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Simple Mods for the Promaster

40K views 38 replies 16 participants last post by  KilWerBzz 
#1 · (Edited)
I have a list here of mods or helpful hints that work. These are simple mods to make life in the Promaster easier.
For those with u-connect and backup camera. If you travel with the back doors open, some people need a lot of air, the backup camera turns on and there is no radio function this trick solves that, only temperary though.
Setting Hand Brake and Exiting Van
If you just want to open your side door half way and keep it there, yes somebody does, this cheap trick works. Lasted a year with duck tape (tape was looking worn still worked) spacing between the strips needs to be increased.
http://www.promasterforum.com/forum/newreply.https://www.promasterforum.com/threads/sliding-door-stop-experiment.44361/#post-236601php?do=newreply&p=232489
Cup holders up high need I say more.
What did you do to your Promaster today?
Washer fluid refill, use the spout from a def container, so you don't use def, wally-world sells a red flex spout for .50 cents. The red spout needs to be put on crooked to let air in the bottle. But wally-world stockers have no clue what goes where on the shelf so good luck there. Def spout works good.
DEF Level
Front door entry help best I have without a step, I use the seat belt strap when needed, not the best but it's there.
Parking brake up the shorts, again need I say more. Exit Butt first or...
Setting Hand Brake and Exiting Van
So you want an easy way to attach things to the van interior and easy to remove, use 3.5" butt door hinges. You can buy 12 packs of hinges at your home center for under $20. Pop the pin on the hinge and remove whats there. I used this method on my 1974 van worked well. Sorry no picture that was 1974.
 
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#2 ·
Sore back in need of lumbar support?

Try an “Inland Lumbar Back Support” this works. This is better than the lump of coal support that comes with the Promaster this can be placed where it hurts with positive pressure on the back. If placed up high you may feel like a bobble head but it does relive the ache between the shoulders. Works for the lower back too. I got mine at Micro center, in store, on one of my stretch stops.
Price was right $1.99, buy two at this price.Inland Back Support .jpg
 

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#3 ·
Cabin air filter DIY

How to make a cabin filter.
First you need a washable filter about $20 for a 20"x 25" makes four filters. The pet filter with activated charcoal will work too it's about $10 makes four filters too. Both available at HD. Remove the cabin filter and disassemble. Caution on the black frame that surrounds the paper filter it's egg thin. Make a cardboard template that will fit in the black frame. Cut your filter using the cardboard template, next place the template on the plastic grid that comes with the filters. When cutting the grid you need to leave some legs longer than the template as these will be used to hold the grid to the frame. 3 or 4 top and bottom and one on each side should be enough. Mark the location of the long legs on the template and then transfer to the black frame. Drill holes near the bottom lip of the black frame where you marked from the template. Some trimming may be required to insert grid into holes. Use a hot knife to mushroom the protruding legs to lock in place. Reassemble the filter and install into vehicle. If you prefer Rock Auto has cabin filters for $6.50 get your diesel air filter with the cabin air filters and save. Your zip makes or breaks shipping.
http://www.promasterforum.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=25610&stc=1&d=1476389231
http://www.promasterforum.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=25618&stc=1&d=1476389231
 

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#4 ·
Tool less cabin air filter change

First you need to buy 8" releasable zip ties from HD in the electrical department.
You need two zip ties put the rest in the glove box.
Next remove the metal clips from the plastic filter frame.
Insert a zip tie up from the right side filter frame through the cowl hole and over and down through the left cowl hole and through the filter frame.
Push the second zip tie head onto the the first zip tie tail that is hanging down through the filter until snug. I can remove the zip tie with my wet noodle finger nails and two hands. You my want to put a half inch nylon spacer on the first zip tie between the filter frame and the second zip tie this will give fat fingers room to work on removing the zip tie.
zip ties.jpg
metal clip.jpg
zip tie installed.jpg
 

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#5 ·
#6 ·
#8 ·
Grab handle for sliding door install

A simple, yet elegant, install of a grab handle for people entering the van via the sliding door. :D This handle, plus the Carr super hoop step make it very easy to enter and exit the van.




