but at least your indoors when you changing that airfilter.

 

True. It always annoys me in the summer, when its nice out, that I have to remove the doghouse for something simple. Thought in the winter, when its below zero, it is great......run a cord out for my little electric space heater and stay nice and warm while wrenching.

 

On the "newer" vans [at least with gas engines?] the air filter is right up top/front...

 

seattle smitty - Although your thoughts on working on the van's engine is Not the most convenience of conditions............I always say, when your working on the van, half the work is in front, half is inside, and the other half is underneath .

Most small garage mechanics don't even like to deal with working on van, thus, most of us here, do our own work because of this, I know I've had some bad experiences with mechanics over the years, for this reason.

The second half of your statement is the use of the van as a recreational mobile vehicle, which your correct in your statement, But.......before the van was made into a camper, or **** wagon, or whatever.......the van was developed from the old Paneled trucks from the 40's and 50's, and the basic idea behind that was to provide Tradesmen with an enclosed vehicle, which became very popular for plumbers, electricians and carpenters.

Although the panel trucks were more of a delivery vehicle, the tradesman's took this same vehicle for their use.

Think back to when the Dodge series of van were called the "Tradesmen".

So the big 3 back then, rode on this universal vehicle that could serve delivery men, tradesmen, weekend campers and so on......it just became a very useful enclosed vehicle with many uses.

The panel trucks kind of died out in the late 60's as the van was taking over that market of vehicles. The hood-less van created a shorter vehicle, tighter turning circle, and became more popular, plus with the added convince of the curb side doors.

Kind of like #4 - AMC mating up with *****'s wagons providing an on/off road vehicle that could move people and equipment to the great outdoors, which created the International's Scout and Ford's Bronco, the original 4x4's, that same vehicle evolved to the current day's "soccer Mom's wagon" or as most would call it a "SUV".

So, stepping off my soapbox here.........the van just became a very useful vehicle for many, for me, I've been a van owner since December '74, owned other vehicles too, but always had a van for work, and many of them since, but one thing I always stuck to was the Ford van

Drove other company vans, that had a bowtie thing on the grill, but never owned one myself, and was always glad to drive my Ford back home at night.

 

Maybe dragging this topic slightly away from the OP.........

Working on an E-Series isn't quite a horrible as many claim, the F-Series guys have similar complaints to their over-crowded engine compartments. Read a few of the V10 posts about broken manifold studs----talk about a mess.

So much engine work we'd call typical or usual maintenance can be accomplished behind the engine, made infinitely easier by removing one or both front seats. Four bolts/nuts, one electrical connector and they're sitting outside in 10 minutes each. The amount of working room gained by this simple step is amazing.

Even if just one is removed (depending on your task) nearly everything behind the the front two spark plugs is within easy reach, most easier than stretching across the grill, radiator, fan shroud, air cleaner housing, throttle body tubing etc.

It only takes one time removing a seat to become a convert. Naturally none of this is helpful if working on the very front for belt changing, alternator service etc etc but I hope y'all get my point!

but only temporarily!

 

It's another extra step, like removing the doghouse, that one didn't have to take when working on cars, wagons, and light trucks in the era described by Wildman, but you're certainly right . . . in fact it can make it a whole lot easier to drag that doghouse off and out, in some cases.

Wildman, you bring up an interesting point: how many of the then-new (1960-62) vans do you suppose the Big Three originally expected to sell to private owners as opposed to businesses of all sizes? David Halberstam in his fascinating book, "The Reckoning," described how amazed Japanese auto execs were in the late Sixties when their little pickups were snapped up by Americans who used them for many purposes other than for work.

Panel trucks had been work vehicles, owned by businesses, and you never saw them used privately in the Fifties. Same thing with the long-gone sedan-deliveries, basically a windowless station wagon with stiffer springs. But station wagons themselves were enormously popular, especially in the suburbs and small towns, and were the usual tow vehicles of the little racing trailers used in all club-level motor-racing in those days. I have to laugh at young guys today who are sure they have to have four-wheel-drive and big gnarly off-road tires to go hunting (with their assault rifles); the generation that fought WW2 came home happy to do their hunting using their 2WD (without limited-slip) family station wagons and family sedans (and bolt-action 30-06s).

 

^^^This is how I do it. It only took one time of removing the doghouse with the seats in to change my mind. I just pull the passenger seat and have plenty of room.

I will say that dropping my trans to replace the torque converter was much easier in the van. All the top bell-housing bolts were in plain sight with no obstructions.

But to address the topic, this is why I have a van. Tow rig, plus a good place to sleep while camping at the track. All the tent campers were mighty jealous when the night time temps got down to 30*f.


Then we made a trip to Disney with another family. 10 people in total for 20 hours each way. Only casualty was the hubcap.

 

I'm amazed at how many old vans are still in service. They are like old shoes that you just can't get rid of in some ways.

 

Update: I have added "hauling trees that the storms have blown over" to the uses for my van. The winch makes the job much easier.

 

great winch idea.

 

I like that!
Maybe I'll keep my step number...

 

my van has a smooth rear bumper i like it

 

Nice.
This may sound odd.....but I was thinking of mounting a removable winch inside near the front to be able to drag stuff inside my van......probably too dangerous though.....I'd like to make it so I could use it inside or on the rear bumper.....I'll probably just buy a small trailer though.....my 30' one is too big most things I want to move.

 

I'd swap my step bumper for a smooth one.

 

I was going to mount the winch to the ball mount to the receiver so it would be removable easily. Then I figured that I have to run power to it anyway so just mounted it behind the bumper on a plate welded above the hitch. That way I could drag stuff up on a trailer if I wanted (50 feet of cable on the winch).

You could mount a pulley inside the van and run the winch cable through that if the load wasn't too heavy. There are times I wish I had an overhead rail to pick up stuff and roll it into the back. Maybe the next project. As I get older, I'm supposed to be getting smarter!? haha

I did weld a mounting plate for a WARN winch onto a ball mount for a friend. He has a receiver on his tow vehicle, on the rear of his travel trailer, and on the Kawa mule for the farm. He wanted to be able to use it on all three.
jim