It’s no secret that Americans love towing things. We love buying large trucks and using them to tow even larger boats, campers, and cargo trailers. But, the pickup truck isn’t the only tow vehicle worth buying. For decades, Ford sold the Econoline and E-Series in capacities strong enough to haul some massive trailers, and you can even get them with Ford’s iconic 7.3-liter Power Stroke V8 engine. Yet, these vans remain so underrated they remain the choice of your electrician or plumber, and now they’re slowly dying off.
The Ford E-Series is as ubiquitous as a Toyota Corolla. When was the last time you’ve even thought of these vans? Heck, there’s probably an E-Series near you right now and you aren’t even recognizing it. For most people, the E-Series is just a work vehicle driven by welders, mechanics, and builders. Maybe you’ll see an E-Series conversion van hauling a family, but that’s about it.
That’s a shame because the bones of the E-Series get surprisingly good. In 2013, a Ford E-350 van had a payload rating as high as 4,050 pounds, seating for up to 13 people, and a towing capacity of up to 10,000 pounds. You were even able to get your E-Series with a mighty, albeit thirsty 6.8-liter V10 that, with just the right changes, sounded like an industrial Lamborghini. Before then, the E-Series was available with the same legendary diesel engines found in Super Duty trucks, albeit with a different tune.
To put that into perspective, the Ford Transit vans that replaced the E-Series vans has a better max payload of 4,887 pounds but a lower max towing capacity of 6,900 pounds. So, there’s still an appeal to the E-Series. Sadly, Ford stopped producing the E-Series with van bodies after 2013, leaving behind just the cutaway version for people who want an affordable and capable platform to make a service vehicle, bus, or RV.
8.2 million E-Series vehicles have been built since 1961, but Ford hasn’t made any in full van form in a decade. Many are falling to catastrophic rust. As the numbers of E-Series vans dwindle, I think they’re still worth considering for the average person who isn’t a contractor.
Decades Of Dominance
According to the book Ford Transit: 50 Years by Peter Lee, the Econoline made its debut in late 1960 for the 1961 model year as a dedicated van to replace the F-Series van body. But, unlike the vans we know today, the original Econoline wasn’t an assemblage of truck components riding on a frame with a van body placed on top. The original Econoline rode on the Falcon’s unitized construction and brought innovation to the table.
These first-generation vans featured a mid-engine layout and a forward control design, not unlike how Volkswagen already found success in its Type 2 Transporter vans. The Henry Ford goes as far as to say the Econoline was ford following Volkswagen’s established formula. The first Econolines were fascinating in the various configurations you were able to buy them in. Buyers got their Econolines as cargo vans, passenger vans, and pickup trucks, plus fine customization down to the number of sliding doors.
The second generation Econoline (above), launched in 1968, saw the engine move up front, but the platform remain with unitized construction.
The Econoline began to take its more modern shape beginning in 1975 with the third generation model. At that point, the Econoline underwent a dramatic overhaul. Now, the van rode on a body-on-frame design, something that Detroit’s other automakers weren’t doing at the time. This radical change meant that the vans were a lot closer to Ford’s trucks and it also meant that the Econoline was more flexible than it ever was before.
The Econoline was soon available as a cutaway, permitting builders to turn Econoline vans into buses, ambulances, and motorhomes more easily than before. Some of these vans were turned into luxurious conversion vans while others got beefy 4×4 conversions.
The Econoline’s third generation also marked the first time the Econoline became available with diesel power. These vans had access to the stout 6.9-liter International IDI V8 diesel and the later 7.3-liter International IDI V8 diesel.
The Econoline was a pretty successful van from the start. As Car and Driver notes, the Econoline was such a leader in van design that General Motors and Chrysler often found themselves playing catch up, just to end up making vans similar in overall design to the Econoline, anyway. However, according to Ford Transit: 50 Years, the third-generation Econoline is what cemented the van as America’s default answer to work vans.