If you remove the black boot at the bottom of the column, you will find one screw that needs to be removed to allow you to pull the grey plastic cover away from the column behind the passenger door.

Pull on the weatherstripping to release it from the edge of the grey column trim.

If you measure up 13 1/2" from the bottom of the grey cover you will find a hex hole punched in the steel column. Up 8" higher, you will find a second hole. I think these are used for partition holding.

If you enlarge the two holes with a drill, they will fit a 1/4-20 rivnut. Install them.

In the plastic cover drill corresponding 3/8" holes about 7/8" in from the edge. Cut two small blocks of wood - 5/8" thick, about 1" high and 3/4" wide. Drill a 3/8" hole in each. These are needed to fill the space between the plastic cover and the metal column so the screws can be tightened against a solid surface.

Run two 14/-20 x 1 1/4" round head screws thru the handle holes,thru the plastic, thru the wood spacer blocks, and screw into the rivnuts. Note: round head screws not hex head bolts!

Put the rubber weatherstrip back in place and trim to clear the handle. Done! :D

Note: when you close the door, the door opening lever will just about touch the handle, but it does not interfere (at least in my case)

But, you say, where do I get a handle that fits the two hole spacing EXACTLY?

I found these: http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-Black-Plas...item1a01bcd205

The guys at Fiat must have set the hole spacing to be just right for the "RV handle industry"!

All of the above should work... do so at your own risk - no warranties expressed or implied. Not available in all states, and subject to local laws and ordinances. etc....>:D

Enjoy your PM!
Ed
 
#9 ·
Stupid parking brake arm catching me on the way out solution.
Take parking brake arm mechanism off seat base ( not a big job)
Put in vise
Bend the arm mount inward
Might take a couple tries to get it just right
Now my brake arm is close to the seat where it belongs
I had caught it almost the first day I got PM so mine was bent way out
But now it is in all nice and tight
Had to get. Under van and adjust brake cable after also
 
#10 ·
Windshield cleaning for most of the year

I was saving this for Bug season but I had to drive through the salt mist so here it is.
Windshield is big and most gas station squeegees are short handled. So you go to WM buy the $6 extendable squeegee works for me and my belly doesn't clean the bugs off the hood while washing the window. Use the stations windshield cleaner solution. The problem is now you have a bug scrubber soaked with bug juice where do you put it? You unscrew the head in the rain gutter out of sight until needed again, this can be done without touching the head. I bungee the pole to the passenger seat with my bottle of window clean when done. Update I locatated the pole between the door and the hood release. Now if you ride with your better half put it on the passenger side they always clean windows better anyway. I used 3/4+” Grip clips and VHB tape to hold the pole in place so far it's holding screws to come later. I had to put a tab on the hood release just some packing tape folded upon it's self works fine. If you look close you can see it. I don't know how well this will work in the winter I'm in a warm climate most of the time but there are no bugs in the winter so you could just throw it in the back or find a warm spot under the hood to store it.
https://goo.gl/photos/jkpsTr1BHuvBrTGv6
 
#12 ·
Entrance help for the PM passenger a grab handle

I used the passenger seat the other day and found it hard to get in without the steering wheel. So I came up with this tool-less mod. Buy a dog collar and put around the hinge bracket of the seat, seatbelt side. For testing I have one on the drivers seat and it works fairly well you still need to balance your self with the other hand on the door or dash. For the passenger side left foot in the step well first and then grab the collar and pull your self up, drivers just the opposite. While writing this a light bulb lite up put one around the head rest I tried it and it works better, but the strap may feel like a washing instruction tag on your shirt Hi-way testing may be needed. seat help.jpg seat help 2.jpg
 

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#13 ·
I used the passenger seat the other day and found it hard to get in without the steering wheel. So I came up with this tool-less mod. Buy a dog collar and put around the hinge bracket of the seat, seatbelt side. For testing I have one on the drivers seat and it works fairly well you still need to balance your self with the other hand on the door or dash. For the passenger side left foot in the step well first and then grab the collar and pull your self up, drivers just the opposite. While writing this a light bulb lite up put one around the head rest I tried it and it works better, but the strap may feel like a washing instruction tag on your shirt Hi-way testing may be needed. seat help.jpg seat help 2.jpg
I like the strap idea, and will probably install something similar; however, the plastic buckles on dog collars are meant to give-way when a certain amount of pressure is used. This is supposed to prevent a dog from strangling itself if getting caught, but I have heard of unfortunate incidents when they didn't work as they should. Which, is why my dog is naked unless going for a walk or in my vehicle.

