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After I worked out a price on my ProMaster 1500 with a dealer in neighboring Wisconsin, he offered to pass along any upfitting I wanted done at his cost. He was very eager to move this van as he was sitting on it for quite a while. He had the upfitter call me and I asked her to price out a floor liner, partition, wall panels, and some Ranger shelving. Her prices to me were too high as I could buy most of the stuff online or locally for less. She was very slow at getting pricing to me, the process took almost two weeks. The Penda wall panels were the exception. She was able to sell them to me for $660 whereas the best I could find them elsewhere (Inlad) was $880. I had her deliver them to the dealer which she was not far from, so I could take them with me when I picked up my van. Once I knew I wasn’t getting the partition, liner and shelving from them I started looking at other options and places to purchase. I needed them ordered and shipped quickly as I was going to have some time to install everything between Xmas and New Years.
I felt that a ½” thick rubber mat would be what I wanted for durability and sound deadening. I ordered what was supposed to be a ½” 3 piece mat from a place on the east coast and would ship the next day. I spent a lot of time looking at partitions and I knew I wanted one with a sliding door. I have steel one in my Econoline with a hinged door and didn’t want to continue having to clear stuff out of the way every time I needed to open it to haul long lengths of lumber, trim, pipe, etc.. That meant having to go with an aluminum one because that seems to be the only material that sliding door partitions are offered in. Ranger Design is the most common and readily available and costs $1200 as opposed to a hinged door steel partition that is about $600. I was prepared to shell out whatever was needed to get this van set up the way I wanted. I spent the last 12 plus years in a base Ford E250 without any options and when I consider what the cost is spread out over the life of the truck to have a few options, I was prepared to spend the whatever it took to get it set up my way. Besides, the $4000 in rebates made it easier to do, not to mention the aluminum looks first class.
Well, the mat arrived in about 3 days, but it was not the one I ordered nor the one listed on the company web site. It was a Legend ¼” one piece mat not the ½’ 3 piece we had discussed. I figured I give it try so I unrolled it and put it in the van. It was very heavy, somewhat messy, and had that bad rubber smell. There was lots of rubber crumbs everywhere and it was about ½”away from the sides everywhere and even more so behind the wheel wells, about a 2” gap to the side panels. It was not as thick as I wanted and it didn’t hide the floor ribs very well. I contacted the company and they agreed to have it picked up and returned at no cost. Prior to ordering that mat I had visited an upfitter not far from me (Inlad truck and van equipment / US upfitters) to see what they carried. They had a Legend Ultragrip solid plastic 3 piece mat with a rubber coated surface but it was very rigid and nothing like the rubber one I felt I wanted. It was also $600, over $200 more than other mats I was considering. Well, I was running out of time and options as my Xmas break was coming and my partition was due to arrive on the Dec 29. I knew the mat had to be installed before the partition so I had to spend the extra money and get the one from Inlad. Fortunately they were open xmas eve so I made the trip to get it so it would not hold up the rest of my upfitting.
I don’t remember exactly how I found the site where I saw the aluminum partition I ended up getting, but I’m glad I did. It looked even nicer than the Ranger partition and was $200 cheaper. The company is J & M Truck Bodies in Garden Grove, CA. (https://plumbingvans.com/product-category/ram-promaster/:) ). I called them to find out more about their partition and they were very friendly and had no problem answering all my questions. They even connected me with Josh, the guy who designed this partition. I asked Josh why I should buy his instead of the Ranger and he said his fits better and didn’t have large holes at the top corners like Rangers’. If you look at Rangers’ you can see that you could put your hand or arm through the holes that their partition has. He said that that they were selling fast and had one in stock with the window option that I wanted and could ship it that day. I like to buy from a smaller company instead of some giant supplier like Ranger Design. I received it about a week later undamaged in a surprisingly
compact box. Now I had the pieces I need to get started.
I felt that a ½” thick rubber mat would be what I wanted for durability and sound deadening. I ordered what was supposed to be a ½” 3 piece mat from a place on the east coast and would ship the next day. I spent a lot of time looking at partitions and I knew I wanted one with a sliding door. I have steel one in my Econoline with a hinged door and didn’t want to continue having to clear stuff out of the way every time I needed to open it to haul long lengths of lumber, trim, pipe, etc.. That meant having to go with an aluminum one because that seems to be the only material that sliding door partitions are offered in. Ranger Design is the most common and readily available and costs $1200 as opposed to a hinged door steel partition that is about $600. I was prepared to shell out whatever was needed to get this van set up the way I wanted. I spent the last 12 plus years in a base Ford E250 without any options and when I consider what the cost is spread out over the life of the truck to have a few options, I was prepared to spend the whatever it took to get it set up my way. Besides, the $4000 in rebates made it easier to do, not to mention the aluminum looks first class.
Well, the mat arrived in about 3 days, but it was not the one I ordered nor the one listed on the company web site. It was a Legend ¼” one piece mat not the ½’ 3 piece we had discussed. I figured I give it try so I unrolled it and put it in the van. It was very heavy, somewhat messy, and had that bad rubber smell. There was lots of rubber crumbs everywhere and it was about ½”away from the sides everywhere and even more so behind the wheel wells, about a 2” gap to the side panels. It was not as thick as I wanted and it didn’t hide the floor ribs very well. I contacted the company and they agreed to have it picked up and returned at no cost. Prior to ordering that mat I had visited an upfitter not far from me (Inlad truck and van equipment / US upfitters) to see what they carried. They had a Legend Ultragrip solid plastic 3 piece mat with a rubber coated surface but it was very rigid and nothing like the rubber one I felt I wanted. It was also $600, over $200 more than other mats I was considering. Well, I was running out of time and options as my Xmas break was coming and my partition was due to arrive on the Dec 29. I knew the mat had to be installed before the partition so I had to spend the extra money and get the one from Inlad. Fortunately they were open xmas eve so I made the trip to get it so it would not hold up the rest of my upfitting.
I don’t remember exactly how I found the site where I saw the aluminum partition I ended up getting, but I’m glad I did. It looked even nicer than the Ranger partition and was $200 cheaper. The company is J & M Truck Bodies in Garden Grove, CA. (https://plumbingvans.com/product-category/ram-promaster/:) ). I called them to find out more about their partition and they were very friendly and had no problem answering all my questions. They even connected me with Josh, the guy who designed this partition. I asked Josh why I should buy his instead of the Ranger and he said his fits better and didn’t have large holes at the top corners like Rangers’. If you look at Rangers’ you can see that you could put your hand or arm through the holes that their partition has. He said that that they were selling fast and had one in stock with the window option that I wanted and could ship it that day. I like to buy from a smaller company instead of some giant supplier like Ranger Design. I received it about a week later undamaged in a surprisingly
compact box. Now I had the pieces I need to get started.