From 1980 to 2015, the E-Series, nee Econoline, was America’s top-selling van. Car and Driver notes that the Econoline sold so well that it once captured 80 percent of the work van market. The E-Series only lost its crown after Ford killed the E-Series van body to pave the way for the Transit.
What I’m getting at here is that there’s real greatness behind the van your plumber drove. It’s amazing, too, once you realize that the E-Series entered its fourth generation in 1992 and that same basic vehicle remains on sale today, over 32 years later.
The Long Run
In 1991 for the 1992 model year, Ford introduced the fourth-generation Econoline. Its chassis evolved, but for most people, the biggest changes happened inside and out as Ford completely redesigned the Econoline’s body.
In brochures, Ford talked up the new Econoline’s chip-resistant paint primer and upgraded weather seals. Ford also said the Club Wagon was more luxurious than before and that the 1992 Econoline itself was “the first totally redesigned vehicle in its class in 17 years.” Ford touted the new Econoline’s more aerodynamic styling and coefficient of drag of 0.39, car-like convenience features, and that it was the only full-size van to offer a standard driver airbag at the time.
Further, Ford said the fourth-generation Econoline was designed specifically with upfits in mind. Engineers gave the fourth-gen vans a centrally located electrical system and central air-conditioning tap-ins so that builders would have an easier time transforming Econolines into different kinds of vans.
Towing was also a huge part of the fourth-generation Econoline. Ford said the frame of the 1992 Econoline was engineered with the use of weight distribution hitches in mind. Early fourth gens were available in E-150, E-250, and E-350 spec as standard vans, while the E-450 and E-550 were geared toward more medium-duty applications. In 2001, Ford phased out the Econoline nameplate, instead embracing the E-Series nameplate, which continues today.
At launch, the 1992 Econoline was offered with a legendary set of engines. The entry engine was Ford’s practically bulletproof 300 straight-six. Meanwhile, at the high end of the gas engines was the 460 cubic inch big block V8. If you loved compression ignition engines, that engine was International’s slow, but durable 7.3-liter IDI V8. This engine would get a turbocharger in 1993 for more power to compete with the likes of the Cummins 5.9.
The early 150 series of Econoline vans were for light duty and featured smaller frames and smaller leaf packs and a five-lug rear axle to match. At best, a 1992 Ford Econoline 150 towed 6,600 pounds. Moving up to the slightly beefier 250 got you a thousand pounds more.
It’s reported that the most common fourth-generation E-Series is the E-350, and right from the generation’s start in 1992 getting the 350 meant a tow rating of 10,000 pounds. You also got access to engines the E-250 and lower couldn’t get. The E-350 could get every engine from the low 300 straight-six to the chunky 460 big block. In 1996, the big block bowed out in time for the 6.8-liter Triton V10 to make its thunderous appearance.
Really, if you like these vans it’s hard to go wrong here. I know someone with the Triton V10 in their van and it’s a beast. Sure, it gets all of 10 mpg, but it gets 10 mpg in every situation, regardless if it’s empty or towing a house up a mountain. Theirs even sounds gnarly with a custom exhaust that makes it sound like an agricultural Lamborghini Gallardo. Though, they say it’s not as fun maintaining the van because the 10 spark plugs aren’t the easiest to get to — requiring the removal of the front seats unless you’re a contortionist — and multiplying basic maintenance items by 10 doesn’t make things cheap.
It appears, then, that there’s one work van holy grail: the diesel.
Like A Diesel Truck, But A Van
As I said earlier, the Econoline got the same truck engines as the F-Series, which meant that the van owners got to enjoy the same legendary experiences, but in a body that might be more practical for their owners. In the communities I frequent, the “holy grail” of E-Series vans is an E-350 equipped with the iconic 7.3-liter Power Stroke V8 diesel, available from halfway through 1994 to the end of 2003.
I probably don’t need to remind you of how great this engine is, but I’ll be quick, I promise:
The iconic 7.3-liter Ford Power Stroke engine is also known as the Navistar T44E, and it brought some important upgrades to the table. The biggest improvements were direct injection and computer control. At the time, General Motors saddled its trucks with the 6.5-liter Detroit Diesel while Dodge trucks with the Cummins 5.9. Navistar was ready to deal a blow to both companies.
