This may not be the correct forum for this kind of a question so if not feel free to send me elswhere.

I have a '92 Ram B250 Mark III convesion with several lights and a speaker not working. I think I'm going to have to remove some panels to trace down the wiring and get to the speaker. Is there some trick to getting the panels off or is it just a "screw driver and putty knife" kind of thing?

I also have a boken arm on one of the seats. Am I going to have to remove theupholsery to repair it?

thanks

 

There is a toolfor popping off the panels, Even then you may break the plastic parts that hold them on, but at least you wont mangle the usually cardboard/pressboard backing on the panel and warp it.

The panel tool has an angle like the straight part of a crowbar, but then has a square notch on the end. Almost like a bent dandilion puller (the notch is a rectangular instead of a V). You slip it into the panel, find the plastic part, get the plastic part into the fork and pop it out, then you push the panel back onto the door, post, or wall.

For the speakers you would be better off just popping the grill off, unscrewing the speaker, and checking the wires with a meter back to the area where the radio is. that will tell you if the wiring is good without total disassembly.
Anything is possible, but the speakers are the part that fails, not the wires, unless of course someone was taking panels off with the wrong tools and broke the wires.

Also with this method, you may be able to pull new wire to the speaker hole by using the old wire if you have to replace it.

On all of the vans the Drivers A-Pillar is generally the one used for running wire up into the roof area. though some times its the B-pillar instead. The dome lights go through there. There is a hole in the A-pillar (both sides) which opens into the middle of the dash on he drivers side, or behind the glove box on the passengers side.

good luck

 

Thanks IGadget! This really helps. Just knowing where to start looking for the wires is going to help tremendously. Now that you've said it, my experience confirmsthat it usually is the speaker that fails. In my case all of them are covered by the fabric (I'm assuming that there's an opening in the panel) and I'd like to get them exposed with some nice grill covers. Depending on the quality, I may just replace them. Great idea about using the old wires to run new.

I'll doa search on the net for the tool ( I haven't thought about a dandilion puller since I was a kid having to pull a bucket full as punishment for being bad). Thanks for the memory. If I don't have any luck on the net I'll stop by one of those van conversion shops if there's any of them still in business.

According to my research, Mark III went down about 5 years ago.

Thanks again for the great help.

mike

ps any thoughts on the broken seat arm rest?

 

With many of the conversion vans, you may find a fuse access panel located on the inside driver's side wall, behind the driver's seat. (Is that a mouthfull or what? LOL)

You can still purchase OEM "new" replacement parts for your Mark III conversion. When many of the conversion companies went belly up,CPC purchased them, the tooling,the factories and many of the employees too. They go by now ... http://www.cpcparts.com/default.asp

"... The purchase allowed us to provide parts for product lines such as Gladiator, Autoform, Universal, Primetime, as well as, Coachmen. We are the "Exclusive Supplier" for Glaval running boards and tape graphics providing parts for repairs, as well as, complete sets to add to any unit.

Working with our suppliers we are able to meet the needs for replacement and/or add-on parts for other conversion such as Mark III, Tiara, etc, as well as, parts to upgrade non-converted units. "

 

Thanks stev..... and yes that was a mouthfull. I don't remember seeing a fuse box back there but I'll look again. There is of course the fuse box in the glove compartment but I would imagine any original fuses for say the original "dome light" have been bypassed/removed. Again, I'll look at that.

I've visited the CPC site and called them when I couldn't find what I was looking for. The lady who answers the phone is of no help at all if you are looking for something they don't have. Not very customer friendly so I'll avoid doing business with them if I can.

I was trying to find the "dandilion" tool that IGadgit told me about. Eventually, I found one at JCWhitney.

I did find the "break away" part for the broken armrest on one of my seats but it looks like I'm going to have toremove theupholstery to make the repair. Any hints on how to do that? Looks like I have to unhook the fabric from under the seat and then "peel" it off but the armrests are in the way (chiken or egg?). Can I pry the armrests out of their "sockets"? Do I need an armrest "puller". Maybe a giant "dandilion" tool?......... )

I guess I know what I'll be doing this weekend......... thanks!
mike

 

That's a bummer that CPC wasn't all that friendly with you. The two times I've dealt with them I got prompt and good service. Yes, I do know that if they don't have it on their website, more than likely they will not have it.

Your Ram Van is a Gen-1 version, so I'm out of the loop on knowing how to get the fabric off of the seats. I have a 2000 Dodge Ram Van conversion, V6 Gen-2 type. We've out grown it and have it up for sale at this time. We have a 12-passenger Dodge Ram Van that is a must have for our family crew.

 

Once again, thanks for the help. The contacts I've had with CPC have all been looking for something that they didn't have so I guess to be fair I should at least give them a chance and see how they do if I buy something from them.

I don't think it's too complicated to remove the fabric from the seat but if there's some other way to remove the arm rest then I'd rather try that. I guess once I remove the fabric I'll find out.

When you say "Gen-1" are you refering to the van itself or the Mark III conversion?

Looks like you have a travel trailer so the passenger van probably works good for your "crew". There's just me and my friend and my bike/trailer so the sleeping capability of the conversion is great.

I found this link regarding an oil trapping system in the PCV circuit. It looks really straight forward and makes a lot of sense to me. Thought you might be intersted.

http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbul...=oil+separator

mike

 

Rather than the PCV circuit oil trapping system, I did the next best thing ...

https://dodgeforum.com/m_525412/tm.htm

This is a MUST have for the Dodge Ram Vans/Wagons. It manages the oil from breathing out onto the air-filter orcoating the air filter housing. The oil on the air filter will reduce the fuel economy to the engine. So, this mod really helps regain that lose and manages the oil from bypassing out of the engine.

 

The place I used the tool was installing cell phone hands free kits...the ones that use a real phone cradle, wire to a full size external antenna for increased reception and whichare wired into the fuse panel, not the cigarette plug. The other place who may be able to tell you where to get one are custom audio shops. Though most people at those seem to think helping a person find something like that is bad for business...when Id bet a good reputation would be more worth it, oh well.

 

peeling the seatsseems extreme, I dont know where the captains chair that my '83 had in it came from, but I think the armrest was bolt on. Have you tried getting an open ended wrench into the gap between the rest and the main seat frame to see if the is a nut of some kind on the bolt that holds the pivot for the arm rest? This mounting would make sense, like a bicycle pedal. it might even be reverse threaded.