I have a 03 F250 V10 4dr 4X4 which I really like. The problem is that I'm adopting a kid and that will make 5 of us. The truck and my Escape are only good for 5 people. The way things are now if we go any place with any of the kids friends we have to take the truck when we get the other kid the truck and escape will be full with no room for the mother- in - law (not such a bad thing) or any of the kids friends. I can't tell the kids you can't bring anyone, so I need to figure out what to do. I was thinking about a E350 Culb Wagon and having Sports Mobile convert it to 4 wheel drive. I think they want 9K to do it and it won't impact the tow rating too much. I tow a 30' travel trailer which weighes in at 9500lbs. Are they still offering the V10 for the standard wheelbase E350 for 06?

Any help or ideas would be healpful

Rich

 

I would order the van new and have Quigley do the conversion instead with a front Dana 60 since they use almost all Ford parts.

In your area these people might be closer

http://www.quadvan.com/about.html

I guess the real thing to decide is sliding side door or barn doors.

One thing you will surely want is rear A/C and heat in CA.

> I'm adopting a kid

Way to go! Congrats!

 

I sent an e-mail to Quadvan and hope to hear form them soon. I was looking at Sports mobile since they are in Bakersfeild, (central Ca) and they were at a off road show a while ago, but I'm not sold on anyone. I think a van might be better than a Suburban or a Extended Expidition since everyone who has to sit in the back has to crawl over the seat. We spend a lot of time surfing and it would be a pain to have the kids getting out and flipping the seats around.

When my wife and I decided to adopt this boy I didn't realize that everything we have is set up for 4 people. Now I have to re-think the cars. Luckly everything else is a minor adjustment, (house, trailer, bathrooms.) Darn cars are exspencive !!!

 

If you get folding bench seats it sure is a lot easier to sleep in a van. We camped a few times in my Aerostar with the folding bench seat. The reclining captain chairs were alright for a night or two.

The other thing is if you remove the fourth (pass 9-12) row seat, it leaves a lot of room for storage, even a perm. marine port-a-potty. With five people you could remove two rows of seats to give almost 8 feet of space large enough to sleep everyone.

This is one of my favorite links to follow other links

http://www.geocities.com/a4x4van/homepage.html