[…]
HEUI joins forces with six head bolts per cylinder, a Garrett turbocharger, forged connecting rods, and a fluid-to-fluid oil cooler to provide high performance and a lifespan that could outlive you. Later examples of the 7.3 got a wastegate for the turbo and an air-to-air intercooler. There was also a brief moment between 2001 and 2003 when powdered metal con-rods were used.
If you’re going with an OBS unit, the Power Stroke was advertised at 210 HP and 425 lb-ft of torque at launch. After 1996, the rating was pumped up to 225 HP and 450 lb-ft of torque. Power Stroke-equipped 1999 Super Duty trucks got 235 HP and a beefy 500 lb-ft of torque. By 2003, this was bumped up to 250 HP (275 HP manual transmission) and 525 lb-ft of torque.
Click here if you want to read more about what HEUI is, but the short version is that the 7.3-liter Power Stroke is a stone axe of an engine. Sure, it doesn’t make a ton of power compared to today’s beasts, but it’s relatively easy to keep alive and will run even when the truck around it has dissolved into nothingness. Diesel fans concerned more with reliability than power covet these engines – as well as the Cummins competition – enough to spend stupid amounts of money on them.Â
To further illustrate how cool these engines are, the fueling system requires adequate oil to run the engine. If you run the engine’s oil below a certain level, it just shuts off. Technically, you can’t run one of these engines on no oil because they will stop running long before the level gets that low.
Depending on exact configurations, a Ford E-350 van in the 1990s had the same conventional trailer tow rating as an F-350 with the same engine. In other words, you’re getting 1-ton truck performance, but with a van body. This opens up so many possibilities.
I’ve seen Power Stroke vans turned into multipurpose rigs where the interior was both a camper and a motorcycle hauler. I’ve seen these Power Stroke vans outfitted with Quigley 4×4 conversions and turned into off-road camper vans that put today’s crop of camper vans to shame. In the Gambler 500 world, Power Stroke E-Series vans make surprisingly capable off-roaders that you can wheel in by day and sleep in by night.
One former Power Stroke owner I know, reader Tyler Herden, used his high-roof van (above) as a camper that towed heavy loads and got dirty with the trucks. Sadly, rust took his original van out.
Tyler’s adventures convinced me to join the party. I bought a 2006 Ford E-350 cargo van.
This one did not have the legendary 7.3-liter Power Stroke, but the engine that replaced it, the 6.0-liter Power Stroke. The 6.0 is notorious for finding catastrophic and expensive ways to break, but mine didn’t. Instead, I ended up losing my van to a quartet of drug enthusiasts who obliterated my poor van while stealing it.
But when that van was in my hands it was the perfect rig. Sheryl and I would drive to a Gambler 500 event, drive the van off-road throughout the event, and then sleep in the warm van at night. We were able to do a Gambler 500 in the dead of a Michigan winter and we kept warm the whole time. We slept on a cushy bed in the van, enjoyed toasty heat, and didn’t have to fiddle with a tent a single time.
The specs were not bad, either. In 2003, the 7.3-liter Power Stroke van made 215 HP and 425 ft-lb of torque, down from the 275 HP and 520 lb-ft of torque offered by the 7.3 in F-Series trucks. It wasn’t fast, but the engine got well into the teens for fuel economy, even while towing. From my experience, people also love the 7.3 vans because the engine is receptive to tuning while also being so durable it’ll probably outlast the van’s body.
My 6.0 van made 235 HP and 440 lb-ft of torque, detuned from the 325 HP and 570 lb-ft of torque found in F-Series trucks with the same engines. I’ve been told by diesel mechanics that this is probably the reason why my van had gone over 300,000 miles without much to note in its service records. It didn’t make enough power to nuke itself. I also wasn’t in a hurry to add power to it, either. In my hands the 6.0 van got 18 to 20 mpg, which was great!