For the purpose of assisting entry into the van, maybe a belt buckle type of closure would be safer should the buckle give way while someone is pulling themselves up.
 
#16 ·
For those that installed heaters.

Sand dobber season is here in TX so to keep them out of my Barking heater intake/exhaust pipes, that's one of those Chinese parking heaters for those that don't know. I came up with this easy mod, a square of aluminum screen 3"x3" and a piece of pvc pipe thin wall 1.25" worked for me. A hose clamp would be better as the exhaust pipe may melt the pvc if left on. In the pic the heater is running and the intake side, the screen extends out past the end of the pipe. This was done so as not to restrict air flow. They slide on and off easy if you need to remove them.
https://goo.gl/photos/n4AT5WW6ArKSMrMq7
 

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#20 · (Edited)
How not to lock the slider door when locking the rest.

This is a repost from another thread on this forum.
Why you need too I don't know, but it's nice to know if you need it. Open the slider look on the C pillar for the black oval, there is a button there if you push that in and hold, then push the door lock on the remote you can now open and close the slider with the other doors still locked. To lock the slider close and press the lock button on the remote.
 
#21 ·
Back door hold open strap

It was windy today the back door fully open and while sitting on the back a gust caught the door and it came swinging at me legs. I was able to stop the door before it crashed into me legs. So I came up with an instant solution using one of me famous dog collars. Would a bungee cord work yes, I didn't have one short or long enough. There is a sharp screw in the wheel well for the d-ring to slide over and I made a hole in the strap on the other end. I popped one of the x-mass plugs on the door put the plug in the hole and back in the door. It is working right now, but will need to be improved upon. Right now there's a whole hardware store of parts flowing through my mind none have checkout yet, plus my many junk drawers.
http://www.promasterforum.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=48778&stc=1&d=1523910269
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Popeye the sailor i'm not.
 

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#22 ·
Most satisfying (least work for greatest return and no money spent) I have made:
Problem: None of the half dozen cupholders in the PM fit a standard nalgene water bottle.
Solution: The three big cupholders at the bottom of the middle dash unit (under the stereo/climate controls) are just a little too small for a nalgene. I took the cupholder part of this off (I think it easily removes so u can wash it), took the screws out of it, separating the 3 pieces it is made from and removed the rubber "insert" with the "bubbles". Put the other two plastic pieces back together, put it back in place and voilla fits nalgene water bottles perfectly!
 
#23 ·
I had the same issue and turned a nalgene bottle holder out of teak. I made the lower part of the turning to have of a diameter that fit snug in the existing lower cup holders (the middle one to be exact) and then turned the upper portion to fit around a nalgene bottle with a neoprene sleeve. It's great being able to drive around without my bottle falling/rolling everywhere.
 
#25 · (Edited)
Tablet Holder Hack

Last time I was at Ikea, I picked up various plastic bins and drawer organizers for my shop and a plastic tablet holder for kitchen recipes caught my eye. Here's a link on Amazon:

[ame]https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZAJTRC8[/ame]

I thought it might snap into the clipboard holder on the PM dash. And it does, but the angle is all wrong and it kind of lifts up with nothing to weigh it down.



Being no stranger to bending PVC and other thermoplastics, I fired up the heat gun and tried changing the angle of the main bend to make it steeper. No dice, so I decided to heat the bend up and flatten the holder out.



Measuring the flattened piece of plastic, I found it was about a foot long, so eye-balling it I thought I'd put a bend in the middle around 80° or 85°.



So I clamped it down in the center and heated along the edge and bent it. Testing it out, the angle seemed right but when the end was clamped into the clip-board holder it popped in the the air because of the right angle bend on the end of the holder.

So I heated one of the curved ends and flattened it out a bit. It's a little hard to see in the picture below, but it's the bend on the left hand side.



Success!



