Man I move slowly!! This van is just too much fun as is. It's hard to choose to work on it instead of use it.
So in prep for a recent trip we took, trip report to follow shortly. I finally got around to getting some things done. I mounted that free bumper that I scored from this thread:
Free Stuff
I have yet to get the swingarms moving, so for now, I have no access to the rear doors anymore, but I think it will be easier to get it to a fab shop to have them work on it with it mounted to the van. I could be wrong on that, but at least I don't have to load it into my trailer and drive it to the shop for them to take a look at it!!
I also took some time to finally mount the Yakima Track rails onto the PH top and mount my roof box up there. It is definitely heavy and I either need to now adjust my PH springs, or more likely, I will just create 4 corner supports for when the top is up and the box is on it.
Back in July I also installed a pair of the Rockslide Engineering step sliders as well. This one made me nervous, but in the end it wasn't all that bad of an install. A long time ago I drove up to Idaho to pick this up from a forum member who had taken it off of their SMB before selling and I have been looking at it ever since, just waiting for some time to tackle the install. I decided to buy all new hardware, but the main parts of the steps were in tact and working. The most nerve racking part of the install was that I would have to drill holes and install rivnuts into the side of the van, and having never done that before, I was a bit nervous. I even went to the junkyard and practiced on a van that was already absolutely destroyed. I learned that using a normal twist drill bit is not the best for creating a clean hole in sheet metal, step bits are much better. The way the steps work is that they have 2 brackets that must first be mounted to the van body, then the actual step hangs on the brackets. I also hooked up the wiring harness for the steps so that they would extend as well. I also, did some research and found the linear actuator manufacturer and went ahead and ordered new actuators too. I am hoping to get the new actuators installed this weekend.
Here are some pics of the install.
And lastly, here is a pic of all 3 new additions to Van Diego.
Lastly, in prep for our recent trip, we had the seats reupholstered by a local guy that did a fantastic job. We have 2 dogs that travel with us in the van and the cloth seats, while bullet proof, were just too hard to get the dog hair out of. We decided to go with a very nice vinyl material.