Full size passenger van

In reply to Purple Frog (Forum Supporter) :

Excellent look. So seems like i need a 08+. Good design 

^ Yep, although I wouldn't be too scared of a decent one going back to 2000 or so. We're fixin' to replace our '97, the 04 is gone as soon as the Transit  we ordered shows up, they both still work but they're getting cosmetically challenged for business passenger vans.

I believe 08 is a crossover year, updated exterior, but old dash. ‘09 has a newer interior and exterior.  I also think that is when the E150 1/2 ton started coming with 8 lug wheels also, just slightly softer spring s.

mr2s2000elise said:

Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:

Jay_W said:

In my line of work, we put full size passenger vans to the Test. 100% towing, big loads, on and off road. Talking to others doing the same thing, we all seem to have the best experience reliability-wise with Fords. 

I know you didn't ask me, but....  I agree, the Fords are very nice.  I've owned a few.  The gap between Ford and Chevy really closed up with the new body style GMs in 2003.  The 96-02 Express/Savannas were kinda crap if you ask me.  It would be hard for me to choose between the two right now if it weren't for the fact that I wanted AWD.

Ford vans are pretty much bulletproof.  4.6L or 5.4L are both great, but depending on the generation of heads, you'll either have spark plugs that self-eject or glue themselves in the hole.  Normally an easy fix in both cases if it's a truck, but the vans make it tough to reach.  Both mod motors will have a warped passenger side exhaust manifold leak starting at about 60k.  Not an awful fix, but you have to take a lot of stuff off to get to it.

4R100W trans is good.  5R110 is better, 6R120 is nipples.

First order of business you should expect to need in the Ford is seats.  Ford normally has great seats, but I think they let one of the designers' 5-year-old kids draw up the seats in the vans.

Again, can't go wrong with either.  I only went GM this time to get the AWD.

I dont need awd really, if rwd fords are so much better 

 

i dont speak ford or gm, so can you specify what years or whar these codes mean?

 

"4R100W trans is good.  5R110 is better, 6R120 is nipples"

 

lastly 150/250/350 in ford world ? 
 

i learned that in express world 3500 will give me seats and cargo if extended wheel base. Same in ford world? 

I'll do my best.

You had posted some door stickers from GM vehicles.  On another door sticker is a list of what are called RPO codes, or "regular production option" codes.  It's a bunch of three-character codes that determine what options the vehicle gets when it rolls down the assembly line.  For instance, if one of the RPOs is KL5, it means it's a vehicle that gets a Natural Gas engine.  If it has code U75 it gets a power antenna.

On that sticker, G80 is the code that says it has a limited slip differential.  GT4 means it has a 3.73 rear axle ratio.  GT5 means it has a 4.10 axle ratio.  These codes are pretty universal across 40-50 years for GM, so it doesn't matter if you find these codes on a 1990 or a 2018 GM vehicle, they mean the same basic thing.  On GM vans they are on one of the front door jambs.  You'll hear GM folks refer to them as SPID stickers which stands for "service parts identification."

Ford does a similar thing but on a less-complex scale.  The door sticker has a few codes that identify the important things like axles, paint codes, etc.

In the truck/van world, 150/250/350 and 1500/2500/3500 refer to the weight capacities of the vehicle.  They are often referred to as half-ton, three-quarter-ton, and one-ton.  The frames, suspension, brakes, transmission, and cooling systems are all scaled to represent the level of weight and work they are intended to do.  But it doesn't refer to passenger or cargo, or options, or length.  It's just the "beefy-ness" of the truck in question.  You can have nearly any combination of length or passenger capacity (or no passengers in the case of a cargo van) within any  of the weight capacities.

My comment about the "nipples" was to demonstrate that across the years of Ford transmissions, they made improvements.  4R100 was used 98-04 and it was very good.  5R110 was used 2004-2010 and it was better.  2011-current is the 6R120 or 6R140.  They are even better.

A typical SPID sticker on a GM:

I won't speak to the worst/best between GM and Ford.  Both of them after 2003 will be pretty equal.  Both will have shortcomings and benefits, but I wouldn't hestitate to buy either one.  I have owned several of both and I've been happy with all of them.

Jay_W said:

^ Yep, although I wouldn't be too scared of a decent one going back to 2000 or so. We're fixin' to replace our '97, the 04 is gone as soon as the Transit  we ordered shows up, they both still work but they're getting cosmetically challenged for business passenger vans.

https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sale/vehicledetails.xhtml?listingId=571518509&zip=91350&referrer=%2Fcars-for-sale%2Fsearchresults.xhtml%3Fzip%3D91350%26city%3DSanta%2BClarita%26startYear%3D2011%26incremental%3Dall%26modelCodeList%3DE150ECON%252CE250ECON%252CE350ECON%26makeCodeList%3DFORD%26sortBy%3DderivedpriceASC%26location%3D%255Bobject%2BObject%255D%26state%3DCA%26searchByDma%3Dfalse%26firstRecord%3D0%26marketExtension%3Dinclude%26relevanceConfig%3Ddefault%26searchRadius%3D500%26isNewSearch%3Dfalse&startYear=2011&numRecords=25&searchByDma=false&firstRecord=0&modelCodeList=E150ECON%2CE250ECON%2CE350ECON&makeCodeList=FORD&searchRadius=500&makeCode1=FORD&modelCode1=E350ECON&clickType=listing
 

looking at this ford for a minute, it seems ford has tons of overhang after rear wheel, whereas extended wheel base chevy - the stretch is between the frint and rear wheel? 

mechanicalmeanderings said:

I believe 08 is a crossover year, updated exterior, but old dash. ‘09 has a newer interior and exterior.  I also think that is when the E150 1/2 ton started coming with 8 lug wheels also, just slightly softer spring s.

Ok i will research 09+ 

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :

As always much thanks. You wrote a lot - i need to digest and learn. I am sure i will post up few more questions 

time to hit autotrader 

In reply to mr2s2000elise :

That's correct - GM extends the wheelbase, Ford just extends the rear of the vehicle. I've had one of each - the GM is a little better for towing. It's not that the Ford tows worse, it's just the extra length behind the axle makes backing in the trailer a bit more tricky. 

On the other hand, the shorter wheelbase of the Ford makes it easier to take tight corners in town, and in my case makes backing into the driveway easier because we're on a pretty narrow street.