I have a 99 E-350 Superduty, 15 passenger, loaded with everything, I can't recall the transmission number, but it is a heavy duty unit, they run many miles too, have seen some at 300,000 and still going. Look into the F-250 and 350 trucks, you may fing a low mile one to direct swap in, the 4.6, 5.4, and 6.8 are all the same bell housing, but beware, some 6.8 have the 5 speed auto, I'd like one of those. I'd never pull a transmission apart to change the tail shaft unless I was rebuilding it fully. The 5 speed auto has the same top gear as the 4 speed, the other gears are lower in the 5 speed, giving you better take off with tall rear end gears.
I've never had a problem with my 15 passenger, it pulls hard, want to swap in a dually axle from a box van with lower gears, I have 3.50 gears, poor for city MPG and hard to run 70 MPH and keep OD in our hilly interstates, benefit from a 4.10 swap. In mud, moving wasn't a problem, steering was, simply pushes the front tires around, funny thing was, I backed right out when I found it wasn't going to turn, it has the LS in it, a powered front axle would have helped.
My Superchipped 5.4 E-350 15 passenger with 110,000 miles, plugs with 20,000 miles on them, K&N filter, 8,000 lbs, burning 89 octain gets 9 city and 15 hwy, 17 occasionally. Just thought I'd bring this up, I'll never remove my chip, MPG is uneffected, power increase was unbelievable, towing is a knock down drag out with it, I've had some real weight behind it and was still able to jump in traffic.

 

ok I read a couple posts back that the F250 4x4s used coil sprungs untill X year...disregard that statement. None Ever did in the 80-90s, and only 2wd 250 and 350s ever got coil springs. The F250 D50 is smaller than the F150 D44 where the springs mount, the F150 has a shoulder for the radius arm to grab onto. Its stupid I know but its true.
I dont think a D50 TTB would be horrible in the van. If youre concerned about ride height and dont want to go to high, TTB is the way for you. Youll need to lift the van 4" to get a solid axle in there without hitting the x-member with the diff. That is true of trucks, its not going to be that much different with a van. As far as the track width of the truck D50 being narrower, the solution is wheels with less backspacing.
Personally, if it were me doing this...I would get the front suspension/axle package in there first since that will be the most challenging part to get installed properly and working the way you want.

Adding coil springs to the leaf sprung TTB axle wouldnt be that hard, you would just have to narrow the axle end of the radius arm and drill a hole on the top and bottom side of the housing to put the bolts through to hold it all together. There are some pics of F250 and F150 TTB set ups in my photobucket album here: http://s97.photobucket.com/albums/l2...s%20crap/?sc=3
down near the bottom of the page.
-Al

 

Read my reply above. RB

 

I had some spare time today so I went and test drove the van today. First thing I noticed was it idled a little funny at first. The check engine light is on. I'm thinking the mass air flow sensor or o2 sensor is malfunctioning. There was a small puff of smoke on startup. So off I went, Drove nice and power was ok. I dont like the fact that it shifts into 3rd on a hill, but thats why I prefer a stick over an auto. The tranny is super smooth and works well. The passenger side door leaks air, but so has every Ford I've ever owned. Everything seemed to work except the power locks dont lock only unlock (From the drivers side). I drove it about ten miles and then back to the lot, where I climed underneath, to see that it had 3.55 gears. I figured it would have a sterling rear axle but its a Dana. Must be a 60 but not sure. Little oil leaking from the pinion seal but no biggie. Its a 98 with 73000 miles and is super clean for a Mi truck. One dent in the rear door but other than that the body is in great shape. They are asking $6400 but the dealer said he would not refuse a reasonable offer. There is not a big demand for rear wheel drive up here in the snow belt. I called my insurance and they said because I'm not using it commercially that my rate would be$178 for 6 months. So what would you offer for this 15 passenger with air and cruise? RB

 

