Ford Transit

[One-Off]

I asked on the Ford Bronco thread but got silence so...

I've had a VW Vanagon now for almost 20 years, that is to say, long before the #Vanlife craze. When I got my first Vanagon, a 4WD syncro (for $4000), they were pretty much just old cars. I've watched the interest and value of the vehicles go up. I'm on my third. Both the others I sold for much more than what I paid, and I expect the same will be true if I sell this one.

I'm a year or two away from retirement. My wife and I are thinking we'll have the time to range a little further from home. On the shortlist are Yellowstone, Gran Tetons and Glacier. She says we need a more reliable vehicle. I wanted to just get the new Ford Ranger (before my Vanagons I had a series of Fords- f100, f250 and Ranger. But my wife says she doesn't want to be in a tent in grizzly country and in a van you can throw in a Webasco heater and camp through all four seasons (or at least three).

I researched a bit and it seems like the Ford is definitely better than the Mercedes, despite the Mercedes popularity.

I use my Vanagon as a daily driver. I'm just wondering if the Ford Transit is too big to be a daily driver? Is it a pain to park? The Vanagon turns a tighter radius than most cars (feels like it's moving sideways when parallel parking). MPG for the Transit is about the same as the Vanagon.

Anybody have one?

Or anybody have solutions to tent camping in freezing weather with Grizzlies

 

[the janitor]

I can't address your question directly, but do look for any excuse to post this song

 

[tsenn]

Moser Makes has some good info on the larger popular vans...

 

[Muscles]

My brother had one. A med wheel base med roof. Van was perfect. Easy to daily drive and fit in most places without any issues. Nice 3.5 Ecoboost engine. Could fit a 12' board inside.

I'm 6'2" and just had to barely hunch over in the back. The new ones come with AWD. I'd buy one before I ever bought a Sprinter.

 

[manbearpig]

I fckin hate driving vans. I’d rather drive my freightliner work rig I hate them so much.

there’s some pretty good set ups for pick ups. I’m considering one of these for my truck. I couldn’t find one for the ranger but I reckon it would fit.

http://instagr.am/p/CBilxivnEyZ/

 

[One-Off]

My brother had one. A med wheel base med roof. Van was perfect. Easy to daily drive and fit in most places without any issues. Nice 3.5 Ecoboost engine. Could fit a 12' board inside.

I'm 6'2" and just had to barely hunch over in the back. The new ones come with AWD. I'd buy one before I ever bought a Sprinter.

What did he have to say about reliability? Hill climbing?

I like the Moser video. He reminded me of a high school kid giving an oral report.

 

[john4surf]

On our 4th RV. Had 2008 Sprinter based View and an ERA Sprinter Van/motorhome before buying the 2017 Transit 3500 HD Diesel Fuse RV. All three of these vehicles are approximately 24’ bumper to bumper. The Sprinters were great until the ‘little things’ started going wrong and began nasty Mercedes parts/labor expenses. The Fuse is too much of a hassle for a daily driver. The 3500 diesel van is excellent and I don’t think you’d go wrong buying one. I get 15-18 mpg with the ‘house’ loaded on trips so the van would likely get even better mileage. Son and his family are taking the Fuse to the Omari’s in a couple of weeks. It sleeps 4 comfortably.

 

[One-Off]

I fckin hate driving vans. I’d rather drive my freightliner work rig I hate them so much.

there’s some pretty good set ups for pick ups. I’m considering one of these for my truck. I couldn’t find one for the ranger but I reckon it would fit.

http://instagr.am/p/CBilxivnEyZ/

I actually love driving the Vanagon. It really is like driving a bus, where you're sitting on top of the front wheels. It also has a floating feeling (which I've lost a bit since I just replaced the springs with stiffer ones). It felt good on dirt roads although all the kitchen components would sound like their about to rattle themselves free and start flying around. Another good thing about vans is you can throw a ton of boards in them, even longboards.

I like trucks but only started looking at them again because I like the styling of the new Ranger. Someone on the Bronco thread said it had bad reviews but I didn't really come across that, except about the "outdated" styling (which I like). Chevys had some bad reviews about reliability and even Toyotas had negative reviews about the ride quality.

