The Zombie Van Build (feat. REDOVAL)

[arctictraveller]

Originally Posted by REDOVAL

Here is another one mostly covered by Nobbie, but we ditched the useless rear tank
Scott

Why was the tank useless?

[clubnobbie]

Originally Posted by arctictraveller

Why was the tank useless?

Useless because it needed all the parts Scott mentioned and I had been carrying around 20 gallons of diesel for 5000 miles. It really irked me. Enough to want to be rid of a second fuel tank, altogether. Plus, I really want to add the aluminum storage box there.

So, it's useless to me and for my needs.

[REDOVAL]

Arctic,
The tank itself is fine, but all the supporting items (pickup/filter, hoses, pollack valve, switch, etc) were all beyond repair due to neglect in the van's previous life. The van gets good enough mileage with the 7.3 psd to justify a single tank option. Also, as Nobbie mentioned, the lack of a tank will allow us to be creative with the remaining area.

Scott

Originally Posted by arctictraveller

Why was the tank useless?

[REDOVAL]

The aluminess tire carrier left a lot to be desired after we got it installed. The upper mount location and design was not well thought out and allowed the carrier to move around even when the brackets were very tight. We fabbed up a stainless steel connecting plate to tie the mount at the hinge to the pivot point and upright of the carrier. It's rock solid now and works great.

Scott

[arctictraveller]

Wasn't there already a bracket from the carrier to the hinge? Mine continues to wear the hole the hinge pin goes through into an oval, probably due to the huge forces from the galley box with three full fuel cans on top. Would your fix help this? Perhaps a photo from further away would help, thanks

[REDOVAL]

We had a bunch of the SMB guys meet up at my house over the weekend and had the chance to see the different variations of the Aluminess products. In the case of Nobbie's van, we went with the simple tire carrier option that sandwiches between the stock bumper and the chassis. This setup places the carrier upright very close to parallel with the door hinge. In that application, the two hole bracket provided by Aluminess was insufficient in keeping the tire sturdy enough to use or even close properly. The bracket I worked up ties the three points together and adds massive strength compared to what we were dealing with. Most of the other vans we saw had the Aluminess rear bumper assemblies with the tire rack and storage boxes. The majority of these used the bracket provided and were successful since the uprights were further from the hinge and allowed more of the weight to pull from the hinge instead of pivot around it.

In any case, picking up the thee points and adding a strong shoulder bolt (not the soft stainless ones provided) should help solve your problem.

Scott

Originally Posted by arctictraveller

Wasn't there already a bracket from the carrier to the hinge? Mine continues to wear the hole the hinge pin goes through into an oval, probably due to the huge forces from the galley box with three full fuel cans on top. Would your fix help this? Perhaps a photo from further away would help, thanks

[Gooseberry]

Originally Posted by nobbie

LOL! Okay, okay!

Here are some pics with the top down.


With the new Fiamma awning (Thank you Ray [1der] for being my awning mule from Aluminess in San Diego to our Long Beach Meetup and, of course for the sweet bracket prototypes.)


With the awning deployed.


And the muy macho F150 double-stalk towing Power mirrors that Scott installed. No more floppy ears!

On my list is to do those mirrors. They look great

[Tienckb]

Yeah digging the mirrors

[REDOVAL]

The mirrors take a bit of customizing to fit on the older 3-bolt doors, but I did this mod on my van as well and they are definitely worth the effort.

Scott

[clubnobbie]

No more mirrors flappin' in da wind!