jrm223

My van does not have that fuse box ('15 XL LWB cargo), but the sliding door locks DO work perfectly fine (I bought it brand new in '15). There are programming options in the BCM for which doors unlock via the different remote buttons and even the physical lock/unlock switches on the front doors. Being a used vehicle, you likely don't know it's history and especially what custom programming was requested by the original purchaser. Hook up to the ECU via OBDII using Forscan and you can see how the options are set and change them as needed. There may also be a way to do it in the owners manual using a sequence type programming procedure (think back to video games 20 years ago, up-up-down-left-up-right, etc, but instead in the van) - just like you can turn off the belt reminder on both seats (individually) using a certain simple procedure. Some fleet cargo van buyers order them with partitions and have the door switches programmed to NOT unlock the rear doors, because a thief could then smash a front window and reach in to unlock the secured cargo doors. Universal unlock at the door switch would defeat the security measures of even having the partition to secure the cargo/materials/tools.

I once ended up running my '15 TC XL cargo van dry (hey, it was 2am out here in rural Texas, lol) and it had shown me "0 Miles to Empty" for about 35-40 miles, driving at 70-75MPH and my van averages 24.5 MPG overall, FWIW. That was a few years ago now, so I don't recall how much it took to actually fill up - on top of the half-gallon or so that I had dumped in after walking two blocks home for my Jerry can, of course. Specs online show 15.8 gallon tank, though. But, add your "11 miles remaining" on top of my 40 miles past "0 miles remaining", gives us 51 miles and with my vans MPG that would be about 2.08 gallons remaining. Each vehicle/driver is different, though, so MPG and miles traveled will be different for everyone. Safe assumption that there's around 2 gallons remaining when it's telling you 0 miles left, not that you should dip into it, of course.

Since Fifty150 started the post (notice that I had said "especially since he started this post and said he has LED H11 bulbs..."), that would mean post #1 on page #1. As quoted here, note the author name & post date/time:

When I drill rivets, I always use a drill bit that's roughly halfway in-between the shank size & overall head size - because it will "cut" the head right off the shank for you. I've never damaged the riveted piece by doing so, either.

sKiZo, I thought that you were actually saying that; but about halfway through, I recognized it as a "Toaster-ism", hahaha.

"will eliminate the massive amount of brake dust we're getting on the front rotors" I don't understand how he's getting so much brake dust on the front. Mine still look like nearly brand new, even though the van has 130K miles on it now - I bought the van brand new in 2015, so I know they're original. Whatever, though, he's their problem now! Haha Wait, I just got to user Kenton now being labeled a ... FOE!! Hahahaha

Replying to a 9.5 year old post and saying the cargo vans aren't "physically configured to attach passenger seats"? All the required bolt holes are in the floor & walls for the factory OEM passenger seating and seatbelts.

Fifty150 clearly also does have LED headlight bulbs in the OEM housings, especially since he started this post and said he has LED H11 bulbs...

That's some pretty clean work with the false floor storage hatch/cover.

I think the specs for mine call it 180lbs, mostly angle iron frame with 1/2" carpeted plywood floor. That winch will do ya. Might even upgrade it to synthetic line at some point, 20% lighter & easier to handle. But that 20% number is actually based on my portable 12K winch, which is on a removable carrier for the tow hitch, and switching to synthetic rope would drop it's assembled current 100lb weight to 'just' 80lbs, lol. I've used my TC with that portable winch to move around my broke-down F350 7.3L CCLB DRW in the yard and pull out some small, roughly 3-4" diameter, trees out at my fixer-upper property. Handy thing to have around.

For the 12V side, just wire it all directly to the accessory/leisure battery through a fuse panel so the accessories can easily be used anytime. Then use a smart charger (configured properly for your battery) to charge the battery when you're plugged into shore power - there may even be units that can support two battery banks so one unit would smart-charge the accessory & chassis batteries independently. I haven't researched them myself, so I can't say for sure what's out there. For all-in-one units, the RV market has lots of options in different capacities & sizes, available on Amazon, Ebay, etc. If going AIO, you'd maybe want to find one meant for a small pop-up camper since a TC doesn't have a lot of room to work with; the units meant for full-size campers are going to have a whole lot more capacity & overall size than you really need or want to deal with. Being pretty handy myself, I'd do a full DIY setup. 30-amp external connector going to a small circuit breaker box with probably 4 breakers in it - the 15 & two 10's you mentioned wanting, plus whatever size is needed for the smart charger to have it's own circuit (likely a 15-amp). I can't really imagine what you would need a 15 plus two 10's for in such a small van, though, lol.

I've loaded & unloaded three different motorcycles in my van, often by myself (especially for unloading). If the tires are rolling fine and have air in them, it's not too difficult to load, although a helper is still a great thing to have. I know I've had to finagle and lean the bike sideways a bit to get handlebars & cables around parts of the van, like the upper door latch area in back (barn doors for me).

As I recall, the exhaust pipe & it's first resonator goes through that center hump. These vans are limited to roughly 1200lbs total weight, including people. So, a small ATV winch is all that any of us would need inside one of these vans for cargo/cart loading. As an example, the Badland ZXR2500 winch (with wireless remote, since I suspect some here would be interested in that) from Harbor Freight lists dimensions of roughly 11-1/8x4x4.5" overall. A quick measurement of my van shows that the winch should fit in the space above the hump & below the false floor - dependent on the mounting subframe that people come up with, anyway. Keep that subframe short but strong, and the winch should have no problem fitting. I actually have a 48x75" Bedslide in my van, so I'm not too worried about putting in a winch at this point - although I have thought of it before I got the bedslide.