One problem I see with Rangers is the crew cabs and the short beds. No boards in the back. No slide in campers. MPG is a plus compared to big vans.

A lot of my reservations about the big vans is their drivability in day to day conditions. I guess no one here drives one.

 

[tsenn]

I fckin hate driving vans. I’d rather drive my freightliner work rig I hate them so much.

there’s some pretty good set ups for pick ups. I’m considering one of these for my truck. I couldn’t find one for the ranger but I reckon it would fit.

http://instagr.am/p/CBilxivnEyZ/

How Our Writer Built Out His Ford Ranger

Is there such a thing as one adventuremobile that can do everything?

www.outsideonline.com

 

[manbearpig]

How Our Writer Built Out His Ford Ranger

Is there such a thing as one adventuremobile that can do everything?

www.outsideonline.com

Cool build for sure just needs to lose the dumb light bars.

 

[scdad]

My favorite is a friend's who got a regular height transit (not the extended height ones), and had Sportsmobile cut the top and make it extendable (upwards). And my friend built the inside for #vanlife. He's retired too, and he and his wife cruise around to camp and mountain bike and surf. With the top town, he can park it in his normal garage, and when camping, they have a nice high roof. He uses it as a daily driver, and it's like a normal size van. If I was handy, I would build the exact same thing.

 

[silentbutdeadly]

My buddy has the 250 version with the ecoboost and he loves it. has a pop-up tent on top (he has three kids) and other than that it's stock.

An AWD version would be a sound purchase IMO.

 

[One-Off]

My favorite is a friend's who got a regular height transit (not the extended height ones), and had Sportsmobile cut the top and make it extendable (upwards). And my friend built the inside for #vanlife. He's retired too, and he and his wife cruise around to camp and mountain bike and surf. With the top town, he can park it in his normal garage, and when camping, they have a nice high roof. He uses it as a daily driver, and it's like a normal size van. If I was handy, I would build the exact same thing.

I looked at that option but it costs about $9000 installed. The medium roof with 5-10 headroom would probably work (I'm 5-11) and only cost $1500 more than stock. AWD costs about $4000 more. I thought 2WD with limited slip differential would probably be enough for what I want to do, as long as it's not raining. There are definitely spots I want to go to that require a bit of clearance so that is a mod I will budget for (thinking Valley of the Gods, Cathedral Valley and the Maze in Utah...I think the Maze they require you to have 4WD). Maybe AWD is worth it because you recoup in eventual resale?

I want to keep it pretty simple.

 

[enframed]

I asked on the Ford Bronco thread but got silence so...

I've had a VW Vanagon now for almost 20 years, that is to say, long before the #Vanlife craze. When I got my first Vanagon, a 4WD syncro (for $4000), they were pretty much just old cars. I've watched the interest and value of the vehicles go up. I'm on my third. Both the others I sold for much more than what I paid, and I expect the same will be true if I sell this one.

I'm a year or two away from retirement. My wife and I are thinking we'll have the time to range a little further from home. On the shortlist are Yellowstone, Gran Tetons and Glacier. She says we need a more reliable vehicle. I wanted to just get the new Ford Ranger (before my Vanagons I had a series of Fords- f100, f250 and Ranger. But my wife says she doesn't want to be in a tent in grizzly country and in a van you can throw in a Webasco heater and camp through all four seasons (or at least three).

I researched a bit and it seems like the Ford is definitely better than the Mercedes, despite the Mercedes popularity.

I use my Vanagon as a daily driver. I'm just wondering if the Ford Transit is too big to be a daily driver? Is it a pain to park. The Vanagon turns a tighter radius than most cars (feels like it's moving sideways when parallel parking). MPG for the Transit is about the same as the Vanagon.

Put a Subaru 2.2L engine in the Vanagon.

I had a 1992 Subaru Legacy conversion done to my 1987 Vanagon in 2008, used it to commute over Hwy 17 from Santa Cruz to Los Gatos for 3 years. Still going strong. There's a place in Berkeley and a place in Santa Barbara that do conversions, which will cost you about $10K, you can do it yourself for far less. I drove the Vanagon, full to the brim, with my dog, from Santa Cruz to LA, over the Grapevine, and got 24 MPG avg. This was last July and it was fucking hot. It's been good for 12 years without a major issue.

