JonBowerbank

My ideal ramp is this: https://www.americanwheelchairs.com/specrampharmhitchmount.shtml Both Harmar & EZ Access both use to make a version, but not anymore Anyone happen to know of a similar hitch mounted ramp option?

Mine is bolted in as well, was never welded. I’ve removed it and put the flooring back in twice since I’ve owned it. It’s the same bolt points that would hold in bench seats. I’d converted my cargo van to a passenger van, but now it’s 100% dedicated to work, so I’ve put the flooring back in, sold the seats and got it set up as a cargo model from now on. With the false floor only being bolted in how it is, I don’t think over time it would be the best option to support the pull on a winch if it were installed there. Feels like the subfloor could start to flex & bend. I also prefer to keep the floor clear of any permanent installations, so I still have that space for cargo. Just spitballing the idea of using a solid cross beam bolt point in the ceiling for mouting the winch, run the winch cable to a pulley at the L-track. That way I’d maximize my cargo space. And when not in use for a long period of time, I could stow the pulley & cable up high where the winch in mounted. A couple pics of my bulkhead and where the L-track is located (this is before I installed the actual track itself). With the pulley at the L-Track level, it’d be just the right height for pulling my work carts up the ramp and into the van. It’s likely WAY easier to just mount my winch on the L-track (removable as well for when I don’t need it.). But I’d have to find the right winch with the right mounting configuration so it’s nice and hard mounted on a single rail, without too much play or rattling while driving.

Just put the same 16” rims & tire size on my ‘12 TC, and fits great. I had steelies on before, and the difference is really shocking in terms of acceleration & control

I’m thinking of putting a winch inside my ‘12 TC as well. I have a partition with L-Track along the middle that I’m thinking of mounting it to. Or possibly mounting it to the cieling, and installing a pulley at the L-track level. Curious what you’ve done!

Really not hard at all. Panel pops off easily, be gentle as the clips holding it on do break easily. But they’re cheap to replace. Then there’s a layer of vinyl with foam backing to peel off. I used a heat gun set very low and aimed from a distance to just barely melt the adhesive in one spot, then the rest of the edge peeled off fine. You’ll then have to remove a block of sound dampening foam glued to the inside. Once that’s gone, pull the manual locking knob out, remove 3 screws holding in the lock assembly, and it comes completely free. The rest is pretty straightforward. And putting everything back is easy as well. I used a hot glue gun for replacing the foam block and parts of the vinyl cover.

This is an old thread, but I noticed when I was exploring the same issue I was having, that it had dead ended. My driver side sliding door was locking fine, but when hitting the power unlock, it rarely unlocked. And I would have to reach back and turn the mechanical knob to unlock. Whenever it did unlock itself, it was completely by luck. I’ve been going back and forth the past week to a ‘12 TC sitting in a local Pick n Pull. Suddenly remembered, oh yeah, I should do something about my door’s power lock issue. Went to the yard today and just pulled the entire locking assembly. Opened up the panel to my van’s door, plugged it in, and it worked flawlessly. So I made the switch later today and I have a functioning power door lock again. Here were my findings. Everything seems to hinge on the actuator physically tripping the mechanical lock (where the manual knob inserts) in order to unlock. If that mechanical knob is not completely flush to the wall, turning to completion, THEN the lock automatically returns and resets to the locked position. Looks like the “3 eared retainer” holding the manual/mechanical lock to the wall of the assembly’s housing had broken off, so it sunk in, got catty whampas, and just wasn’t able to achieve full range of motion to actuate the door lock to the unlock position completely. So in reality, I could have just bought this piece, disassembled and replaced the part. But I looked at half a dozen exploded diagrams and could not find a part number or description that matched it. In the end, just doing the whole assembly was the quickest and less time consuming solution. Also, what a horrible retainer design for a part that rotates! Photos of my findings attached

Here’s the fix I went through today:

Didn’t want to start a new topic, figured this was related. Definitely keep an eye on local Pick n’ Pulls. A couple years, I very rarely saw a 2008-2013 Ford Transit show up. Now it seems a lot of industries are upgrading and selling or junking their old Transit Connects. When I got my TC Cargo, I’d originally planned on using it for both work and play. So I pulled the cargo floor extension, installed a flip up bench seat and it was great. But it’s mostly for work nowadays, so I’m converting it back to full on cargo mode. Today I scored a bulkhead partition, cargo floor extension (pictured below) and like new OEM cargo floor mat today, $40 all in. Going back tomorrow for a couple of cosmetic interior pieces that I’m needing

Good to know abou the thread kits! I don’t feel too great about the heli-coil aspect, but if it’s been mostly good reports, why not! Luckily the quote on the rethread work was honestly quite reasonable as well, somethings at this point in my knowledge of engines, I’d rather leave to the mechanic!

