I’d like to get a new (used) van. been looking around. I have a chevy express, has been reliable but the body is not holding up. door hinges are crap.
I looked at the ford but the driving visibility is not as good as the express. the GMC looks like an express knock off. I would also like to tow a dump trailer occasionally. what to do?
“it aint the work I mind,
It’s the feeling of falling further behind.”
Bozini Latini
Replies
I've had the Ford Econoline for about 13 years with never a days touble...course I only have 49,000 miles on it but still.
The best thing I can offer you about it is having gotten the "extended van" is worth its weight in gold.
Right after I bought it I went and had extra leaf springs installed.
I also had it undercoated by a private company, not by Ford.
Ford wanted about 3+X more than the private companies. Amazing!
Not a drop of rust in all those years because of that.
Good luck.
"the most amazing buddhist prayer song I have ever heard during my trip through the hidden mystique countries like Nepal and India. I've heard it playing everywhere in Kathmandu - buses, ashrams, hotels,streets, etc... "author unknown
how it sounds^-->http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2shskL0AYuE
http://WWW.CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
How are you only driving your van ~3700 miles a year?
How are you only driving your van ~3700 miles a year?<<I have no life....lol.Five years I worked on one street...next five years I worked on another...Only trips to the supply house and back.
I hardly ever take it any distances. I use the car for that.I try real hard to land work as close to home as possible not to mention within all of that ...the two houses I did that I lived in...from demo to rebuild.Buy-fix-sell. Buy-fix-sell.I probably use less gas than anyone that's ever owned a car including the little old lady that only uses her car to get to church...lol.Another thing I've been good about is making good material lists and having my stuff delivered. Not like the old days where I was back and forth to the supply house fifty times a day.
"the most amazing buddhist prayer song I have ever heard during my trip through the hidden mystique countries like Nepal and India. I've heard it playing everywhere in Kathmandu - buses, ashrams, hotels,streets, etc... "author unknown
how it sounds^-->http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2shskL0AYuE
http://WWW.CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
Newer used vans are nearly impossible to find in my area. If you can find an '06/'07 chevy or GMC one of the engine options was (I think) a 6 liter on the 2500 & 3500 versions. That should be fine for towing the occasional dumper.
I found a used '05 GMC/2500 but it has a smaller V8 and there's no way this thing will tow my 14ft dump trailer, loaded, up hills.
I kept my pickup for towing and have driven it less than 3000 miles in the last 6 months. I figure at some point in the future I'll upgrade to a new van that will tow the dumper and get rid of the truck.
-Norm
starting to get a little hard to find since the sprinter came out but i have had good luck with dodge vans,1 ton extended,360 v8, 3.90 gears. will pull my bobcat or dump trailer with no problem. when did they stop building them 03? so that may be getting a little old for ya. larry
hand me the chainsaw, i need to trim the casing just a hair.
I'm on my third Chevy Astro. I put heavy shocks on 'em and take out the middle seat and fill the space behind the back seat with a custom tool box. I can haul boxes and cement, leave it out side in bad neighborhoods and weather, haul trailers up to a point, and then sweep it out and take the family to the mountains for the weekend. Great all purpose vehicle and my new one (new to me at 70,000) gets 19 MPG. when this one dies I'll go on to number four.
M
------------------
"You cannot work hard enough to make up for a sloppy estimate."
If I were a one man outfit, I would probably be driving an Astro.They do come in a utility configuration with no rear seats and a bulkhead.
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
I just keep a minimum of plumbing and electrical tools, a couple of cordless drills, sawzall, skilsaw, and various warrantee supplys and personal warrantee, layout, and trim tools in the astro. We have a 12' trailer for plumbing supplys, a trash trailer, a flat bed trailer for lumber, a 16' box trailer for framing tools that's too heavy to pull with the Astro, and a 24' box trailer for trim tools that i pay a guy with a serious truck to relocate about four times a year. I have a rider on my auto insurance that covers loss of tools in locked trailers. So far we've been hit three times for about $8,000 worth of equipment each time and the insurance adjuster depreciates the tools to about 40 cents on the dollar.I generally do "office hours" in the morning until well after the crew is at the site and set up so having the tools in a trailer on the site keeps me from having to be there at 7:30 am. A lot of the time I'll do the warrantee calls and use the visit to the client to check up on their satisfaction and talk with them about maintenance and encourage them to tell their friends about my company. This keeps my crew at the job site making money but I can get really far behind on the service calls because I wear so many other hats. ------------------
"You cannot work hard enough to make up for a sloppy estimate."
and the insurance adjuster depreciates the tools to about 40 cents on the dollar.
Call your insurance agent and see if you can change your policy to replacement cost. I did that last year here. The premiums are a bit more but not horrible. As a rider to our standard policy it costs up $1.00 per $1,000.00 insured. They wanted to only do it for tools up to 2 years old, I asked for 10 years, and we settled on 7 years.
Thanks, I'll give it a shot.------------------
"You cannot work hard enough to make up for a sloppy estimate."
Bought a used E150 from Enterprise - the auto rental company. Had 19K on it and was $300 over blue book. At that time there were about six vans listed in the OC. Nearest Ford dealer wanted $2000 over Enterprise for his van.
Has run fine since then. Now up to 114k.
I will try them first for my next van.
The ToolBear
"Never met a man who couldn't teach me something." Anon.
My 01 express has been good to me but you're right the hinges are crap!
I havent been able to open up both of my side doors for about two years. The one with the handle works but just cant get the other one to budge.
I have a 3500 extended and I use it for a dumpster on bathroom demos. It takes the weight and cleans right up with a shop vac after (I have a passenger van).
I had the same problem with my hinges, the solution was to drill a couple of weep holes on each hinge (1/8 inch) and spray all the crap out of it with WD or Globo 2000, something to drive out the factory grease which has seized.
I am not sure but i think water eventually gets in these hinges and causes the components to swell. The drill technique has worked great for me. If you lool closely at your hinges on the inside of the van i do believe they are just tack welded and epoxied to the truss. Sick huh?
By the way, I spent much of my childhood summers in Warren, my mom her brothers and sisters grew up there and much of my family still live in Sterling Heights and Romeo area.
Yeah, gotta love the tack welded hinges. I dont understand how an otherwise tough truck has its doors attached with scotch tape.