Vanagon turning radius is the BEST, and parallel parking is easy, cuz you're sitting on the front wheels.

 

[One-Off]

Put a Subaru 2.2L engine in the Vanagon.

I had a 1992 Subaru Legacy conversion done to my 1987 Vanagon in 2008, used it to commute over Hwy 17 from Santa Cruz to Los Gatos for 3 years. Still going strong. There's a place in Berkeley and a place in Santa Barbara that do conversions, which will cost you about $10K, you can do it yourself for far less. I drove the Vanagon, full to the brim, with my dog, from Santa Cruz to LA, over the Grapevine, and got 24 MPG avg. This was last July and it was fucking hot. It's been good for 12 years without a major issue.

Vanagon turning radius is the BEST, and parallel parking is easy, cuz you're sitting on the front wheels.

I've thought about that. But is the 2.2 really that much of an improvement over the 2.1 water boxer? Also, I've read on the Samba that the 2.2 they use are also now getting hard to find with low miles. The Transit wold cost about $10,000-$15,000 more than what I could sell my Vanagon for, and that's before fitting out, so sometimes I think just keep the $$ for repairs and towing

 

[need 4 speed]

Small Car Performance

smallcar.com

I talked a bunch with these guys and almost bought a Wolfsburg Weekender they were selling
and yes the 2.2 is a huge difference and they do a bunch of really nice up grades for trans, a/c, cooling systems
seems like they gave up on the Nissan diesel conversion. They know how to do it Ca smog compliant

 

[Leaverite]

Been following this guy on Youtube. He bought an older, Ford Econoline van and did a 4XD conversion to it. A base platform, he's building it out as he goes. Very cool.

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" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[bigtuna]

I looked at that option but it costs about $9000 installed. The medium roof with 5-10 headroom would probably work (I'm 5-11) and only cost $1500 more than stock. AWD costs about $4000 more. I thought 2WD with limited slip differential would probably be enough for what I want to do, as long as it's not raining. There are definitely spots I want to go to that require a bit of clearance so that is a mod I will budget for (thinking Valley of the Gods, Cathedral Valley and the Maze in Utah...I think the Maze they require you to have 4WD). Maybe AWD is worth it because you recoup in eventual resale?

I want to keep it pretty simple.
View attachment 93476

W regard to parking - my hog is 18.5 ft, and it’s a breeze. Been living in and daily driving for nearly five years in SoCal. Never have an issue with parallel parking and it has a horrible turning radius (Chevy, early 2000’s). Sometimes you have to pass up smaller spots and keep searching for a bigger spot, but I’ve never had to circle around for more than a few minutes even in some crowded parts of Long Beach, or anywhere else. Somehow there just always seems to be a spot. And although I’ve only ever owned tiny imports before this and it felt like a beast when i bought it, it’s surprising how quickly I adjusted. Maybe I’m just a good parker, idk. But i can squeeze into spots I barely fit into with a bit of wiggling - doesn’t even have a rear view camera.

Any ways - wanted to comment on the 4WD too. I didn’t know this was an option on the transit and now you’ve got me looking on the ford site. I grew up driving in the snow in the north east, always front wheel drive cars. Point is I know the snow well - and ice, and every damn type of slippery mess in between.

5 years ago I was taking my van up to Washington and stopped by mount bachelor along the way. Met up with Harry Lopez! But not before almost dying...

Goin about 50 on the... 97? North, light flurry coming down. A thin white layer of snow on the ground with well worn, wet (not snowy) and relatively wide tire tracks from where cars have been driving. Anyways, it was relatively safe and I’m a very cautious driver. All of my past driving experience said “you’re good.”

The road is straight as an arrow and flat.

All of a sudden, the back end fish tails. Going 50. On a thin two lane road, I’m sideways like 60-70 degrees, so I start to correct. Turning the wheel further and further, no response. I know to stop turning, because I’ve overcorrected before when I was 16 driving an Acura in the rain (dicking around in an empty parking lot). So I stop turning the wheel, and wait. It catches, fish tails back the other way, I right it and catch my breath.

