Beta Don

Just finished installing the Curt Hitch on my 2014 SWB Van. Very impressive hitch for the price. I found it on-line for $125 with free shipping. The hitch is rated for more tongue weight than the van and it's also rated to tow a heavier trailer than the van is rated for. Very easy install - No messing with the exhaust or the spare tire. Took about an hour and most of that was figuring out how to snake the bolts and backing plates up inside the frame Bought an aftermarket 'plug and play' trailer wiring harness. You unplug the tail light connectors and plug the harness into the connector you removed and it's jumper into the tail lights. This unit uses 12 volts from the battery to power the trailer lights and the switchbox just pulses that power to the trailer using the tail light wiring as a trigger so the trailer lights do not overload the car's wiring. That install also took about an hour. I didn't have to run the +12 wire all the way up to the battery like the instructions said to do - I got my 12 volts from the rear accessory plug just behind the back seats. The whole install looks great and works well Don

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.TRS5&_nkw=281978682858&_sacat=0 Don

As early as the late 1950's, Corvette owners would just wave at each other when passing and it continues to this very day - Worked very well all the years I had a 'Vette Don

I never considered a Transit Connect until after I saw the 2014's. The earlier ones were too tall for my liking and the 2.5L with the 6 speed w/OD gives them great gas mileage - We get right at 30 on the highway I suppose Ford made the change because sales were tapering off and they wanted more of the small passenger van market as opposed to concentrating just on the cargo van market. I love the way the rear seats come out of our SWB model in about two minutes! - It's the best of both worlds as our passenger model very quickly becomes a cargo model Don

We were shopping for a SWB van to travel in, but we were kinda put off by the 'sparse' interior - I figured it would have to be harder to heat and cool and probably a bit noisier at freeway speeds too But then, we got to thinking that occasionally, one or more of the grandkids would like to go with us on a trip and trying to fashion a safe and legal seat in the back of the van would be difficult, to say the least, so we started looking at wagons with the rear seats. Unfortunately, not one sales rep at any dealer we checked knew a darned thing about the TC wagons - We especially wanted to know how difficult it would be to remove the rear seats for the times we didn't need them, or when they were taking up space we needed for something else. "I suppose you could probably find some way to unbolt them and take them out" was the best advice we got We eventually found the 'right' TC SWB wagon - A used 2014 with only 13K on it and almost 2 years of the 3 year, 36K warranty left and we were able to buy it for $10.5K off the sticker. As it turns out, the rear seatbacks fold flat, then if you need more space, they lift vertically to stow just behind the front buckets and if that's still not enough space, they lift completely out of the van in 30 seconds using no tools at all. You can take out the larger one or the smaller one separately or you can remove them both. At the price for this barely used one, it was much cheaper than a new cargo van . . . . and this one has leather power seats. It took us over 6 weeks to find the right one and we had to travel 400 miles to bring it home, but it was really worth the wait Don

Yes, ours is fairly new - 2014 with 13,000 miles and we've owned it less than a week. True, if nothing else works, the new Pioneer does have full functionality . . . . it would just be nice to control the volume without having to take your eyes off the road My experience so far is just as you suggest - There's a different wiring harness for every audio option and you can't go up from what you had to the next better sound system. I really wanted the leather wrapped steering wheel anyway and I found one from a van with only 20 miles on it. If the audio/Bluetooth controls on the right spoke work, great! - If not, I haven't lost anything, but I've gained the leather wheel I wanted I'll report back with what I found out Don

I have a 2014 XLT with speakers in the front doors and the rear sliding doors - None in the A pillars it seems. Does anyone know what ohmage the speakers are? I'm switching to a Pioneer head unit and the speakers need to be 4 ohms or more. I may elect to upgrade the speakers later on, but for now I just wanted to know if the OEM ones are safe for the new head unit Thanks, Don

I've already discovered that I couldn't upgrade from the OEM CD/Radio to the next better one - CD/Radio with SD/USB input in my 2014 XLT - The radio wiring harnesses are different - Mine only has wires for the Aux In in the glove box and no wiring for the SD/USB port that comes with the upgraded radio . . . . So, I've opted to install a Pioneer AVIC 6100NEX Nav/CD/Radio/SD/USB, etc, etc I would really like to upgrade to the steering wheel with audio/Bluetooth controls on the right spoke like the Titanium Editions came with, so I can use the audio controls with the Pioneer. My van came with power leather seats, but not the leather wrapped steering wheel. I found one with the audio controls and am going to swap in the leather wheel and I *hope* the wiring is in the steering column for the audio controls which did not come on my van What are my chances? Thanks! Don