Here's my build - thx to this forum

[warholic]

Well ....... I ahven't posted for a while but I'm back. I ordered my van from Ford in August and it was delivered to SMB west Nov 12. It's a 2010 E350 RB super duty cargo van, Pueblo Gold, V10 gas engine. SMB had me scheduled to start mid-January. I got to SMB Nov 23 to actually SEE and TOUCH and DRIVE my van. I went through my order with Jonathon (and Jeff) in sales and left. I got an email yesterday, Nov 24 - saying there's an opening and do I want to start the 4x4 build.

Nothing like having the van on location!!!

So after all my posts, here's my baseline: RB-50 floorplan
1. SMB 4x4
(i spent many hours on this forum and off, deciding between SMB, Quadvan and Salem-Kroeger. In the end, Quadvan too far away but they are about $4k cheaper than SMB. S&K only about $1400 cheaper than SMB, and both are about equidistant from me. I decided to stay with "one stop shopping", ie, one system integrator. The build schedule is weeks longer if SMB does camper upfit and another place does 4x4 mods. And, there are 2 places you have to go for warranty / repairs depending on what fails (SMB and QUAD, for example.) That is an issue when they are not near each other. It is a benefit to have one place do all the mods and subsequent work. I don't believe anymore that the "warranty" benefit using Quad or S&K is really an issue because these vans are very reliable to begin with. And, there is no "guarantee" a given Ford dealership will agree it's all warranty repair. And, the parts used by SMB are top after-market parts that have good reliability too. Lastly, this forum provides such a wealth of info on the good, bad and ugly of all these approaches that it's impossible to make an uninformed decision. So, any decision is right - LOL.
2. ARB front locker - van has LSD rear
3. Dynaloc hubs all around
4. trojan front and rear bumpers with Rallye 4000 FF xenon driving lights
5. Warn winch
6. One kyocera panel
I'm going to do seperate post on "Electrical" topic on my methodolgy for determining my energy source needs, for what it's worth. And, if it calculated out to be at the edge of one "thing" or 2 "things" I decided to start out as minimal as possible and add later for something that is not much additional labor cost, such as batteries and solar panels. Material cost still the same.
7. One AGM 4D batt
8. trip-lite inverter and microwave
9. Isotherm Cruise 130 fridge - I supply
10. electric penthouse
11. propane furnace
12. flat plate h20 heater
13. 16 gal H20 tank - i plan on carrying 10 - 20 gallons of extra H20 in the Scepter 5 gal military spec plastic H20 jerry cans, as needed, in trojan rear basket. I was going to go two 16 gal H20 tanks but that extra tank takes up a lot of room inside.
14. delete propane stove
15. heated seats, maybe leather
16. Other miscellaneous stuff - and i'm working on wheel/tire package myself.

Thx to all the ppl on this forum. As always, suggestions and input welcome. Nothing is cast in stone.

[saabman]

Congrats!
happy build following