If there’s anything that lets these vans down, I’d say there are three pretty big things you need to consider. While the engines in these vans are fantastic, their automatic transmissions sometimes let them down. I’ve seen my friends’ rigs kill their transmissions and I’m sure you can find more than one for sale in your area with a good engine, but a trashed transmission.
If you’re lucky to find one with a perfect powertrain, your next headache will be rust. These vans rust out horribly no matter their year. I’ve seen low-mile 2012s that look like they’ve been parked next to the Titanic. So, if you can spare the time, I’d recommend flying south and driving back one that’s as clean as you can find. In my experience, those southern vans aren’t even that much more expensive, anyway.
Finally, you may run into issues with the roof. Most of these vans are going to have low roofs, which means you won’t stand up in them. High-roof models do exist, but they tend to be rarer, and sometimes the high-roof versions can look properly goofy. Tyler’s certainly did, but that added character!
Coming Soon
As far as prices go, I’ve seen rusty diesel E-350s get as low as about $1,500 in this post-pandemic world, while clean ones can command around $6,000 or higher. Toss on a Quigley 4×4 conversion and you’re well into five figures. If you don’t care about diesel power or rust, I’ve seen these vans get as cheap as $900 while still running, but those were very weight-reduced.
I’m making great headway in shaving down my fleet. Soon, I’ll be able to end the lease on one of my storage lots, have a little more money in my pocket, and a lot more marbles in my head. But, I’ve recently run into a problem. I don’t have a truly reliable or capable tow vehicle. Yes, I have a Volkswagen Touareg V10 TDI in my dream car fleet, but there’s a cruel twist that the marketing of the SUV towing a Boeing 747 didn’t show you. The Touareg V10 TDI has a great towing capacity of 7,716 pounds, but a hitch weight limit of 716 pounds. What that means is that the Touareg technically has the power and the capacity to do some heavy-ish hauling, but, even my family’s 6,200-pound camper is technically too heavy for the Touareg thanks to its 780-pound tongue.
The Touareg V10 TDI is also notorious for requiring the entire drivetrain to be dropped for even minor repairs, so I’m not sure I want to use it as a regular hauling machine. For all of 2024 I’ve just borrowed trucks from my parents, rented from U-Haul, or borrowed from a manufacturer. Honestly, that has gotten pretty annoying and expensive. So, it’s time I got a tow vehicle.
What do I get? I love big trucks, so it would be easy to snatch up a Ford Super Duty F-350 and call it a day. I also love medium-duty trucks and there’s a classic International S1600 for sale in Michigan that’s been modified to have a pickup truck bed on the back. Either of these would tow anything I could ever dream of hauling. Instead, I’m going to go with the kind of van a plumber drives. My next tow vehicle will be another E-350 diesel van. Sheryl says she wants to make the rear into a nice place for us to sleep on adventures and honestly, I just want to stop asking my mom for the keys to her Yukon.
If you can get around the limitations and driving a platform that’s older than three decades, I think you’ll find that these vans are deeply underrated. You get the experience and capability of having a 1-ton truck, but, depending on your specific circumstances, you get the practicality of a whole van rather than a truck bed. It’s just such a shame that, thanks to rust up north and out east, the numbers of good E-Series vans left out in the wild are dwindling, and Ford isn’t going to be making any more of them.
(Images: Ford, unless otherwise noted.)
There’s a 7.3 ambulance on the marketplace near me…but it has a thrashed transmission. If I didn’t have eleventy other projects I’d be sweet-talking the wife right now.
Ambulances can be problematic, the mileage does not reflect the amount of time they spent idling
they usually have a clock. my commercial grade T-350 has one. It’s a detuned EcoBoost. 300 hp,400 trq. I love it. But thinking of getting a E-350 cutaway and building a composite camper body.
Ford engines historically seem to have problems with idling, but this depends on the engine. The 6.8 V10 I have heard some issues that can lead to engine failure if not monitored, and the 7.3 Godzilla had the same problem until recently. The 4.6 2V in the Crown Victorias in PIs were surprisingly not prone to the same issue…so maybe differences in design?
