New Member from Maryland

[TedK]

Hello, my name is TedK. I am in Eastern Baltimore County Maryland. My Van is a 2000 Safari AWD. I got this van from my daughter after it developed an unknown radiater leak and the grandaughter overheated the engine on the interstate. The engine dropped a valve and busted #6 piston. It had 118000 miles on it. I put a new radiater and new reman Jasper engine in it. My wife and I had wanted to take a trip across the country and felt the van would give us more comfort than my 2002 GMC crewcab truck. We left home and headed west and south. We got as far as Albuquerque New Mexico when the transmission took a dump. I had the van towed to Quality GMC in Albuquerque. I had a GM reman trans installed and we were on our way again. We went west to the Pacific Hyway and north to Oregon then back east to the east coast. We put 8500 miles on the van, saw a lot of the country and are ready to do it again. BUT! this van is all over the road and I am pushing $12,000.00 in a 12 year old conversion van and it appears that this is a deeper money pit than any of the old wooden boats that I have had on the Chesapeake Bay in my lifetime. I have put new shocks, idler arms, draglink, alignment, tires and a lot of headaches into this van. My daughter bought it new and it was serviced regularly at the GMC dealer she bought it from. She spent a large sum of money over the years having whatever the dealer told her it needed done to it. I told her I thought they took advantage of her as far as what repairs they convinced her the van needed. She really liked the van, but when she lost the engine she had enough and bought a new Impala. I felt that the van would be ideal for me and the wife to take some trips around the country in because it is in very good physical shape. It is a Choo Choo conversion with all the bells & whistles. Boy was I surprised. Now I want to put a 2" lift kit on it so I can run 235-75-15 LT tires and I want to replace the rear tired leaf springs with a pair of heavy duty leafs if I can find a place that sells them. Perhaps I can find some answers here. I am almost 70 years old and I retired after working as a mobile equiptment mechanic for 41 years and stint in the army as a tanker on M-48 tanks. Now I pay others to do the type of work I did for 50 some years, life can be harsh when the brain says you can do something but the body won't let you. Boy this was a long ramble just to say Hello and ask about some leaf springs. Have a nice day folks, it's cold and windy around here!

[MountainManJoe]

Welcome, Ted. Nice intro.

Here are some of those springs you speak of
http://www.overlandvans.com/0104_suspension.html

[MrJames]

Welcome Ted !!!

Your windy post seems to be inspired by the weather outside your abode. Wow from another old man who needs a new body and eyes to try to decipher your unbroken ramble. I will blame it on too many drinks in my over saturated brain that is on my part alone.

I hope you can take my bad joke in stride as I think I just realized that you need advice on leaf springs. Someone may be here to answer what I can't except that I think they are in the rear portion of the van.

Kidding aside, I would say that with all your poor luck you have been able to get a lot of use from your and yours van. Did you see the giant ball of twine in your travels. I always regretted missing that sight.

Oh, I see that timeless is just in time as always.

So please LOL at my silliness instead of being ........ at me.

Did I say Welcome ?

[astroturf]

First and Foremost... Welcome.

Now for the bad news. You state that it's all over the road, and now you want to lift it up higher?

Save yer money and buy a rear sway bar.

Just my thoughts, Jim

[MrJames]

Ted

It sounds like you have a very nice van with many new parts in it. I hope you don't mind my dumb questions.

Why do you believe that the leaf springs are no good ?

What are you trying to accomplish with that tire size ?

Do you have any pictures that we can drool over ?

I think that AstroTurf may have a good point with the rear sway bar suggestion if it is "all over the road".

[astroturf]

If yer up for a bit of a drive...

http://www.astrosafari.com/viewtopic.php?f=69&t=13845

Good Luck, Jim

[MountainManJoe]

www.customsuspension.com