It’s been a couple years that I’ve wrestled with this. Got into a fender bender a couple years ago, rear ended ‘70’s Chevy pickup where the truck’s hitch put a huge dent in my front bumper and bent the impact bar. It was a day’s work to remove the bumper, cut off the old bar, bolt on the new bar and then the tedious job of mounting a new bumper assembly. But it all came together fine. The weird thing was immediately afterwards, my ABS and Traction Control lights came on. Since then, when I’ve taken the car in for checkups or tune ups, they’ve all been baffled as to why the alerts are lighting up. They all said sensors are performing as they should, ABS module appears to be functioning correctly. That it’s likely an internal wiring issue. I’m fairly certain the ABS is completely non-functional as well. It hasn’t presented any safety concerns, I’ve had my fair share of non-ABS cars, but it is nice to have! I’m wondering if it’s a ground fault, maybe when I cut off the impact bar or pulled the bumper a wire came detached that belongs to the ABS system? Any ideas? Any info I’m not supplying that might sprout some ideas?

This is the process I went through in my quest as well! “If it’s this, can I do this, so if I do that, is there a thing for that, nope, ok back to the other, hmmm” OK, yeah not worth the price in changing out all my wheels and tires to 16” just so I can slap on some cool center hubs! Ha ha Thx

Has anyone successfully found anything similar that fits the stock 5x108 bolt pattern of a Transit Connect 15” wheel? I’ve just always liked the look of the cop car hubs, and thought it’d look great on my all black 2012 TC. Besides having to convert my entire wheel to 16” with adapter for 5x114.3 (which is the size for the P71 hub caps), I haven’t found anything that fits what I currently have. Also considering just finding some classic spoke Crown Vic 15mm hubcaps, which are also a point of nostalgia for me.

I’m just lucky this all happened over the holiday break! Felt here would be a safe place to vent. A few months ago, my 3rd spark plug popped loose, destroying the coil and nearly left me stranded on the side of the road I thought. But I managed to putter home the last 5 miles on 3 cylinders and almost no compression. I inspected the cylinder head, no debris got in, the spark plug threaded back in just fine...or so I thought, and no problems for a couple months. I was experiencing some vibration not long after, but I figured it was something related and that I’d have to get it looked at soon. Took it to my normal repair shop, they couldn’t think of any reason why it should be vibrating, so no charge on the inspection. Then, a couple weeks ago the spark plug popped out again, this time I could tell that it had completely stripped out and there was no such luck in simply screwing it back in. Took the van to a local machinist who was able to insert a new threaded sleeve (at my own risk, as he says it can be chancy, but has always worked out great in his 40 years experience). So, I have 4 cylinders again...but the vibration is still present. Like really bad. Between 1000 & 2000 RPM it’s especially gnarly. Thought it could maybe be a muffler, as when I listened below the car, that’s where I heard the majority of the noise. Took it to a muffler shop, they said nope, not the muffler, definitely a bad motor mount. Did a little online research, turns out it’s something really simple to do on my own! Saw a bunch of how-to videos, ultimately followed this Dad’s video considering he had the same tools at his disposal. I only did the passenger side shock absorbing mount. Researched the correct torque settings for mounting it back in, and away I went on the road test. What a world of difference, I hadn’t had such a smooth drive in a while. Makes me wonder for how long it had been busted, only recently with the horrific vibration! Anyway, thought I’d share, in case anyone here comes across the same issues.

I would just be worried whether plywood and superstrut are up to collision safety standards in any way shape or form. When I got my 2012 FTC Cargo, the dealer threw in an OEM bench seat and seatbelts for free. It's built to bolt directly to those thread points in the floor, and constructed of heavy duty steel. Don't know how much I can trust this build in a head on collision.

I personally used a 2.5" x 1/4-20 socket head screw, with a 1" x 3/8 coupling nut as a spacer and a stack of washers. The screw was sent through the washers and coupling nut, into the nutsert so it just starts to thread into it. I then inserted the nutsert into the hole, held it in place by the coupling nut with a crescent wrench, and turned the socket head screw with a hex head & socket wrench. Doing it manually helped me control the torque a bit more, and I had a better sense of when it was set. Instead of overtorquing it and risking the headache of extracting a damaged nutsert.