“mama said he was the chosen one
Reverend said he was the other one
All of that pay no mind
Inside his Econoline
…
never trust a white man driving a black van
He’s just saving all his voodoo for you”
https://youtu.be/AA7-kRDrfa8?si=LyHdLxcueFMZj3s4
Was hoping someone would put this here, makes me feel like I’m really on the right website.
I’m more into Neil Youngs reference to the Econo line van.https://www.google.com/search?q=neil+young+encoline.+an&oq=neil+young+encoline.+an&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIJCAEQIRgKGKABMgkIAhAhGAoYoAEyCQgDECEYChigATIHCAQQIRirAjIHCAUQIRirAjIHCAYQIRirAtIBCDcyMjFqMGo3qAIAsAIA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:669c5207,vid:4XCTnnDmCY4,st:0
D. Boon & the boys approve.
Mike Watt from Pedro
just drivin up from…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlD_JLTa1wY
watched it. loved it. thanks.
It’s weird to realize I’ve been listening to Watt for more than 40 years. Double Nickels on the Dime came out in July 1984.
This still exists 2024 Express Cargo3500 Extended Wheelbase, WT, RWD
New and a good tow vehicle.
I just find it curious/fun that the Ford van has an engine 3 times bigger than the one in MY old white van, which I think can tow and haul quite a bit as well.
Not judging what is most right, just enjoying getting 32mpg in, still feeling that wonderful diesel torque.
From what I can find online, a T4 can only tow around 4,500 lbs. They’re great vans, but not really in the same class when it comes to power, towing or size.
You are probably right.
But it’s generally enough for over here (Europe)
And enough for me, if I should suddenly need to drag an auto trailer and go out and pick up yet another old car project 🙂
If someone should need a bigger one, they can go with the LT / Crafter, they are probably more comparable to the Ford.
Agreed – I’m in the UK and I rarely, if ever, need to tow more than a T4 can.
They’re everywhere around where I live, with good reason!
I vote on getting the f350.
I’m still traumatized from a cross country trip in a 92 E-150 conversion van. It was a two year old van and we used it for a marathon trip from Chicago to San Diego and back in 5 days
A turn signal fell off at some random point in Iowa. We ran out of power crossing the Rockies and had to be towed out of the Eisenhower tunnel by a stubby semi tractor with a giant hook on a cable. Then no power again once the grade leveled out in Grand Junction where I learned about quick connect fuel lines while laying in a ditch changing a fuel filter. The rest of the trip was better, but the van completely blew through our fuel budget getting 7mpg vs the 12 we predicted.
The 5 liter V8 was gutless and you had the choice of travelling at the speed limit or using the A/C, but not both at the same time. The engine has a cutout on the A/C when at full throttle, and that was the amount of throttle needed to maintain 70 on the highway.
On the plus side the seats were comfy and with a bed in the back we were able to rotate through 4 drivers and do the trip mostly without stopping for a hotel or anything.
It was an epic trip but I loathed that van ever since.
It is the challenging trips that make for great (and of course memorable), stories later
Can’t vouch much for their towing ability but as a construction worker I can say these things don’t die if you feed them enough oil.
I can name 3 Econolines in my immediate neighborhood, and one Sprinter. I live in Oregon so rust isn’t a problem away from the coast but the corollary is vans cost a bit more because they don’t rust. I’d consider one as a camping rig but I live in Oregon and “know a guy” so a JDM van is better, plus my F150 handles my towing needs
A kei van would be better for you then. Better on fuel economy, but you would be wishing you have more power. Or get a 25 year old Hiace w/4×4 conversion and call it a day (but parts can be a problem)…
A kei van isn’t really a viable alternative to a USDM full-size van, towing needs be damned.
They do carry their own weight, but are deathtraps in a crash…so yes. I agree. But since he asked for a JDM vehicle, I suggested so.
“JDM” doesn’t necessarily mean kei-class vehicle, though.
A Delica, for example – not uncommon out here in the US Pacific NW, and definitely not a kei van.
