I got my van back from Camburg yesterday. They did a bent I-beam lift on it with General Grabber M/T tires on KMC wheels. I couldn't be any happier with how it turned out, but am already looking to do more to it. Going to get Camburg's front bumper with lights and skid plate, a rear tire carrier, some type of full length roof rack (with surf racks), and who knows what else done.

I have to admit I was a bit worried about lifting the van because it is equipped with the Advance Trac/RSC system. I have read about and been told about a lot of issues others have had when lifting a van that is equipped with Advance Trac/RSC. Inappropriate traction control activations seems to plague this setup. Prior to lifting the van I talked at length with Jerry at Camburg and some van owners who have Camburg's bent beam lift on traction control equipped vans and everyone assured me there were no issues. I guess I was worried because it would be just my luck to be the first one to have issues with it after spending the money and having it lifted.

I am very happy to report that there are absolutely no issues with it at all. After I picked up the van I did a very thorough test drive and I could not get the system to activate. I drove slow, fast, and everything in between around all different types of turns. I got on as many freeway cloverleafs as I could and drove as fast as I safely could to try and get the traction control to activate and it would not activate.

I am no suspension engineer so my guess is as good as anyones else's, but maybe the difference of moving the suspension pivot points down with drop down brackets versus bending the I-beams creates just enough of a difference in the roll/lean of the van to cause innappropriate activations of the traction control. This van still has the stock pitman arm.

I snapped a quick picture of the van this morning before work. I will add more pictures later but wanted to show it off and report on how happy I am with Camburg, and would highly recommend their suspension to anyone looking to lift a 2WD Ford van.

 

Nice looking van----aggressive and tough but not too "rebellious" to scare the kids and wifey!

Two questions though: why lift the van? Does it see off road use? Was this more for appearance than anything?

Running boards, nerf bars, side steps---any plans to add them?

Still a great looking project regardless the use or purpose!

 

great looking van. I hope to be able to go with Camburg next year.

 

Sweet Ride!

 

Uhm, it's not just a bent I-beam as if it was stock, it's a redesigned one, if they used a stock one in the stock location it'd be short. I'd go with it maybe, but all the trouble, it makes far more sense to buy the leaf spring kit and sling a live axle up front, no fan of lifted 2wd as they are the same trouble as a 4x4, minus the transfer case.

 

I second the "Why lift it" answer.

I totally understand a lift for a 4x4 because you are looking for more clearance to drive over things but with 2WD you should not be spending much time off-road. All you have created is a vehicle which will handle worse, get worse gas mileage and it probably cost you a lot for the modification.

I do have to admit it looks cool, but looks without function never made much sense to me.

I'm in the process of building a 4x4 van myself but I plan on spending 30% of my time driving it off-road. Basically I've replaced everything stock under the van with 2002 F350 SD 4x4 parts. I realize my handling and mileage will suffer but a motor home won't climb the trails at Moab or drive on the beach to go surf fishing.

 

"Why lift it?"

I lifted my van for more ground clearance and to put a larger than stock tire under it. Having even just a slightly larger tire under it gives me the ability to air down the tires much better and safer than the stock 245/75/16 tires the van came with. This not only makes driving dirt roads much more comfortable, but gives even my 2WD van the ability to easily drive to one of our favorite camping spots on the beach. I am sure you are well aware of these benefits.

We use our van for a lot of things such as dirt bike riding/camping, mountain bike chasing (my wife follows on mountain fire roads where I ride), surfing, pulling our boat to the lake, all the while hauling the family and dogs to all these places. Only a very small amount of this time requires us to have the ground clearance and bigger tires, but it does make my van more capable allowing us to do things we like to do.

As far as the handling goes, I am guessing you mean the vans cornering ability. Even stock my van never "handled" good at all. I never took any corners at any speed greater than I felt was safe, and after the lift I still won't do that. After the suspension upgrade the ride of the van was much better than the stock suspension. The suspension now works very well as soaking up bumps instead of jarring our teeth out. It also tracks very well.

I live in sunny SoCal. If I had to live in a place where we were dealing with snow/ice conditions for a good portion of the year I would want the van to be 4WD for sure. I do not take our 2007 4WD suburban the places I take my van because it doesn't have the ground clearance, I would probably do damage to the undercarriage and running boards. We have only been forced to use the 4WD in the suburban one time when we got caught in a bad snow storm while on vacation, but this was a once in a lifetime (so far) for me.

If someday I get into some activity or move to a place with weather that requires 4WD I might just do the conversion, it would be an awesome project and I would have the extra security a 4WD vehicle provides. I really like U Joint Offroad's kit, maybe I will start looking for parts now.

 

and they are also just so Kool

 

Hey Tim----I thought perhaps your use of the van somewhat necessitated lifting it--makes perfect sense from your description. I was just curious if it was an appearance only project or as you've said a real need for its advantages.

Of course it still looks great regardless!

 

Hey Tim, I just found your post about your van with the Camburg lift. Just wondering if you still have it or if not how was it after driving for a while. How was the alignment, driving and tire wear?
Thanks Bob