It's a bit of a hack and not the prettiest thing in the world. But it's cheap, usable and fairly easy to implement. The white sticks out like a sore thumb from the outside, so were I to do this again I might bend one myself out of a thick piece of black of HDPE or similar thermoplastic. Length of the plastic sheet is about 12" minus the curved up edges. Width is about 10".

You could cut two of them out of something like this:

[ame]https://www.amazon.com/Density-Polyethylene-Plastic-Sheet-Black/dp/B01JMAIYJW[/ame]

MsNomer, this might be a good starter project for your black Kydex. Most people score the Kydex with an exacto knife an snap it over a hard surface, similar to how you cut plexiglass. You could probably make one of these out of a clear sheet of plexiglass too. I have some on-hand, so I may give it a go.

P.S. After reviewing the Amazon page, I see they say the tablet holders are “adjustable” which isn’t exactly true. You can, however, reverse the holder and this may give an appropriate angle without modifying it. I didn’t try this; it never occurred to me. The area the tablet rests on is rather short in this orientation, I can’t check since I’ve bent mine into oblivion. You might want to give it a shot, although it may still be necessary to flatten the curved up lip so the holder doesn’t tip up above the front of the dash.
 
#26 · (Edited)
Ah yes tablet holders. I did a solo cross country tip a month ago and decided I needed a better navigation system. I have come to like my iPhone SE for it’s data and routing but I find phone screens a bit small. I have an iPad mini w/o cell so using it means it has no GPS built in. Drat’s. Mounting is also a pain as Ziggy found with the big pad. Here is what I did. Purchase a bluetooth GPS locator which I also use with my Nikon D3100 so I already owned one. Without it the iPad will get you close but perhaps not on the road but out in a field!

That gets the location right. Then a holder:

I decided to mount the holder to the clipboard which I had freed earlier by pulling the radio and screws. I ran power for the GPS locator up from below earlier too when I used my TomTom to navigate, same plug.



Now remember my iPad has no cell so you must either download the data for the area from Google or pair it to the Phone. I have done both but pairing works and you don’t have to do any prep for your trip. If you have cell service on an iPad then no need for the GPS locator or the pairing. Just buy the holder and run power.
[ame]https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006M49G80/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1[/ame]
[ame]https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XXVX74Z/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1[/ame]
 
#27 ·
RD,

That big unit mounted there doesn't bother your view? It would be too big a block for me. My Garmin is about as big as I'd want to go.

You could get one of those cell data units but they are $$$ monthly... the Mobley that Ms. and I got work well.... just used it this week on a trip down to PA!
 
#28 ·
The iPad mini is perfect IMHO. 7.8” diagonal size. It does not block any vision AFAICS. Ms. has a full sized iPad with cell service and I wouldn’t like that bigger size so I adapted to this one. It is much narrower than the full sized one but big enough so my cataracted vision can still read it. The holder would fit the big iPad though. Notice it doesn't block the radio bit fits much lower than your Garmin sitting on the dash. I hate monthly subscriptions as you get bled constantly. This has no additional cost as I get unlimited cell from my Son’s Verizon account anyway.
 
#29 ·
ProEddie,

Another datapoint. I drove around yesterday with my big iPad in landscape mode and visibility was fine. My angle is a bit less steep than RD’s and I’m 6’1” with a long trunk (31” inseam) so YMMV.

I have cellular data on my iPad so I don’t need an additional GPS unit. I’ve found that it almost pays for itself because of discounts for an additional ‘phone’ on my plan. It’s also very convenient when traveling.
 
#30 ·
Can Never Have Enough



The RAM mounted Microsoft Surface can be coupled to the smartphone (on the dash, above) for internet use, but doesn't need to be as we use an 'on-board/off-line' DeLorme Topo 10 (moving) map which serves adequately, with its large screen, when cell coverage is not available. The Surface does not have a GPS but we keep an old Garmin handheld sitting on the dash, 'plumbed' into the Surface (USB) to provide the positional information required by DeLorme's moving map. The Garmin also keeps a 'track file' which we can then import to the DeLorme/Surface to create a record of our travels. Here we are, slightly more than a month into 'this trip' at the Amistad Reservoir, Texas.

 
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