How's it going everyone?
New to the forum and I'm hoping that someone can help shed some light on a build that I've been planning out! I recently bought a 2003 E-350 Super Duty with a 7.3 liter Powerstoke (128,000 miles). My end game is to do a camper conversion on it and move into it in just a couple years after I leave the Coast Guard. I got the thing at $4500, pretty sweet deal in my opinion. However, no 4wd. I got a plan for the engine bay, but I'm gonna need a 4x4 (I plan on crashing on alot of public lands and kind of traveling all around until I run out of cash). So, the plan is to take a 2005 F-250 frame and D60 that I've picked up and chop the frame in the rear to size and get the body mounts fabbed up to drop the body, engine, trans, and rear axle onto the new frame. The wheelbase and with is close. But I didnt know if any of y'all have done anything similar. Any input would be much appreciated!

 

Welcome to FTE.

Before you start cutting, do a little searching in this forum. You will find a couple of people who have done 4x4 conversions on these vans. Its not that big a deal really. You will need a transfer case and front axle so that F250 might come in handy there but I really don't think you will want to put the van body on the F series frame. They are actually VERY different. Adding the 4x4 front axle and transfer case is going to be much easier.

Also, I would suggest finding a Quigley 4x4 conversion and take note of how they did the conversion. Use that as a guide. 4x4 Vans : Quigley Motor Company, Inc.

And another consideration, I had a 2001 E350 7.3 Clubwagon Chateau. Very nice van. My wife and I went camping in it a few times for fun. With a good set of all terrain tires and a True-Trac differential we were able to go almost anywhere we wanted off road. The van does remarkably well. Maybe add a couple of inches of lift and a set of AT tires you could do most of what you wanted. Like this one: https://classifieds.race-dezert.com/...65&adid=129572

 

Thank you so much for the insight! I hadn't heard of Quigley before, however I'd looked into UJOR and seen their conversion kits. It seemed doable for sure as far as just getting everything cut, mounted, and welded. However their price point seemed a little off the mark. But what can you do? It's kind of a niche market and they're selling a plug and play solution. I'm by no means handy with a welder (I'm sure that I'll need to be by the time I'm through with the build). But I've got good good buddies that could fab up some brackets at a fraction of the cost. What drew me towards swapping frames was that it seemed like a happy medium. I haven't been down to pick up the frame and axle yet. But I was going to measure everything out and take a closer look when I'd gone down there. I'll do some more digging on here though and see if I can find some of the threads with the 4x4 conversions. Thanks again!

 

Read your post and appreciated your attempt to do a van conversion. I have the similar vehicles, a 2003 e350 7.3 and a 2005 f250 super duty. I also am considering doing the 4 x 4 conversion to the e350. I would be interested in any updates you might have to offer or how things went..

Dave