the Ram Promaster being a FWD body on frame van has made me wonder why we don't have FWD body on frame pick-ups. If this set-up works for industrial/cargo vans, then why not for a pick-up body style for regular customers?
I wonder if the Promaster sparks a FWD revolution in the pickup world...
This is the norm in europe, vans are the basis of pickups. I have an old VW Transporter (Vanagon) doka crew cab that does everything I need it to.
The only thing stopping a van/pickup in my mind is that they need an all wheel drive variant, to sell in good numbers in the USA, and they should only sell the crew cab version (seats up to 7!)
Still I think there would be resistance as most would want more under carriage clearance than what the PM offers.
By contrast my VW doka has 10-12 inches of underbody clearance and there is no live axle 'pumpkin' in the back, so it is true clearance!
I have seen conversions of 4wd pickups to custom car haulers. The frame behind the cab becomes a low slung trailer/bed with a drop axle. This is really not that hard with part-time transfer cases. The front axles are still rated high enough to power the vehicle.
well and especially for small pickups, mind you for some reason the powers that choose have decided north america doesnt need small pickups anymore, which is surprising becasue every single segment is downsizing except for pickups. I wonder if thats pure margin protection... what would ford, chev, ram do without pickup sales.....
close shop, likely...
what do you think the likely hood is that RAM gives us a true body on frame small pickup based on Promaster architecture? I imagine it wouldn't be difficult to shorten the frame..
pickup trucks? if you load a ton of weight on the back and the power goes to the front wheels there is a chance of having traction issues.
another issue is that its near impossible to develop a FWD transmission and diff that could handle the insane towing. There just isn't as much space. Plus many of those pickup trucks have a TON of torque and if you add that with FWD you'll just get insane torque steer.
Plus imagine trying to fit a V8 into a FWD platform? Geez that would be impossible.
Imagine if this was FWD lol
That Tundra is towing 300,000lbs....
It works for the Promaster because you aren't really towing. You are hauling. And the weight it hauls is nowhere as much as what heavy duty pickup trucks tow.
I am going to purchase a Promaster 2018 159" WB and high top. I am in the beginning stages of doing my floor plan. I will be traveling solo so my floor plan will fit my needs. I started thinking about all the weight of the batteries (300#), the water storage (250#) and all the other "stuff". I...
Thread idea blatantly taken from the Sprinter forum. >:D
I'd like to say that I did something with my Promaster, but I don't think its even i n the build system yet. So I wait.
But, what did you do?
As we have been shopping used vans I have seen a few show seat pictures that are missing the 2 levers on side which adjust height. Is my assumption that seats lacking the 2 side levers cannot adjust for height or tilt? Can someone confirm which adjustments the seats without side levers can...
Is it worth the $3500 to add the RV Ready Prep Package? I'll be building out the van to travel/live in. I will want to add RV hookup for electric, but not sure if to do that I would need this package.
Now that my van is 5 years old, I started looking for better treatments to make the acres of gray plastic trim look better. My scrubbings and vinyl treatments weren't making it look any better anymore.
I got a couple can of Mother's "Back to Black" in from Amazon yesterday.
Followed the...
