Johny5's stealth camper van

Johny5

Adventurer
Thanks . Got a bit more done over the weekend. Got the fish plating done and welder buddy was over and I let him weld them on .



This is the fish plating/ frame boxing piece that will be part of the track bar mount



Also got the tcase installed . I needed a gasket and I'm cheap .

 

Johny5

Adventurer
I will be ready to mount the ford shock towers .
I ordered a air drier from harbor fright . When that gets here I'll sand blast them and get them painted .
.
Also got my cabinet door latches recently
 

spencyg

This Space For Rent
Looking good! One ever so slight concern with the 4x4 conversion fabrication....steel thickness. These vans are extremely heavy and the front suspension takes a large amount of abuse. I wouldn't personally feel comfortable with anything less than 3/8" plate on any axle locating brackets. From the pictures, it seems like you're running with 1/4". This might be fine if you really box the snot out of it...and this may be your plan. Just make sure you overbuild here.....this isn't a rock buggy.

Sweet buggy by the way!

One thing with the Ford shock towers....they can be limiting on the diameter of shock you can run. I'm currently facing this with my rig as I can't run 9xxx Rancho shocks in the stock towers because the shock can wall is hitting the inside walls of the shock/spring tower. I'll be cutting mine to bits soon to make more room and you've got an opportunity to do it now while the towers are still easily modified...

SG
 

guidolyons

Addicted to Gear Oil
Axles from a f350 as in Ford?
Going into a GMC?
Why not GMC 3500 axles?

Not making an issue just wondering!

GM hasn't made a solid axle 4x4 since IFS came out in 1988 (Suburbans and Blazer had solid axle until 1992). Also, those diffs were on the passenger side, most common transfercase that matches up with the late model GM transmission is drivers side drop to match the IFS...Ford solid axles are driver;s side drop, makes for an easier swap.

That's a good question . Price. you can buy these axles dirt cheap because there are so many of these trucks with dead engines and there is no market for the diffs . They are also beefy. Payed $500 for a complete roller frame delivered to my shop.
Yep, literally tons of beefy D50 and D60 front axles from F250/F350s. Looking forward to using the stock Ford radius arms, looking good so far. :sombrero:
 

DAV!D

Adventurer
Just wanted to say, great work so far. You have done a very well thought out build, from the inside camper van conversion to using common and affordable ford axles. Will be cool to see how it turns out.
 

david.lemke

Adventurer
WHAT TRANSFER CASE DID YOU USE???????

ALSO WHERE DID YOU FIND THE ADAPTOR, IS THERE A PART NUMBER AS WELL

GONNA START PICKING UP PARTS SOON AS IM GOING TO BE DOING THE SAME THING WITH MY EXPRESS
 

Johny5

Adventurer
Thanks guys .
The tcase is a manual shift np 241 from a 90's chev pu . The adapter is from the same .
It's all bolt on but you have to cut 3 inches off the output of the tranny and 5/8 off the t case input .
Also made a new tranny mount but a guy can probably modify the stock one .
I'll have more pics up soon.
 

Johny5

Adventurer
This is the simple transmission mount .

I also had my buddy plasma cut out some new clean radius arm mounts for the frame . I'll get more pic of these shortly .
I'm planing on another conversion after this one so I wanted a kit
 

david.lemke

Adventurer
Thanks guys .
The tcase is a manual shift np 241 from a 90's chev pu . The adapter is from the same .
It's all bolt on but you have to cut 3 inches off the output of the tranny and 5/8 off the t case input .
Also made a new tranny mount but a guy can probably modify the stock one .
I'll have more pics up soon.

WOULD IT EASIER TO GET A SHORTER TAIL STOCK THAN TO CUT 3" OFF?????????? OR ARE YOU TALKING ABOT CUTTING THE OUTPUT AND INPUT SHAFTS?????

SORRY FOR THE DUMB QUESTION BUT I AM A LITTLE LOST ON THIS PART


THANKS IN ADVANCE
 

Johny5

Adventurer
It is easier to just cut off the output. I just stuffed a couple of wet rags in the adapter then took a zip cut and cut the output off.

You can change out to the 4x4 output but that will require pulling the tranny and tearing it down .
 

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