True, the tool, however, is pretty expensive for the amount of use it'll get. And I don't think I could find a rental on one anywhere. So I just followed what this guy did: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVgLQZ8-IUs Worked great

You can get them from Fastenal, but they're never in store. Always have to special order them. So I just get them through Amazon. A little pricey, but they'll last a long time: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B010GQXJWI/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01__o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

That's slick! Didn't realize they'd upload the way they did. Here are some jpgs!

IMG_8145.HEIC IMG_8146.HEIC IMG_8147.HEIC IMG_8148.HEIC

IMG_8129.HEIC IMG_8128.HEIC IMG_8127.HEIC IMG_8126.HEIC

Thanks Booner! Very helpful information. NOW! Here's what I did First I lined the area with Reflectex insulation. This alone really deadened the sound in the van quite a bit, so I was excited for the actual panels. Fast forward a month... I cut and shaped a large piece of cardboard to fit the area where I wanted the panel to go. I used this as a template for both driver and passenger side panels. I didn't care for the edge of the panel, so I decided to find some sort of edging I could glue all the way around. Some vinyl window insulation turned out to be the perfect fit and look! I also added a rectangle of that pink foam insulation stuff and glued it to the backside of the panel. I then tried to figure out a way to actually mount the thing. So I decided to go with some handmade bracketry. I found a long piece of decent gauge 2" x 2" L shape aluminum. Cut it into 5" pieces. 2" x 2" was too wide for how I needed to mount them, they just weren't fitting flush, so I cut an inch off each piece so they were all 1" x 2". I attached them to the van's interior with sheet metal screws. I held the panel in place and figured out where I needed to drill holes in the panel. Drilled 6 x 3/8" holes to line up with each bracket. I then held the panel in place again, and marked with a sharpie on the bracket where I needed to fashion a bolt point. Tapped a 3/8" hole in each bracket, and put some 1/4-20" stainless Nutserts in them. This allowed me to mount the panel simply with 6 x 1/4-20 bolts. I chose a stylish brass finish and added a plastic bushing so I wouldn't overtighten the bolt to the point of the wood breaking and cracking. There was a lot of trial & error with other options I hoped to achieve. I originally wanted to use plastic panel fasteners to mount the wood panels, but with the edge insulation, they just weren't long enough to reach the brackets. So I had to go the longer bolts route. Photos attached! I'm mostly happy with it. Should I do it again, I'll lacquer up the wood and do the edging a little cleaner. But the sound and echo in my van is almost completely gone. I just have to panel up the rest of those areas you see that have the "Reflectex" insulation glued on.

Would anyone here have a lead on where I could find the passenger model version of a Door Sill Scuff Plate? Since removing the cargo extension from my 2012 XLT, the scuff plate built for a cargo van just isn't right. The front end of it kinda sticks out, doesn't have anything to support it underneath and it just a flimsy piece of plastic when stepped on. I will either need to cut it a bit, or find an elegant way to support it underneath. Any help would be great!

Hello all! I'm finally able to get around to putting up some paneling in my van, after a couple of ideas and prototypes that fell flat. All I really want to do is put of some insulated and noise cancelling panels inserted at the point of the cargo walls where windows would otherwise be. Photo attached I've already glued in some insulation, which has already deadened A LOT of the noise. And I have a couple ideas for how to securely and fasten the wood panels. L-brackets into the body, then lining up holes in the panel to the brackets for threading some stainless steel bolts. Leaving the panels still easily removable. Or I could use some standard plastic body retainers to clip the panels into set brackets. But I've yet to see any simpler way other than throwing them up and screwing retainer blocks into the body on each side of the panel to hold it in. Any other suggestions would be appreciated! Cheers

Hello all! I'm finally able to get around to putting up some paneling in my van, after a couple of ideas and prototypes that fell flat. All I really want to do is put of some insulated and noise cancelling panels inserted at the point of the cargo walls where windows would otherwise be. Photo attached I've already glued in some insulation, which has already deadened A LOT of the noise. And I have a couple ideas for how to securely and fasten the wood panels. L-brackets into the body, then lining up holes in the panel to the brackets for threading some stainless steel bolts. Leaving the panels still easily removable. Or I could use some standard plastic body retainers to clip the panels into set brackets. But I've yet to see any simpler way other than throwing them up and screwing retainer blocks into the body on each side of the panel to hold it in. Any other suggestions would be appreciated! Cheers