Most Kei vans are small….
And water is wet.
If you have a point, you’re doing a terrible job of making it.
So you are basically choosing to insult me INSTEAD? Right?
Kei trucks can’t be registered in Oregon and are too small anyway. We are thinking HiAce or Mazda Bongo Friendee
I mentioned the Hiace in the comment.
When I lived in the WV mountains the county EMS had some of these with the Quigley 4×4 conversion. They were beasts and went anywhere.
A couple of corrections about the original Econoline. While it did use the “Falcon 6” and for a while the fancy passenger version was called the Falcon Station Bus, that is where the sharing ended. Yes the Econoline was a unibody but it was nothing like that of the Falcon platform. It sported a pair of leaf springs holding up an I beam axle up front, not an IFS. It also only came with larger brakes that used 5 lugs instead of 4.
That 5 lug straight axle was a popular choice when building gassers in the 60’s and early 70’s.
It definitely is the most door options ever offered in a van. 4dr with only doors at the rear, 6dr with a pair of swing doors on the curbside, and the 8dr with another pair of swing doors on the driver’s side.
I had a 61 6dr cargo that had been customized by a prior owner with shag all around in the back back when I met my now wife.
Over the years I had 4 Nantuckets of various flavors, that I used for my businesses, but finally gave up on the last one several years ago when a tree branch fell on it and messed up the fiberglass top. I currently have a 2009 E150 CAFE buster special. Like GM Ford couldn’t afford the hit to the CAFE. GM just quit dropped the 1500. Ford on the other hand just slapped 150 badges on last year’s 250 and gave the new 250 a few lbs more rated payload. Mine was a supervisor’s aid car/ambulance for my local county. It has the 4.6 but with the 4.10 gears it pulls pretty well. The interesting thing is I did bid on it when it went to auction, but stopped bidding well before the dealer who had purchased it. He put the smallest, cheapest battery he could find in it and put it out on his lot, almost bald tires and due for an oil change. A lady purchased it for a mobile dog grooming business but due to an injury she had to stop. It still had a lot of hair and dog smell in it when I went to look at it. That certainly turned off some of the buyers and I ended up with it for a good chunk less than I had pulled out of the bidding at. Unfortunately 18 months later it was still wearing the filter the county had put on it 2+ years and 10k miles before and the tires with minimal tread. So yeah first thing I did was change the oil.
Of course no discussion of the Econoline can go w/o mention of the Million Mile Van.
https://millionmilevan.com/ Just under 1.3 million miles before its engine said I just can’t take any more abuse.
That van was well maintained and fed enough oil for sure. Given that the Express van also exists in massive numbers, aren’t there examples of those AT MORE than a million miles with the original engine? Or they simply are not reported, unlike this case?
It wasn’t really well maintained since there were times that it went a really really long time between oil changes. This did die with just under 1.3 million miles so it did signficantly more than just a million.
It certainly is possible that some of the GM vans have racked up that many miles on their original engines and no one thought to make a website and document it.
Possible. I guess it was sheer luck. Agreed. The one case I do know of was a 1996 model year Chevrolet/GMC with the engine replaced at 930k….but newer than that I have not heard. But yes, GMC/Chevrolet vans can likely take similar abuse and keep going as well…
When I was buying my last work vehicle, it was going to be between a pickup or van. Work truck spec, white, get it done vehicle. I ended up with the pickup for two reasons. Towing and 4×4. I never understood why they don’t add 4×4 to full size vans. Also, it seems like all the vans top put at 10k lb towing, even the one ton versions. This seems paltry compared to their one ton truck counterparts. I’d probably be driving a van if not for these two things. Does anyone know why they handicap the tow rating on vans?
GM did offer a factory built 4×4 version of their van from 2003-2014 but they aren’t that common at least in my area. Maybe in snow country but then it will probably be pretty rusty.
Yes, but to my knowledge it was an AWD system and it was only available on the 1500. Better than nothing, but still not enough for my purposes. And I still want to know why all full size vans were/are topped out at 10k towing. It seems like an arbitrary number.
