsize rig on the trail, and ran with him for a little while. He eventually had to duck-out, as his transfer case was making a little noise and he didn't want to get stuck out on the trail. We were hitting some pretty hard stuff and it would be a ***** to get his rig out if it took a dump.
We had a great time, but by the end of the day I started to lose reverse... I was beyond angry, and just decided to set up camp for the night and try to not think about it and relax... a good meal cooked over the fire, and a couple of cold ones, and the day was complete. time for bed....
The trans pulled ok in low range, but if I put it in hi, it would barely pull in reverse. Every other gear worked great, just reverse was giving me problems... So back to the house we go.... Of course, my buddy that built the trans wouldn't answer my phone calls and texts, and still hasn't returned a call. I told him this last time (2nd time he's gone through it), that this trans will be the reason him and I quit speaking after knowing each other for 18 years, I've had enough. I paid him just like anybody else does, and I even did all the ***** work of cleaning. Not to mention having to pull this f#%king thing out every time, this ******** is getting old REAL quick...