Holy fvck. That was me hitting a semi head on if one had been in the other lane, or me sliding off the road and rolling the van. All under perfectly safe, calm conditions on a totally straight road. I went 20 the rest of the way.

I couldn’t wrap my head around wtf happened until I later learned that my RWD van came with a LSD. Then it all made sense. Any ways, it was actually really fun ripping around town with a foot of fresh powder, kicking the back end out as I pleased. But on highways and fast roads - never again with RWD and a LSD. That is a dangerous combination. I get the utility of LSD’s, 100%. But just wanted to share that.

Oh, and on the subject of roof height - people over estimate the need to stand up. Sitting or lying down is so much better! - 4.5 years in a “low roof.” I’d get another just because they look better and don’t shout “rob me” as loud. I care that little of standing.

 

[Leaverite]

LSD for you untouterd. Locking Standard Differential.

 

[One-Off]

W regard to parking - my hog is 18.5 ft, and it’s a breeze. Been living in and daily driving for nearly five years in SoCal. Never have an issue with parallel parking and it has a horrible turning radius (Chevy, early 2000’s). Sometimes you have to pass up smaller spots and keep searching for a bigger spot, but I’ve never had to circle around for more than a few minutes even in some crowded parts of Long Beach, or anywhere else. Somehow there just always seems to be a spot. And although I’ve only ever owned tiny imports before this and it felt like a beast when i bought it, it’s surprising how quickly I adjusted. Maybe I’m just a good parker, idk. But i can squeeze into spots I barely fit into with a bit of wiggling - doesn’t even have a rear view camera.

Any ways - wanted to comment on the 4WD too. I didn’t know this was an option on the transit and now you’ve got me looking on the ford site. I grew up driving in the snow in the north east, always front wheel drive cars. Point is I know the snow well - and ice, and every damn type of slippery mess in between.

5 years ago I was taking my van up to Washington and stopped by mount bachelor along the way. Met up with Harry Lopez! But not before almost dying...

Goin about 50 on the... 97? North, light flurry coming down. A thin white layer of snow on the ground with well worn, wet (not snowy) and relatively wide tire tracks from where cars have been driving. Anyways, it was relatively safe and I’m a very cautious driver. All of my past driving experience said “you’re good.”

The road is straight as an arrow and flat.

All of a sudden, the back end fish tails. Going 50. On a thin two lane road, I’m sideways like 60-70 degrees, so I start to correct. Turning the wheel further and further, no response. I know to stop turning, because I’ve overcorrected before when I was 16 driving an Acura in the rain (dicking around in an empty parking lot). So I stop turning the wheel, and wait. It catches, fish tails back the other way, I right it and catch my breath.

Holy fvck. That was me hitting a semi head on if one had been in the other lane, or me sliding off the road and rolling the van. All under perfectly safe, calm conditions on a totally straight road. I went 20 the rest of the way.

I couldn’t wrap my head around wtf happened until I later learned that my RWD van came with a LSD. Then it all made sense. Any ways, it was actually really fun ripping around town with a foot of fresh powder, kicking the back end out as I pleased. But on highways and fast roads - never again with RWD and a LSD. That is a dangerous combination. I get the utility of LSD’s, 100%. But just wanted to share that.

Oh, and on the subject of roof height - people over estimate the need to stand up. Sitting or lying down is so much better! - 4.5 years in a “low roof.” I’d get another just because they look better and don’t shout “rob me” as loud. I care that little of standing.

Hog? Is that slang for Transit that I'm unaware off.

So, you saying the LSD (that's for limited slip Mr Leaverite...it's Friday night I'll excuse you) caused you to slide? Or made it so you couldn't regain traction? I had a similar experience driving up to Mammoth. Just got to where there was a dusting of snow on the road. Too soon to put on chains. Felt a little wobble. Looked at my friend. "Did you feel that?" No sooner said than we were spun around going backward. No time to even attempt a correction. Slid off the side of the road. I have no idea if my truck had LSD or not.