Expovans Transit 4x4 Conversions

[marret]

Great news, well except for the adapter and CV joint. Still, sounds like a success and with the “properly” made adapter all should be good.

[mk216v]

I'm sure pics don't do the terrain angles any justice.
Looking good out there!

[mgmetalworks]

Well folks...my faith in humanity is (at least partially) restored today. I had a face to face with the machine shop engineering and management and they took ownership of the mistake and agreed to make some new parts for me, correctly this time. Their engineer even spent some time with me today to eke out every last bit of material in all the right places in the design to give the best possible chance of this part not being the weak link.

I have to deal with a delay now while all these new pieces are made but at least the direction is forward, right?

[mk216v]

Originally Posted by mgmetalworks

Well folks...my faith in humanity is (at least partially) restored today. I had a face to face with the machine shop engineering and management and they took ownership of the mistake and agreed to make some new parts for me, correctly this time. Their engineer even spent some time with me today to eke out every last bit of material in all the right places in the design to give the best possible chance of this part not being the weak link.

I have to deal with a delay now while all these new pieces are made but at least the direction is forward, right?

Wow, that's certainly a positive (especially with all the hell you've been through with the faulty torque converter manufacturing on Cummins van). Very glad to hear that there's at least one machine shop with morals.

Who here is first up for one of these 4WD conversion kits?

[mgmetalworks]

So...this might come as a surprise to many but yesterday I sent out an update which basically said that I'm moving on from the Transit platform and this conversion project. It had already produced a question on expedition portal so here's the answer I posted there as to why I'm not pursuing this any longer...

There's a lot to this story. But rather than let assumptions rule the conversation, I'll summarize with the top 3 factors that led to this decision.

1) Financially, it is a monumental undertaking to produce some of these parts. Lots of upfront costs, costs of goods and services going up, some European-sourced parts getting a lot more expensive and harder to find and, at least in my opinion, an overall economic outlook that isn't ideal...kind of makes for a bad time to "hang it all out there" (or maybe a time for more careful consideration of what you do hang out and where you hang it). I'm a calculated risk taker when it comes to where to direct the money for the business and when I do my math, other investments of my time and resources have a better long term outlook.

2) Even though the conversion is almost entirely bolt-in, the work is detailed and probably 9.5-10 out of 10 for skill level ("skill level" is somewhat subjective here...but based off of my interactions with many, many van owners, the general sense I get from the Transit owner demographics is that this conversion would be difficult to very difficult for most folks). And it's not just the installation...it's maintaining the systems, troubleshooting, adjusting, fixing, etc... All of it takes a very thorough understanding of vehicles systems in general, not to mention a really good familiarity with the Transit and F150 parts (plus the ability to extrapolate what you know to figure out the hybrid of Transit/F150/Custom parts that make up the front drive hubs...). While I know that there are some Transit owners out there who are capable of installing and maintaining a complex conversion like this, many are certainly not. As I showed more and more people the prototype van (even folks with mad skills), it was clear that I was likely creating a customer service nightmare for myself.

3) I love designing and manufacturing custom parts and building awesome custom vehicles. I'm very fortunate in that I've been able to make a living doing what I love. When you combine #1 and #2...the Transit 4x4 conversion project started stressing me out to the point where I wasn't loving it any longer. A lot of really great projects got pushed aside to do this work which was also disheartening and depressing. I'd like to get back to doing the work I love to do, on the vehicles that I want to pour my time into. The more I worked on the Transit platform, the more I realized that it wasn't checking the boxes for me in terms of what I wanted to accomplish as an engineer and with our business. I was at a good stopping point where I had learned what I wanted to learn and succeeded in building a really capable 4x4 conversion. My family decided that further investment in the Transit platform wasn't what we wanted 2, 5, 10 years down the road.

At the end of the day, you gotta do what's best for you and your family. From where I sit, putting more of my time and money into the Transit platform isn't the best path forward for us.

[SteelheadJones]

Wow. Did not see this coming.

I'm an E-series guy myself, so it doesn't really affect me (at least at this stage of my life). But I could envision a time when a more modern 4x4 van might be attractive.

Do you think you might pick the project back up sometime in the future? Maybe do conversions in house? I mean, you already have so much time, money and energy invested in it. Seems like the hardest part is done?

[mgmetalworks]

Originally Posted by SteelheadJones

Do you think you might pick the project back up sometime in the future? Maybe do conversions in house? I mean, you already have so much time, money and energy invested in it. Seems like the hardest part is done?

When Ford moved to the electronic steering rack in 2020, it basically ended the viability of any decent/real 4x4 conversions on future Transits. I believe I could eventually figure out a solution that would work but the costs were adding up quickly, not to mention it's dicey to be altering all of the electronic systems designed to "assist" drivers. Things are getting too complex in modern vehicles to make changes as significant as those needed for a 4x4 conversion. I was making a real effort to figure things out for the 2020+ vans and I have some coin tied up in it that I'll never get back...after some initial work on it though, it was becoming clear that resources needed to continue far exceeded my desire make it happen.

So effectively, you have 2015-2019 Transits that are able to be converted. Compared to the Eseries, that's a pretty short run of vehicles. A small percentage of those vans will last past their commercial lives and a smaller percentage of owners will spend the nearly $20k for a conversion.

I'll say the answer to your question is "unlikely"

[Twoxentrix]

I think you should always do what leaves your sanity balanced, and understanding the emotional struggle you've undoubtedly already endured to reach this outcome I'll just say "GOOD FOR YOU!"
Heck, maybe someone out there would be interested in purchasing your design so they can continue building to service those that have interest ???

[b. rock]

On one hand, bummer.

On the other - long arm 3 or 4 link kit for the e-series? Joking of course. (mostly).

[mgmetalworks]

Originally Posted by Twoxentrix

I think you should always do what leaves your sanity balanced, and understanding the emotional struggle you've undoubtedly already endured to reach this outcome I'll just say "GOOD FOR YOU!"
Heck, maybe someone out their would be interested in purchasing your design so they can continue building to service those that have interest ???

Thank you for understanding.

Originally Posted by b. rock

On one hand, bummer.

On the other - long arm 3 or 4 link kit for the e-series? Joking of course. (mostly).

Well....I mean...the thought has crossed my mind a time or two.

For reals...I've been looking for an Eseries specimen for a while but it's hard to find what I want in this era of sky high van prices.