Advice on E350 cube van.
Thread Starter
|
Senior User
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 432
Likes: 0
From: Bishopville, MD
Advice on E350 cube van.
Hello,
I am looking to buy a E350 SRW or DRW cube van for my company. We are currently running our maintenance work out of a 1995 C20 Chevy van that is rusted to heck. I mean you can reach up into the wheel wells and grab the inside. Anybody using a short box 10ft SRW or a short box DRW cube van. How do you like it? What gas engine works best for you 5.4 or the 6.8 the maintenance guys will not be towing anything just hauling about 1ton of tools in the back.
Thanks, I have some exprience with the F series trucks but, not much with the econolines.
I am looking to buy a E350 SRW or DRW cube van for my company. We are currently running our maintenance work out of a 1995 C20 Chevy van that is rusted to heck. I mean you can reach up into the wheel wells and grab the inside. Anybody using a short box 10ft SRW or a short box DRW cube van. How do you like it? What gas engine works best for you 5.4 or the 6.8 the maintenance guys will not be towing anything just hauling about 1ton of tools in the back.
Thanks, I have some exprience with the F series trucks but, not much with the econolines.
Cargo Master
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 2,182
Likes: 7
From: Saint Augustine, FL
I had a 2000 E350 DRW cube van for my business. I got it from Ryder, it was one of their yellow rental trucks. 5.4 V8, 4R100 trans. The 5.4 did fine in that truck. You won't win a lot of drag races but it was certainly adequate. We hauled auto parts in ours. Typicaly load was probably 2500 lbs. That truck was pretty much bullet proof. We had no trouble with it once we fixed the little stuff that was messed up when we got it. For a service truck it should do fine for you.
A couple of years ago I rented a Cruise America motor home that was an E350 chassis with a 6.8 in it. I drove it from San Diego to Portland. It felt more powerfull than my cube van even though it was heavier. If I had my choice I would go with the 6.8 but the 5.4 certainly does the job.
Steve
'95 Clubwagon XLT
A couple of years ago I rented a Cruise America motor home that was an E350 chassis with a 6.8 in it. I drove it from San Diego to Portland. It felt more powerfull than my cube van even though it was heavier. If I had my choice I would go with the 6.8 but the 5.4 certainly does the job.
Steve
'95 Clubwagon XLT
Post Fiend
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 13,873
Likes: 3
From: Atlanta GA
You are not going to see much mileage difference between the engines, so if possible get the the larger engine. Get the DRW, it handles much better, especially for an off-center load and racks. If you can, get the +2 seating, basically an extension behind the cab with jump seats. Not really good for seating, but, if you are picking up a broken down truck with two people, at least you can seat them for the ride back. Plus, good for quick storage of tools such as jumper cables and it increases it's future resale value.
