I have a For E250 with a wheelchair conversion. It has a raised fiberglass roof along with raised barn doors. The installer is not responding to me and I need to know how much the roof and its support weigh. Any help would be appreciated.

 

You're posting in the Transit forum, but I'll try and help point you in the right direction. Based on this and your other post, I take it you're having some sort of trouble with payload availability of your van. The best way to know the weight it just to put it on the scales. The curb weight of the van should be on the title. You can then take off the known weight of the hoist and subtract the weight of any benches that were removed and you'd have the remaining weight being the top (of course there will be some difference because the roof was stripped too).

What are you trying to accomplish overall?

 

I wasn't sure where to post for my 2014 E250 Van. We already took the van to the scales and that is when we found out our front axle was 730 pounds over weight. The company that installed the wheelchair conversions says they do not know how much the roof, roll cage and raised doors weigh. They said the weight of the van is posted on their sticker on the door jam. I told them it does not show the weight of the van, it only shows the available payload but that number is the same as Fords from factory. I actually heard from another company who gave me the weights. The roof, roll cage and raised doors weigh 800 to 1100 pounds depending on model. We have the extended version so the weight is a least 1000 pounds for our van. Then the wheelchair lift is 450 pounds and there goes the availability of payload. The contractor is in discussion with the installer. How many wheelchair conversions have put the vehicle over weight. Scary.

 

Kilshark, payload is probably the number one ignored number in the industry. Even cruising around here you'll see more folks talk about how much more they can safely haul over max payload than folks suggesting to keep in the legal limits. Locally they have been cracking down more and more on weight infringements, normally with combo weights, but still, it's only a matter of time (and desired revenue) before they start scaling us all! Sorry, end conspiracy theory. But you have overloaded the van and added a good amount of weight to the roof I'd guess, which makes for a less stable vehicle.

If you look at your vehicles title it should have the factory curb weight. Payload includes fuel and yourself as well as your cargo and upfit. These vans are designed to have more weight added over the rear axle. If your lift is on the side door then that would put a fair amount on the front axle. If its just the front axle that is currently overloaded, you could try putting some weights in the rear, behind the axle. This will actually shift the weight rearward, so long as you have enough rear payload to work with, it would be a sloppy, but mathematically viable option.

 

I understand physics are really involved here and we are under by 449 pounds in the rear. With this van only being in our possession since last November, it is now the contractor's responsibility to make things right. The installer too should have known the weights were out. We live in Canada and the way this particular van conversion works is as follows. We were approved by WCB for a new wheelchair accessible vehicle and they found the mobility store that will do all the contract negotiating. This van needed a 9" dropped floor as even in a chair my husband is tall. The installer in Northern California is the only one that does this. Van is bought in Canada, shipped to California where dropped floor, raised roof, raised doors and lift are installed. Shipped back to Canada where it is finished off. We were talked out of a 1 ton. I looked at California DOT rules for a van such as ours and minimum requirements is for a 1 ton van. So this van was already not legal in California. Things kept snow balling and I felt things were very wrong so I requested an inspection, which by the way had never been done. In fact we were told twice that inspections were not needed and that made me want to have one even more. The floor, roof, and the van was lifted too, all were required to have inspections. Ordered to the scales and then the big fail. The only way, I think, this whole mess can be fixed is they will have to put a 1 ton frame or bigger under this van body. They even put the wrong tires on, we said we had to have 10 ply and they put 8 ply on. That was another fail. The van is still on warranty and it is up to them to fix everything. So once the weight is brought into line then it will go through an officially ordered inspection. These commercial safety guys are awesome and very much on our side.

 

That makes me nervous too. At least you seem to have a better understanding than most folks as to what was done incorrectly. I'm not sure what the reqs are in Canada to get a vehicle re-certified to a higher weight. I have a very very tough time finding anyone willing to touch the numbers here. Folks will had springs, swap other parts, but they won't put their name on a change of payload sticker.

I don't know if it's at all practical, but a Transit that comes factory with a high roof would be a better alternative for the build, and yes, it should be a 350. If you can find the upfitters at fault for doing a build that makes the unit un-roadworthy I think they would have to eat that. My own body companies know their products and builds better than me, and if I send them a build that won't work they tell me, because they do not want the liability. I hope you're able to get a good resolution, I don't see a great way forward with the unit you currently have because of today's litigation society. You may have a legit law suit on your hands if they won't resolve it and give you a street legal unit. Are the weights you're providing including you, your husband, the chair, and fuel? Typically the standard for people is 150# each. I am 100# over that myself, but the vehicle should be figured with at least 300# up front, plus the fuel, chair and #150 for a person locked in (if it was designed to be ridden in while traveling.

I'm not trying to provide legal advice (I gotta say that too!)

 

The weight was a full tank, the chair and both of us. We love the E series and Ford was crazy to discontinue such a success. We do not like the looks of the sprinters. Another reason we are over weight is we were also approved by WCB to have a 4x4 system installed. So they put a 1 ton front end and axle in, 1 1/2 coil springs but it was so poorly done that front driver wheel bearing have blown twice. They tried to tell us it was factory part issues. They were not willing to listen and fix my concerns so I forced the issues and now they are all scrambling. Nothing was ever inspected so it was, I am sure, " Lets see if this works" build. Only they are messing with the wrong gal.

 

 

tried posting a photo of the van but I guess I do not know how.

 

I posted a photo of the van in Albums

 

That is a pretty sweet looking rig! I'd be pretty proud to drive that thing!

The Econoline was a great van. It hasn't hadn't been updated much since 1992. Transit has been out in Eurozone since 1965, and if they had replaced the Transit there with the E series you'd see a revolt. The only thing the E-series was better at over than Transit is towing. In every other way I think the Transit is a better vehicle. Like the Panther platform (Crown Vic), the E-series was designed too well so it was never updated, and by the time it was finally in need of one, it was simply too far outclassed by another vehicle in Fords own lineup so the update didn't make sense. I haven't seen a 4x4 Transit beefed up like yours yet, but I know Quigly is doing the conversions even though their website is currently a bit outdated. I've seen them, just without the cool brush guard treatment.

 

I will have to check out Quigly as they are on the Canadian list for getting work done. Of course everything will stem on the outcome of how they are going to fix our van and whether they will start from scratch or do a frame off. If they do a frame off we will push for Quigly to do the 4x4 conversion. It is now a waiting game. Thank you so much for re-affirming my thoughts.

 

Good luck!