So, my 96 E-350 is awesome and I love it. However, it's time for a few refreshments. Nothing major, but stuff that will take time to do; more than a weekend.

I want to do this work in my garage. It's obviously out of the elements there and is easy to work on. But here's the problem and the reason for the thread-

It won't fit in the garage. It is too tall by a few inches to fit under the garage door. Is it OK to deflate the tires in order to get it in the garage? With them inflated, even when all the way in the garage the roof will still hit the garage door when it opens. If it has to stay in the garage for a month, would it be OK to leave the air out of the tires? I will probably have to pretty much fully deflate them for it to be in there. It would just clear with flat tires but I don't want to damage them by leaving them flat if that will be a problem. It may be a profoundly stupid question but I'm not sure if leaving the tires flat will damage them, or if rolling it a few feet with flat tires will damage them.

 

Interesting; not stupid. I would have the exact same thought in your position.

However I would strongly recommend against it – the rims would almost certainly damage the tire sidewall by rolling in there with no air in the tires, even a few feet.

What if you just let out most of the air, just whatever amount it takes so the vehicle weight is on the air, instead of directly transferred from the wheel, to the rubber, to the cement.

 

It would be really close with any inflation at all. I guess I'll just bite the bullet and leave it outside. New tires aren't on the list...

 

I've had this problem with my former van and other vehicles. I once bent the braces on the back of our old garage door to get an extra inch to get my old FJ40 Land Crusher in and out of the garage... if you have to completely flatten your tires, I would also be concerned that the rims could damage the fabric tire structure.

Some off the wall ideas:
1. If you could get a spare set of junkyard rims, you could mount all 4 on the van with no tires at all on them, and roll the van in that way. (Strips of old carpet on the ground if you're worried about scarring concrete.) Not sure if you would have enough clearance, and if any of your work is under the van, problems there.

2. Can you remove the garage door, drive the van in, and remount the door? Maybe difficult if you have a sectional door that rolls up, but if it's a 1 piece door there may be a way. And if you don't have a normal pedestrian door to get in/out of the garage, could be a problem there. Be careful not to kill yourself with the stored energy in the door counterweight springs.

3. If you just want it out of the weather, they sell those tent-like portable garages. Or a 10x10 or 12x12 canopy like people use at art fairs or something? Or even construct a cover out of a blue ripstop tarp or three using sticks and ropes, etc as needed. Maybe right alongside the garage to give you one hard wall?

George

 

That is what I was thinking.

 

Ever been in the shop area at the dealership where they work on pickups? Those guys let the air out of the front tires until they are sitting on the rims to make it easier for under the hood work. If the job takes more than one day, the rims are on the floor the whole time. I don't know what happens when it is time to air the tires up, I never had anything serviced at a dealership.

Option #1 sounds like the best solution, just make sure nothing drags on rims only.

 

If you have nice expensive tires on those rims I would not do that, you might damage the tread, sidewall or bead by letting the rim press down on the tire and sit that way for a month. At the very least, those tires will develop cracks in the sidewalls.

Not to mention the bead may unseat and you will have no luck putting air back in the tire.

I would do as Yo suggested and put four spare rims that you can find on craigslist or at the local salvage yard, without tires, and lower the van down on four vehicle tire dollys.

Northern tools sells them. Others do also.

Once the van is sitting on the four dollys, one at each wheel, you can push the van in any direction, since each dolly is made up of four heavy duty casters.

Of course, if your floor is not level, or the lip at the garage threshold is not even, you wont be able to use this method.

You will also have to measure everything to make sure it will all work.

Good luck!

 

I've never tried this just a crazy idea, put a ratchet strap around the axle and the frame on all four corners and suck the van down with the straps? Lol you could probably get another inch letting a little air out of the tires.

 

Warren long time no see---hope you're well! I agree there's no such thing as a stupid question but love Carl Sagan's fitting quote about that: “There are naive questions, tedious questions, ill-phrased questions, questions put after inadequate self-criticism. But every question is a cry to understand the world. There is no such thing as a dumb question.” Elegant huh?

Not sure this would be in the budget but maybe consider wheel dollies like some long term repair shops use, like these: Bottom-line pricing on Merrick Machine M998002 at ToolTopia.com (That particular set would be right at what I'm guessing is your E350's current weight?)

If your van can be squeezed inside the garage with much lower air pressure once there remove tires one at a time to substitute the wheel dollies. That should give you a good 6"-8" less height as the rotors (or rear drums) could sit directly on the dolly.

Maybe find a set locally via Craig's List etc? Mind their rated weight limit though---some of these are only for 1K pounds each. The investment could be recovered when finished by selling them locally?

I used these in my shop for other reasons but are great overall.

HTH

 

The wheel dollies look like a cool idea but unfortunately they look like they're only for a smooth shop floor. I have a standard rough concrete driveway and about a half-inch lip to overcome before I get to the smooth garage floor. And unfortunately #2, I think the boneyard spare idea is also great, but with the van having the big 8 lug wheels, I bet they'd be expensive or hard to find.

Luckily, getting it in the garage isn't absolutely required necessarily, so if there's no really good resolution it isn't the end of the world. I do appreciate the suggestions, and they've been good ones. I'll look further into this and see what shakes out. Thanks all! (And I'm doing well, thanks JWA).

 

I like twigsV10 idea but maybe jack it up and remove the front springs so it sits on the frame snubbers? No idea what to do about the back, though.

 

Warren if you do most this inside let us know your solution--I'd be interested just for curiosities sake.

 

This is the exact reason I ended up doing this:



It was the dead of winter and I had to replace the steering box. I uses bungies to pull the door up as high as it would go. It was enough to get the front of the van in. If I had let half the air out of the rear it would have fit all the way.

Unfortunately, I now have slightly bigger tires, so I am stuck working in the driveway.

I keep trying to convince the wife that I need to add on to my shop so I can have a door big enough for the van.......

 

At least I'm not alone. And I feel for you with those cold wrenching episodes. Not a lot of fun laying on your back on a frozen concrete floor in January when it's 14 degrees, replacing the valve body on a POS Intrepid that just couldn't have broken down on a 70 degree day...

 

That which doesn't kill us just makes us stronger!