Just a little update. The tires, wheels, lift, and bumper hitch are all still working great. I rotated the tires at 5k miles but I can't tell that they've worn down at all.

Got a sweet deal on this lil trailer on Craigslist.

 

How much did you pay for the bilstien shocks at eshocks.com?

 

Thanks for this thread, Killer RC. I relied on it heavily when I lifted my van recently.

 

KillerRC,

Thanks for the great info. I ordered the 2" leveling kit from Maxx-Lift.com. I'll get the kit installed, and then lift the rear if necessary.

I had a blast talking with Fred at Wheeladapter.com, what a charactor! He called me two minutes after I submitted a quote request. He convinced me to go with the 2" spacers on the rear to match the front width. My van has the full floating rear hubs to support the extra force applied by the spacers, and it makes a lot of sense on the safety side.

Very cool that you figured out the tire & wheel sizing for the rest of us. Not sure when I can afford the new rubber, but will post pics when it's done.

 

KillerRC,

Did you use standard length shocks or did you have to add length for the lift. I recently put Bilstein B6 HD Series on my rig, so I'm hoping not to have to dump them. I did a 2" leveling kit on my Tundra and was able to keep the stock length bilsteins. Thanks for sharing with us, your van looks sweet!

 

Stock length Bilstein shocks have worked fine for me. All the suspension mods are still holding up good. I'll be pulling my 20' enclosed car trailer today to Kentucky, loaded with ATVs. This will be my 3rd 500 mile round trip pulling the trailer. No problems. I just had to run a brake control wire to the back hitch. A plug with tail lights and turn signals is on top of the drivers side frame by the spare tire. This plug might also have backup sensor wires in it, if your van has the backup sensor option. So I had to tap into the trailer light wiring, and work around the backup sensor wires.

Gotta get the toys loaded up for a fun weekend riding trails in SE Ky.

 

BTW, a Yamaha Badger 80 will fit nicely in the side door. A couple months ago I got this little guy on Craigslist for a steal (clear title); my kids love it. Had to drive an hour to get it, so I figured I'd just fit it in the van instead of pulling a trailer.

 

I'm jealous

 

Killer RC,

Did you ever go to the 2" spacers on the back? I'm thinking about some kind of spacers on mine; my wheels have no offset, and the front seems much wider than the rear axle; not sure if 2" on each side will match it, or if that would be overkill.

 

Hayduke1,

I'm running the 2" spacers and love em. The rear track appears to match the front. You'll lose a little in turning radius, but the stance is worth it. I purchased them from wheeladapter.com, they are machined steel with hardened studs. I had issues with hub diameter being too large by ten thousanths. I opted to pull my hubs and have them machined down at a local shop. I used red thread locker on the factory studs torqued to 14o ft lbs, and they have not loosened over several thousand miles.

 

Thanks for the info and pics! That's just what I was looking for. I think I'm going to go that route...

Any noticeable difference in handling?

 

Yep, a lot better in the corners. Turns much flatter (less lean). Wheel Adapter supposedly makes a unit that compensates for the odd hub diameter, so you might want to call them to discuss it. Also, you don't want to machine the hub-centric area where the wheel used to seat! Good luck...

 

So with that set up, does the stock wheel center on the hub/ adapter or on the studs? Does the spacer have a lip?

 

The wheel centers on the adapter. In the photo of the installed adapter, you can see the machined lip that protrudes to keep the assembly hub-centric. The product is very well-designed. Quadvan uses a version of this adapter, but they adapt from 8x165 to 8x170 to match the F series front axles they use on thier conversions. They trust this product on thier 4X4 rigs with massive tires and torque, so that says a lot. Fred at www.wheeladapter.com is more than eager to discuss his product. He's an old drag racer and knows the van tracking issue very well. If you're anywhere near me (West Linn, OR), you're welcome to come drive my van.

 

Sometimes a little change isn't a big deal and sometimes makes for a big difference. Since I only had undergrad level physics/mechanics, this is the stuff where I will .get in trouble because I don't know all the forces involved. I need to get the info from a hard-experience modifier. With that in mind, I humbly request any info regarding the following:

What is the limit for lifting before you have to make other mods?
The stock vans and cutaways have driveline angles of only 4-7 degrees What's the lift limit before you need a longer axle so the slip yoke doesn't start destroying the trans output shaft(or at the limit of the suspension travel, come off)? In the 99 manual, it lists a different part number for almost every model/ engine combination. Only 2 models had the same part with 2 different springs for each over 2 different engines (4 groups of 2 part matching combos). The E350/5,4L with the "Spring(@Pad)" of 2450 and 2775 uses the same axle and the angle diff was only 0.45 deg. When E350/5.4L went one more step to 3450, it uses a different axle.

Do you need to make a camber adjustment when lifting the front?

Is there a kit or an unlock code to recalibrate the speedometer?

With large tires, do you need to change the automatic's shift points to stay in the power band (or just change the rear-end) or does the computer do a good job of sensing load and not just shift using rpm?

Don't know what my next van will be, but if I want a diesel, I'd like to see the coming? full size transit. Maybe if the demand for Duramax in the pickups drops to the point where they're motivated to come up with some kind of innovative coolong solution, we'll see it back in the E-Vans.
I think some nice front fairing, fender and duel hood scoops would do the job LOL Varooom

Happy Truckin