The 3.55 is too tall for them, even with my chipped 99 5.4, I hate it, but can't afford to replace it yet, needs 4.10 gears in the ext vans, you don't see 3.55 gears in box vans. No sterling in the vans, they are Dana axles, 61 I think, retains the old 8 on 6 1/2 bolt pattern, the trucks are Sterling and metric. I'm wanting a 4.10 from either a box ambulance or box van, but only found one so far, was 4.63, far too low for me.
My van had the check engine light on, felt powerful compaired to my 5.0 G-20, but after taking in for service, getting the faulty sensors replaced, throttle body and injector cleaning and wow, felt like a different engine. The dealer sent it to a shop that attempted to short out the check engine light, fried the fuse box, so the gauges would die while driving, so replacing the fuse box, sensors, throttle body and injector cleaning was $800, you'll be looking at plug change, another $325, no you can't do them yourself, just use this knowledge in your calculations. See if you can take it to the dealer to get it checked out, a code scan will give you an idea on repairs, they'll force injector cleaning with TB cleaning due to miles, and my plugs only went 90,000 miles, that'll be coming up soon.
Autozone can check codes, you could take it by there, it's free, where the dealer is not, but dealer would give you a repair quote.
Rear axle has synthetic gear oil, the cover is glued on with RTV, no gasket, went through this last year when I had to replace the passenger axle seal, did it myself, was easy, but required rental of a tool set from Oreilly, no one else had the right socket. The cover is a pain to get off, but you need to change the fluid anyway, the cheapest synthetic gear oil is the best believe it or not, Motorcraft as well as others require a friction modifier for limited slip, Royal Purple is cheaper and requires nothing extra, holds 3 1/2 qts BTW.
Is the door gasket leaking, or door bent, my drivers door isbent out at the top, air leaks in a bit at the top, I need to replace it one day, no water leaks.
The Superchip Microtuner replrograms the transmission for tighter shifts, and there is another upgrade that goes directly to the transmission that bumps up the pressure, also lengthening the life of the transmission, pulls better.


Empty, at times on wet streets, I've done some impressive burnouts, very difficult with 3.55 gears, limited slip and 8000 lbs, my wheelchair lift, and stereo system are quite a load, I left only one bench seat.

 

I just checked, the private party value (Atlanta) in fair shape is $5375. It is not in fair shape, with a check engine light on it is in POOR shape as you could never get the emissions sticker without repairs.

Is this at a Ford dealer or a used car dealer? I would pay hardly anything from a used car dealer because the risk is too big with little recourse.

A 5.4 should not smoke at start up. Knowing that and how expensive and difficult it is to put heads on a 5.4L while in the truck, I would say a compression test (cold and hot) would be in order.

A van used in normal service with only 77k should not be leaking at the pinion, considering the cut off point on mileage is 80k for that year and it has 77k (car dealers use to turn them back 3K if only 10k or so over.) That is why I am thinking, used car dealer.

 

Didn't explain the smoke, is it blue, white or black, when cold, I get a puff of white condensation from mine, but it's normal. I know it's impossible to disassemble the engine in the van, not sure how they replace it, guess they raise the body. Owning one, I believe I've explained the arrangement of the plugs enough for you to understand, compression test is not possible without special tools, not worth the trouble. If it's the throttle position sensor causing the code, it'll cause poor running and black smoke at start up.

 

Its at a Used car dealer. I think it puffed on startup because its running rich not because it has an actual engine problem. I was thinking of offering $4000. RB

 

I would go in with $3k cash, offer the stack of bills it in front of his eyes, if he does not accept, just leave.

 

You think like I do! I think I'll wait till the week after Christmas when no trucks sell.RB

 

Passenger vans are a hard sell, especially high mileage ones, because those interested are using them and need dependable vans, they'll deal, or it'll sit till they end up taking it to auction, that's where they eventually end up.

 

Personally, unless mechanically inclined and you did a carfax report, I would entirely avoid a used car dealer vehicle or offer a super low price. Instead, buy from a private (avoid curbers) party.

Vehicles that make it to auction are two things, older then 6 years or have problems. Over 50% of vehicles go unsold at auctions now, 15 pass. vans are even worse.

If you do a search in the General Forum about buying a used vehicles, I along with others have posted all about used car scams. This dealer in no way paid more then $1000-$1500 for the vehicle at auction unless he is nuts.

Anyone with $1500 cash can finance any truck, with the worse credit, because most new car deales are lucky to get anyone with $500 in their pocket to finance a car.

 

The dealer that its at does an auction every Wed. and its still sitting there so I know they want to unload it. The salesman said he would turn down no reasonable offer. I'm not really concerned with the mechanical part of it as that is the cheapest part to fix when you are your own mechanic. The body is rust free and for a MI truck rust is your worst enemy. It was a canoe livery van and probably was parked for the winters. I'll wait a couple weeks and see what he says to see how badly they want to get ride of it. RB

 

I take it you haven't looked inside the doghouse of a 97+ Econoline, I'll say again, mechanically inclined, or not, there is little to no room for maintenance on them, speaking from experience here, engine problems are a dealer fix.

 

I was thinking the same way as you, but with all the unfinished projects I have, I couldn't think of tackling a conversion like this.

So I started watching the Quigley web site where they advertise used Quigleys for their owners who want to sell.

Here, I'll try to post the link that goes directly to their used page.

http://www.quigley4x4.com/pages/inde...n=page&upID=42

It isn't showing as a live link, so paste it in.

If you haven't already bought the van you might find this is the way to go once you consider all the costs (and the value of your time).

Just my 2 cents...at least look at the site to confirm it's worth it to do-it-yourself. Several there, $4,000 on up.

Dave