Do vans use a significantly different suspension that would limit this? It doesnt seem like it. Solid rear axle, leaf springs. Seems pretty trucky. They use the same engines, generally detuned, as i understand because the exhaust plumbing is toghter in a van. Brakes? Are van brakes incapable of doing the job? Is there something terribly different about van brakes vs trucks? I doubt it. I’d like someone with some engineering chops to weigh in on this.
Three reasons I can think of:
The one ton vans are not built on the one ton truck chassis. The E series/Express frames, suspension, etc were designed more than 30 years ago when tow ratings on everything were much lower and may not be strong enough for modern HD ratings.
The short hood design of vans precludes a large cooling system. Everyone seems to hate big grilles and high hoods on trucks but the large radiators that result are a big part of why tow ratings are so high. This is I believe another reason why van engines are detuned. Tow ratings are set going up Davis Dam in Arizona where cooling is of the utmost importance.
Heavy towing well over 10K lbs is very often done with a gooseneck or 5th wheel which obviously doesn’t work with the van body. Even a modern HD truck with the gas engine is often only ~15K lb rated on a bumper pull.
All good points. I suspect maybe the first, especially so. For the third, yes, towing between SRW and DRW is significantly different. I ended up buying a SRW which can bumper pull 14,500, which was enough for my purposes.
I’ve had more than one van guy (you know the ones, down by the river) beating his chest telling me how much they can tow. I believe them, but I can’t be “over weight”, even if the vehicle is capable. Thank you for your input.
In addition to the reasons v10 noted the other thing is that the older design vans were only offered in SRW versions and you’ll find that on the pickup side of things the SRW often has a lower tow rating than the DRW versions.
Only issue I ever had with these is the fools driving them during the morning commute.
They would have a van with two passengers, a big map of some kind spread out, everyone jostling about with coffee, smokes, cell phone conversations, swerving partially into other lanes and going 15 under. But they would *always* chug-a-lug-a-lug once they noticed you wanted to pass and speed up to perfectly block you.
I avoid white vans like the plague. Doubly so if there are ladders on top.
I have a 2003 E-350 with a 7.3L and a Quadvan conversion. The cool thing about them is that they were (under)rated to tow 10,000 lbs while loaded to their GVWR of 9400 lbs. In fact, Ford rated the GCVWR at 20,000 lbs, but I don’t see how to get there while staying within trailer tow limits and GVWR.
A few downsides of these things:
1.) The 7.3 was never intercooled. They may be receptive to tuning, but your towing EGTs will quickly melt your engine if your trailer is a big enclosed cargo unit.
2.) These things are exceptionally dirty. While Ford had to transition the pick-ups to the 6.0L in 2003, they kept stuffing the 7.3L in the vans for that year at least. There is nothing in the stock exhaust from the turbo to the muffler, not even a catalytic converter. I don’t think there were any other vehicles sold that year with no exhaust aftertreatment in the US. I avoid driving mine for this reason.
3.) Payload is really weak compared to a Sprinter. Once you take subtract the max weight from the empty weight, you are down to about 2,500 lbs of payload.
Bruce Berry was a working man
He used to load that Econoline van
I’ve owned a few E350SD Cutaway vans for my business before I sold it. They are great roomy, comfortable the walk thru is great when raining they don’t take up as much of the lane as you might think. However the Ford V8 318 popcorn engine is truly horrible. Ford decided on spark plugs to short for the motor and they constantly popped out and rendering the van inoperable. Never fixed the issue either. There was an aftermarket solution but if memory serves once you do it you couldn’t change the spark plugs again without a rebuild.
Which reminds me why no stories about the difficulty of sourcing reasonable priced used and rebuilt motors? Did you know AutoZone has a rebuild source for just about any engine?
Are you referring to the 5.4 2V engines on the Econoline?
I’ll have to save this article for when people ask me why I like vans.
Thanks, Mercedes.
Side note, I feel like the E-550 needs its own article (or at least Cold Start). They were only made from 2002-2003. Can’t find any production numbers, though.
