Large Family Sportsmobile - Page 3

**daveb** · 01-07-2010, 11:48 AM

How is a front LS gonna work when the transfer case is in rear drive only? If it's like my old chevy, your gonna experance odd ball steering, poor tire wear up front, and reduced fuel mileage (whenever you drive the rig). Maybe I'm wrong on this but won't it act as a part time 4x4 rig? I would not want that myself. The tires wear fast enough on such a heavy vehicle.

I would also look to compare what a LS is going to cost vs adding a locker.

My guess is for light off roading you'd be OK but a locker is a solid choice. It also depends on what you plan to do with the vehicle. The percentage of gain for the price might not be as cost affective but I do see where you're going; overall it will be slightly cheaper. Of course if your doing it yourself and grabbing stuff from a wrecking yard that's another story.

saabman · 01-07-2010, 12:50 PM

I might be wrong but even with a normal diff if you apply bakes you get even resistance on both sides so both sides apply power evenly...

Not sure though never tried but sure will as it might be useful in 2WD

TwoVans · 01-07-2010, 01:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by daveb

How is a front LS gonna work when the transfer case is in rear drive only? If it's like my old chevy, your gonna experance odd ball steering, poor tire wear up front, and reduced fuel mileage (whenever you drive the rig). Maybe I'm wrong on this but won't it act as a part time 4x4 rig? I would not want that myself. The tires wear fast enough on such a heavy vehicle.

I would also look to compare what a LS is going to cost vs adding a locker.

That is an excellent point that I don't know the answer to. My assumption has been, with mannual hubs unlocked, the front wheels are free spinning and this is not an issue. Can anyone confirm if this is true or not? Otherwise, it would be similar to why you wouldn't want a Detroit Locker up front (or rear for that matter) on a rig that sees significant dry pavement driving and your point is well taken (and a valid reason to change my plan).

From a cost perspective, it's a no brainer if I go with SMB for the 4wd conversion. They will only do an ARB locker. At $1,850 per axle for the ARB, a diamond studded diff would be cheaper.

Great discussion! Please keep it coming. As you know, once the money gets spent, it's a tough pill to swallow to spend more to fix a bad decision.

TwoVans · 01-07-2010, 01:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by saabman

I might be wrong but even with a normal diff if you apply bakes you get even resistance on both sides so both sides apply power evenly...

If that was true, wouldn't all of your high school bro's left two skid marks when they were trying to impress the chicks with a kick-ass burn-out?

saabman · 01-07-2010, 01:44 PM

Hmmm not used to auto box here in EU I used to drop clutch

And 2 skid marks... so not sure... I will have to try it out...
Mind you I didn't impress much with my Volvo 360 GLT

**daveb** · 01-07-2010, 08:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jessenej

That is an excellent point that I don't know the answer to. My assumption has been, with mannual hubs unlocked, the front wheels are free spinning and this is not an issue. Can anyone confirm if this is true or not? Otherwise, it would be similar to why you wouldn't want a Detroit Locker up front (or rear for that matter) on a rig that sees significant dry pavement driving and your point is well taken (and a valid reason to change my plan).

From a cost perspective, it's a no brainer if I go with SMB for the 4wd conversion. They will only do an ARB locker. At $1,850 per axle for the ARB, a diamond studded diff would be cheaper.

Great discussion! Please keep it coming. As you know, once the money gets spent, it's a tough pill to swallow to spend more to fix a bad decision.

yep you might be right on that. My chevy didn't have manual hubs. The Ford I drive at work has manual hubs and still feels like it's in 4x4 with them unlocked. I've just assumed it has LS up front. When I lock up the hubs it feel almost like a full locker. I'll ask and find out whats in this thing. Maybe I had the hubs locked in and forgot to unlock em. Making a turn with it sucks if both hubs are locked especially in sand. What did they quote you for the limited slip?

**daveb** · 01-07-2010, 08:28 PM

Well forget what I said

...I just tried it and can't get it to act like it did with the hubs locked and T case out. Maybe because it's brand new and now kinda broke in??? But it still does not handle like my SMB locked up in four wheel drive. I'll ask the shop what's in it. I swear it almost feels like a locker.

TwoVans · 01-07-2010, 09:23 PM

I just did some more research as well and confirmed what I thought. With the manual hubs unlocked, the wheels are physically disconnected from the axle and spinning free. My source also confirmed that some previous versions of GM/Chevy 4wd's had a full-time 4wd system the exhibited all of the issues that you described.

I haven't found out what the LS upgrade will cost yet. Jeff at SMB was only really prepared to talk standard open or ARB. He wasn't sure if they could do LS. On the Dynatrac website it is an available upgrade, so I may just call them directly. If for some crazy reason SMB won't do the LS, that will probably be a deal breaker for me and I will look elsewhere for the 4x4 conversion and just do the interior with SMB.

I'm also leaning heavily towards Deaver springs and Bilstein shocks. I'm not sure how that conversation is going to go with SMB either. That may be another deal breaker for the 4x4 conversion as I'm really not interested in replacing the OME stuff right out the door...

pjpvi · 01-07-2010, 10:01 PM

As a convert from the SMB supplied springs and OME shocks to Deaver with Bilstein, I'd strongly recommend the Deaver / Bilstein route. If going that route, Deaver also does a new track bar (at least they did with me) and modify the spring/shock mount plates up front to allow the a lower mounting position of the front shock. I also went back to Deaver later to have an additional leaf added to the first spring pack they put in to keep the van level and smooth when fully loaded. It stiffened up the empty ride a bit, but well worth the improved ride when fully loaded.

I really think that SMB should work with Deaver to make their package a selectable option on the build list. Not sure if that will happen though.

If SMB won't do Deaver, have them leave the stock ford springs on the rear, omit the SMB track bar and get a set of used front SMB springs from Deaver (I'm sure they have some lying around. I know I left mine there.), have SMB install the used springs and some crappy shocks then drive straight to Deaver to have it done the way you want. Of course have SMB drop some $'s for not using all their new springs and shocks. Just a thought .....

Phil

TwoVans · 01-07-2010, 10:18 PM

My other idea is to go with a shop I trust (in this case, Extreme Off-road). Ultimately, we're talking about nearly off the shelf parts from well established companies. Therefore, you should be able to call either Dynatrac or Advanced Adapters and ask them to build and send the parts for an E-350. Because they've been doing it for years with SMB, it should be easy. Much like say, Salem Kroger, they are well versed in custom stuff, unlike SMB which only seems to do their standard package.