Nice van. Was it worth the trouble. How does it ride with leaf springs on the front. Did you use a donor truck for the frame or reinforce the existing uni body because a donor frame wouldn't work.

 

LOL - I'll let you know how it rides and whether it was worth the trouble when I'm done - I'm realistically a month out from being on the road with it. It's turned into quite a bit more project than I intended when I started, but I'm determined not to half *** a bunch of stuff that'll need to be fixed later.

I'm doing this WAY on the cheap using things I had on hand, used parts, some new parts (like steering, fab parts from barnes 4x4...), steel drops and spares from local machine and welding shops I haunt... I sort of inherited the van with a dead transmission, picked up the entire drive line from a 97 dodge 4x4 2500 truck, already had a another spare transmission and transfer case in the shed... I'm carefully checking out and servicing the axles, transfer case, etc... and building a transmission as I go.

To sort of put it all in perspective without going through a litany of details, I'm easily adding a few hundred pounds of new steel and it's looking like I'll use most or all of a 10 pound roll of .030 mig wire, half a box of 7018 welding rods along with a pile of grinding, cutting and sanding wheels and a couple gallons of SPI back epoxy paint... :-O

 

I'm still trying to figure out the best way to approach this project and if it will be worth it. By brother-in-law has a 95 ram 2500 4x4. I figured I would put both trucks up side by side on hoists and get some measurements to see if a donor truck is the way to go.

 

Honestly, almost nothing will bolt up or be plug and play - not even the transmission will work (I have a 95 ram 4x4 truck in the drive too...). I started out thinking I could do a 4-link with track bar like the dodges, but the lift would have had to be extreme because the front subframe and coil buckets on the van (which are in the frame) are lower than the rest of the frame and there's just not enough room to do it without going something like 18"+ of lift... radius arms might work if done right, honestly, unless you're looking for a major fab project that you'll do yourself and have welders, torch set, plasma cutter, etc... you'll probably be much better off to buy one that's already been converted or to buy a ford van and convert or have it converted... There's a good reason why there are VERY few 4wd dodge ram vans around... Hope this is helpful

If you're able to sell your van and are willing to add another 15k, start looking around, if you're willing to consider traveling for one, you'll be able to find a really decent, already professionally converted set-up that you'll be able to spend your time driving and enjoying rather than building a custom undercarriage for... I'm only doing this one this way because I'll have a total of $2,000 to maybe max $2,500 in it including absolutely everything and I figured I hadn't taken on any relatively absurd projects in a couple years, so why not... ;-)

 

Starting to see that. Thanks for the info. Have to put both trucks up side by side so I can put the project to rest and have peace of mind that I did everything I could. Bolder off road in Colorado and white feather in California will do it but they want 25,000 to do it and they use a leaf spring front and just reinforce the uni body to help prevent twisting. Your right the dodge just isn't a good platform for that type of conversion. The guy I have is real smart and has all the necessary equipment if it's possible. I will bring both trucks to him as soon as I get title transfer done and hope for the best but expect disappointment. Worse case it gets turned into a good service truck for my business.

 

Funny, that's pretty much exactly the place I wound up in... leaf spring font end, reinforce the crap out of the unibody (and the front frame rails - they flex a lot more than I was comfortable with). and with the amount of modification I've done and going to need to do to be comfortable that it'll be safe, reliable and last, I would charge a crap load of money for the almost ridiculous amount of hours I'll have in it before finished... I thought, measured, remeasured and sourced various factory and used parts for a month or so before I even started on it. I completely removed (cut off) the entire front suspension, steering, etc.. and all mounting bracket - nothing was going to work and much would be in the way... If you and your guy have any questions once you're looking at it, hit me up and I can probably help clear anything up... either way, please let us know what direction you wind up going or what you learn. Cheers!!

 

Will do. Thanks for all the good insight. Still waiting for the title to come from new DMV so it might be a week or so before I get it up on a lift. I'm pretty determined to find a solution but understand that some things are better left un touched. The guy I have looking at it built his own professional racing monster truck so if anyone can come up with something he can.

 

Update on dodge ram 3500 van 4x4 build. Just had a long conversion with the shop who would do the build. He seems confident it can be done. There plan is to use a donor truck in the same year and use the entire frame and everything except the engine and truck body then attach my van body to the donor truck. How I understood him was he will be setting uni body van frame on the 4x4 truck frame and make mounting brackets to attach them both together. He still needs to see both up on a lift but he didn't see a problem with a procedure like this. He will know for sure when he sees them both together. Any input on his thinking.

 

Sounds like a plan - you can do just about anything if willing to put the time, energy and money into it. :-)

im guessing that he'll cut the front part of the frame andengine cradle out of the van and use the truck - it'll let the axle ride a bit higher (and your rig lower). The only thing I can see having problems with is how high up that'll put you. My van currently has 22-25" between the unibody and the ground. My 95 ram truck in lifted a few inches and I think approaching the same range. off the top I'm guessing the truck frame is something like 8-10" tall. Meaning the bottom of your unibody Could wind up something like 30" from the ground... you could lower the truck some, but will pay for it in travel. Lastly, the truck frame (outside) is around 36-37 inches and the van is a full 8" wider. The truck frame would just about fit inside the van frame and front subframe... you won't be able to do that - not up front at least, because if you go with the truck factory 4--link plus track bar your springs need to go outboard of the frame... just some thoughts

 

Thanks for the input. I will pass that along. He knows I don't want a to much lift, i want it to ride well and be safe to drive. Primarily going to use the van as a camper van and tow a fairly large boat in and out of the launches, have a canoe on top to get into some remote spots and carry a dirt bike for serious trails . That's why I wanted 4x4. As far as travel for off road, I don't think I will be taking it to anything to extreme where a lot of travel would be necessary. I know I'm asking a lot and it's not going to be cheep to do. However the van is basically new and it would be one of a kind and cheaper then buying a new van and then converting that. If I can get out of this project for 20 grand I'll be happy as long as it's done right.