I'm planning a micro-motorhome built into a 1500 136WB High Top PM or a 130WB Medium High Top Ford Transit.
A few days ago I spent an hour crawling around a PM here in Portland.
Some impressions/measurements:
The space is truly impressive. Boxy, high volume, nearly straight sides and roof, will be very easy to build in. Most fluids/tanks will go inside, protecting them from damage and freezing, no way to get very much underneath.
Seats very comfortable, if a bit large. I expected more than 12" between seat belt buckles in the aisle. This space gets used a lot while travelling. None of their PMs had swivel seats, so couldn't try that.
Slender unpadded inner armrest for the driver seat, none on passenger seat.
View forward is very, very good. (I'm 6'). But the side windows stay up 5 inches or so.
Couldn't test side/rear view since their was a partition, but judging from the seat height and the size of the window it's probably very good. I'll still want a rear view cam, now looking at aftermarket solutions as well as their U-Connect system.
Exterior mirrors are excellent but complex, bet they're very pricey to repair/replace. Power folding, manual folding, reverse folding in case struck (according to the salesman, but I forgot to check this), two separate aimable elements in each mirror! Large upper flat, wide panoramic lower curved. Even when folded, the mirrors stick out about 4 inches, making the it over 90" wid.
Opening and closing the door takes a lot of force to get started, probably good to keep the door from taking off on its own when on grades, but not what I'm used to.
Exactly 7 1/4 inches clearance above the solid rear axle. The van was empty, but I don't think that affects this measurement.
Tires are VanCo Four Season Continental 225/75 R16, 121/120 rated, made in Czech Republic. Full size spare under the rear.
Rear wheel wells measure 34" wide (tapering to 30"), 17" high, 9" deep. Centered 37 inches in front of the rear doors.
125 1/2" behind base of front seats to rear door, about three inches longer than specs. Wonder if I wrote this down wrong?
Load floor seems to have excessive tilt, and is higher than expected: With the van empty, 22 1/2 inches on the side, 25 1/2 inches at the rear. NOTE: Ram literature clearly shows an empty van with 21" rear and side.
This will drop and level out with weight, but still seems excessive. I'm planning a light weight build, probably under 1500 pounds complete with full fluids and two people, and am very concerned about anything more than an inch in level. Makes cooking tricky and looks funny.
Any ideas on how much weight it will take to level it out and what the load heights will be?
Full opening rear doors worked very well. I don't think the 130WB Ford has the 270 degree articulating doors.
A few days ago I spent an hour crawling around a PM here in Portland.
Some impressions/measurements:
The space is truly impressive. Boxy, high volume, nearly straight sides and roof, will be very easy to build in. Most fluids/tanks will go inside, protecting them from damage and freezing, no way to get very much underneath.
Seats very comfortable, if a bit large. I expected more than 12" between seat belt buckles in the aisle. This space gets used a lot while travelling. None of their PMs had swivel seats, so couldn't try that.
Slender unpadded inner armrest for the driver seat, none on passenger seat.
View forward is very, very good. (I'm 6'). But the side windows stay up 5 inches or so.
Couldn't test side/rear view since their was a partition, but judging from the seat height and the size of the window it's probably very good. I'll still want a rear view cam, now looking at aftermarket solutions as well as their U-Connect system.
Exterior mirrors are excellent but complex, bet they're very pricey to repair/replace. Power folding, manual folding, reverse folding in case struck (according to the salesman, but I forgot to check this), two separate aimable elements in each mirror! Large upper flat, wide panoramic lower curved. Even when folded, the mirrors stick out about 4 inches, making the it over 90" wid.
Opening and closing the door takes a lot of force to get started, probably good to keep the door from taking off on its own when on grades, but not what I'm used to.
Exactly 7 1/4 inches clearance above the solid rear axle. The van was empty, but I don't think that affects this measurement.
Tires are VanCo Four Season Continental 225/75 R16, 121/120 rated, made in Czech Republic. Full size spare under the rear.
Rear wheel wells measure 34" wide (tapering to 30"), 17" high, 9" deep. Centered 37 inches in front of the rear doors.
125 1/2" behind base of front seats to rear door, about three inches longer than specs. Wonder if I wrote this down wrong?
Load floor seems to have excessive tilt, and is higher than expected: With the van empty, 22 1/2 inches on the side, 25 1/2 inches at the rear. NOTE: Ram literature clearly shows an empty van with 21" rear and side.
This will drop and level out with weight, but still seems excessive. I'm planning a light weight build, probably under 1500 pounds complete with full fluids and two people, and am very concerned about anything more than an inch in level. Makes cooking tricky and looks funny.
Any ideas on how much weight it will take to level it out and what the load heights will be?
Full opening rear doors worked very well. I don't think the 130WB Ford has the 270 degree articulating doors.