Peter Egan would approve.
It is always a sad day when one has the choice of a vintage international, an chooses a 90s ford. Regardless of how much intelligence is actually demonstrated by this decision, it remain a sad, though admittedly smart, day
I rented a Uhaul recently based on a 2022 E series chassis, it was brilliant. 6.9L or so gas V8 with torque all over, sounded good, made easy work of hauling probably 2k of stuff plus a Mercedes R107 560SL on a Uhaul car hauler. Drove it across Pennsylvania up and down the mountains, it was just perfect.
In the UK there are many people who use “transit” as a generic noun for a van. We vacuum our floors with Hoovers and stuff gets shifted about in Transits.
I really like the 7 litre rally cross version from 1969, and that thirty years later the same basic message had not changed at bit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyWS1klwuhM&list=PLMLBqELNTsAkYQRhpDl-KW6mf3yUld-lM&index=7
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrZHJfdnIIA&t=62s
Wait, Ford claims the Transit can tow 6,900 lbs??!
I won’t insert 6 pages of HAHAHA here—but simply say that is far from my experience.
Has too count the transit weight. They are mostly good for flower shop delivery. Total cargo weight is about 800 pounds.
Are you talking about the transit connect?
The Transit Connect is the small one, based on one of their CUV platforms. It’s very commonly a flower-shop van.
The big-boy Transit is most commonly the mid-roof variant which stands 10 feet tall, can haul almost 5k pounds of cargo, and has a GCWR between 12-13k pounds.
have a T-350 high roof awd. I love it, I really like passing Sprinters.
“you technically can’t even run them out of oil because the engine only needs sufficient oil just to run.”
What does this mean??
Oof, part of that is a typo on my part. Fixed that. Anyway, the engine just won’t run if the oil level isn’t high enough. So, technically, you can’t accidentally run the engine dry because it’ll shut off before the level gets to that point.
Why can’t they invent an oil fill light instead of oil pressure light?
The high pressure fuel injection utilizes engine oil as a hydraulic fluid. If the engine loses oil pressure, the injectors will stop firing and engine dies.
yep. a unique? design
To replace an oil pan on the 4wd converted units requires a choice… pull the engine out the front or lift the body off the frame and lift the engine or cut out part of the structure added to support the front drive axle, then weld it back in after the oil pan is swapped.
Is that for any of the motors? I’ll have to slide under my E Quigley work van to see that mess
No room to drop down on the unit I did the repair on.
ouch
I love the Ford Econoline, it truly has all the utility one would ever need from a vehicle. It carries just as much as a pickup truck but it’s enclosed, it tows just as well as any truck, and you instantly look like somebody that’s doing something productive when you’re driving a plain white van. Throw on some plumbing stickers and put out some orange cones and you can park anywhere you’d like.
One of my friends has an E-150 and even though it’s rather slow with its 4.6L V8, it’s dead reliable and hauls stuff like a champ. I’ve used it to move shops and haul heavy trailers and it just kinda does it without a single complaint.
Nice take Danny so true. I used to keep 2 orange cones and amber ‘construction light on the roof’ thing with my bone stock white pickup. Generally park where ever you want
And if you park a plain white E series van in front of a bar they assume you are delivering not drinking. Not that I was ever drinking.
The Chevrolet Express/GMC Savana and even the Toyota Hiace are slow, but for the same reason. But the latter is a light commercial van unlike the others…
In the Merriam-Webster Dictionary next to the word “ubiquitous” will be a picture of a 3rd or 4th Gen Econoline. I’ve forgotten about all the different cargo vans, window (church) vans, cutaways and conversions I’ve driven over decades. My
leastfavorite has to be handicap conversion van I drove from Connecticut down to Florida for my friend after he sold it. The thing was beat when he got it, but it was cheap and had a (sometimes) working wheelchair lift and power door, so it served him until he got established down south. Driving a vehicle on I-95 for that long with zero-effort steering (that didn’t self-center) and hand controls generally in the way was an experience I hope to not have to repeat.