You seem to have misread what I wrote. I was talking about the winch being completely below the false floor where it's out of the way & mounted strong to the unibody, with only the cable/line going up through the floor & fairlead. The only thing on top of the false floor would be the roller or Hawse fairlead (generally depending on steel wire or synthetic rope). I would want the winch low - watch some oilfield skid-loading videos on YouTube, they are ALL mounted at & pulling from floor height on the truck or trailer. Even race car trailers have the winch mounted low at/near floor height and the hook-up point is also kept low on the chassis. What you're wanting is just a micro-size recreation of winch trucks that have been in use for many decades, so the precedent and concept is already well-designed and proven. You're trying to pull the cart up into the van, not flip it over from having the winch points way too high; if the cart wheels bind on something and you're pulling high, it could flip before you realize what's going on.

Your Gen 1 cargo van has the same hidden 'footwell' that the Gen 2 TC has, with the main difference being that your false floor is welded in place, whereas about 2014.5+ is all bolted in (early '14's were still welded). Could still be a good spot to mount your winch and then put a roller fairlead on the floor to guide & protect the cable - or a Hawse fairlead if you go with synthetic rope. Just another option to consider since the ceiling would be a lot more of a PITA for mounting & wiring.

That's kind of funny, because I briefly looked into Uber a couple years ago, and Uber rideshare denied my van because it's a 2-seat cargo van, lol. Must have 4 doors with at least four seats or something like that, I don't recall exactly.

I'm in rural Texas, speed limit between my home and where I used to work in the next town over is 70 MPH. 24 MPG without the rack, 21.4-21.5 MPG with the rack and I had it on the van for a good long while. That's also with General Grabber AT2 tires.

That's really all part of the "right to repair" fight that's been ongoing for several years now. Some OEM's are attempting to make things so complicated or locked-down that you need to bring it to them for repair work and I've even seen them arguing that it's an IP (intellectual property) issue, hilarious! The ground post on the strut tower is just fine, it has like a one-foot-long cable that connects back to the negative battery post (at least assuming a Gen 2 TC). I have tow-truck-style detachable jumper cables utilizing an Anderson plug zip-tied to the grill and guess where I hooked up the ground wire? Yep, the chassis ground on the strut tower due to relative ease-of-access. But if you want to go through the hassle of putting your battery tender directly on the negative terminal, that's your prerogative, lol.

The only remote start I've personally had was an aftermarket unit on a Ford Ranger, it'd run for up to 15 minutes. I know in my dad's 2000's-something (maybe '04 or so) Chevy Impala, if he remote starts it, sits down and forgets to put the key in the ignition before pushing the brake, it'll automatically shut-off as a theft-preventive measure (so, pushing the brake w/o key shuts the engine off). When he puts the key in first & turns it to run, no problem & stays running. I'm thinking you may need to look at the remote start section in the owners manual to see the "behavior patterns", like why you only sometimes see that "Remote Start Active" screen - maybe there's a time limit? Perhaps after X minutes of running, it'll automatically shut off when you sit down - but below the time threshold, it will act 'normal'? That info should be in the manual. My own van is an XL, so the only fancy upgrades are power locks/windows, I had to add my own factory cruise control, even.

Ahh, the silly little maintenance issues that I never have to worry about in my windowless van! ? Some people have said to me "Wow, your windows are really dark! How do you see through them?!" and I reply "Uhh, what windows??" (mine is Tuxedo Black, not the "Creeper White", so some people apparently think it's tint when standing 20ft away, lol)

MLB, you must have a SWB van? I ask because my '15 XL LWB has 5 pairs of holes, lol. Apple52, are you trying to buy rails that conform to the roof, matching the curve over the driver area? If you're just looking at a 'universal' ladder rack, the model year really doesn't matter. Drill holes where you need them, like MLB said. I had this rack (roughly $120 on Amazon) on my van for quite awhile, but have it off now and installed rivnuts (nutserts, whatever) in the roof so taking it on & off is a one-tool affair. It was causing about 2.5MPG hit and I don't need them often, so I figured it'd be better to just put it on when I do need it. Worked great for bringing 10ft pallet rack uprights and 10ft & 12ft beams home for my garage, haha. I did make two trips to split the weight, so this pic is only half of what I actually brought home; 70MPH for maybe 2/3rds of the drive but was only 11.5 miles door-to-door and nothing moved or caused any issues.

Whoa! I paid them around $380-390 w/ tax to replace my '15 XL windshield a couple years ago - and they had to drive an hour from their nearest location out to me here in rural Texas, lol. I didn't feel like taking half a day off from work to go to them.

I've had no real trouble with my $30-ish USB device from Amazon. Sometimes a read or write fails, I just make the changes again (if it's a write) and then it generally works fine.

The difference in bolt pattern is only 6.3mm - or 3.175mm on each side of the wheel center (1/8" for us). So the plastic tabs on the Crown Vic hubcaps could be bent in a little extra at the center to grab the lug nuts of a Transit Connect bolt pattern - with the one huge caveat being that nobody makes "shoulder" lug nuts for our wheel bolt size/pattern! Pictured is a Crown Vic lug nut, that shoulder in the middle is what the prongs/fingers of the hubcaps grab onto, but nobody (when I had looked a couple years ago) makes shouldered lugnuts in our M12x1.5 size. Which then leaves you back to the adapters to run 5x114.3 with the right-sized lug studs or knocking out your studs to put in 1/2"x20 from a CV with the right lugnuts and then tweaking the hubcap prongs in a little bit extra for the slightly smaller bolt pattern. Crown Vic shouldered lug nut for plastic hubcaps:

That's just an uplevel screen on a higher-spec'd vehicle. I tried to turn on that extra info using Forscan, but it didn't work, lol. Cruise control works fine, but the digital display stays the same as it already is. The extra buttons won't do anything in your vehicle.