4x4 IDI Vans?

[DragRag]

Never heard of the four speed, but your right, I forgot about the three on the tree. lame combo on the three on the tree, I never have liked that set up.

 

[IDIDieselJohn]

I drove a 1977 Dodge Tradesman van with a 4 on the floor. No power steering, wooden steering wheel, no power brakes, pretty fun to drive acually

 

[SparkandFire]

Actually, there WERE two manual transmissions offered in the E-series in the early '80's. There was a 3 speed column-shift and a 4 speed floor-shift with 4th being an overdrive gear. IIRC they were only offered behind the 300 ci straight-6 and the 302. I'm not sure when they were killed off, but my 1984 FSM describes the setup. I've only ever seen one 4 speed floor-shift '80's E-series with my own eyes, though....shame I didn't have a camera with me at the time!

I would love to swap a ZF5 into a van someday...it wouldn't be easy, but I don't think it would be impossible, either. Call me but I actually like the E-series front end (particularly the '92+), but I'm not really a fan of slushboxes....even though my M-B has one...

I have wondered if it was possible to put a floor mount shifter in a van, never seen one before...

I bet you could rig up some kind of shifter linkage extension, almost like a rotation/detent bar... Who knows.

 

[The Warden]

I'm certain you can do it.....it may not be easy (or, for that matter, it may be ridiculously difficult and not really worth the time), but I'm certain that it's possible. It's been a while since I've opened up the doghouse on an E-series, so I can't remember if the lever would be able to come straight up through the floor or if it would have to go through the doghouse.

It's a shame that Johnboy's ZF rig's an F-350 and not an E-350...I was looking forward to pics of the setup

 

[big van]

There's a 4x4 van group on Yahoo. One of the guys over there put a ZF 5 in a late 80's E that was on a small motor home chasis. It was also 4x4. I've always thought of doing it to one of my vans, but just hasn't happened yet. Maybe some year. I would love to have all those gears! Right now I only have aC-6 & the wifes C-6 is backed up with a US Gear overdrive. It helps but I've thought about at least putting a 4 sp. auto with the US gear in hers.

Projects....they all take time & money!!

 

[IDIDieselJohn]

ZF's do come through the doghouse. The 4 speeds are through the floor right beside the drivers seat.

 

[punkmechanic]

I could be wrong but Im pretty sure one of the quiggly conversions that frequents the dealership is a powerchoke backed by a zf. I like the idea of a 4x4 van but after seeing them up close on the rack I would build one and even then (as previously said) the engine removal is a terror.

I had the unfortunate luck to do brakes on a quiggly and 4x4 conversions back to back and would love to beat the snot out of both company reps I dealt with. They built them using whatever random stuff they could throw on and now wont tell us what parts to put back on to repair normal wear items. Pads are pretty straight forward but rotors and bearings changed quite a bit (according to fords parts department) and that gets to be a real headache.

punk

 

[DragRag]

I wonder why quigly is doing that? the 05' I bought new came with a catalog with all the part numbers in it. Maybe it was there part numbers though so I had to buy from them?

 

[SparkandFire]

I could be wrong but Im pretty sure one of the quiggly conversions that frequents the dealership is a powerchoke backed by a zf. I like the idea of a 4x4 van but after seeing them up close on the rack I would build one and even then (as previously said) the engine removal is a terror.

I had the unfortunate luck to do brakes on a quiggly and 4x4 conversions back to back and would love to beat the snot out of both company reps I dealt with. They built them using whatever random stuff they could throw on and now wont tell us what parts to put back on to repair normal wear items. Pads are pretty straight forward but rotors and bearings changed quite a bit (according to fords parts department) and that gets to be a real headache.

punk

We had a new Quigley powersmoke van at a company I worked at... The fleet guy told us the same thing.

When we got the van everyone on the shop wanted one... Until we saw the invoice!

I guess they didn't even pick a standard front axle to install on these things for any specific year... when we called up looking for parts they told us to "take the part off, and give them the model number of the part" they had NO idea what parts were on that thing!

Theres a place called Salem Kroger here in Ca that does conversions as well. Sportsmobile also does some... You've got to have some DEEP pockets to get into one of those things.

I talked to the guy who runs salem kroger, real nice guy... He uses high end stuff, and seems to know what he's doing.

 

[Johnboy]

Just came across this thread searching for something else. Figured I'd fill everyone in. I put a ZF5 in my 4x4 van a couple of years back now. LOVE IT, except the reverse gear is super fast. Once the dog house is off its a breeze to install, bolts right in. I used a custom transmission crossmember off of an old pathfinder van.
Unfortunately the shifter comes through the floor right where it meets the doghouse. had to cut out a little bit of floor and a little bit of doghouse. This requires removing the boot and shifter handle to take off the doghouse. well worth it though.
Also before looking for the transmission, I would start the long process of searching for a van that came with one of the manual transmission options to rob the clutch pedal assembly from. Took me two years to find it searching everywhere on CL.