Hi,

Are there books that tell how to do the conversions that have been done by forum members, kind of like the small-block Chevy conversion books that popular many years ago? Or, are all these one-off conversions, a leanr as you go proposition?

The reason I am asking is I would like to buy a approximate $10,000 older trailer or 5th wheel as our current 1998 4x4 Expedition with the baby 4.6L V-8 is too under-powered to tow much of anything. We could also buy a older Class A or Class C motorhome. So, I have lots of choices: buy a Class A or Class C motorhome and keep the 4x4 Expedition, sell the Expedition and buy another large 4x4 SUV that has a larger gas motor, or maybe a diesel Excursion, sell the Expedition and buy a 4x4 crewcab, 4-door pick-up truck, or..on the au home tonight I thought perhaps..converting my current Expedition to a diesel.

But, how to do that? And, what would be better? A Ford Powerstroke or a Dodge Cummiins? And, which year of either the Ford or Dodge? Is this a fairly straight up weekend conversion or a drawn out, design as you go, activity?

We like our current Expedition except for the under-powered V-8 and the lack of 3" - 4" behind the 3rd row seat, so I can't put a "regular ice chest behind the seat. This has beena good vehicle for us, and we have had it for 5, maybe 6 years, and we paid about 50% of retail when we bought it. It has 213k miles on it with nothing major done to the motor or transmission, other than normal 5k - 10k oil changes, 1x - 2x per year tranny flushes & tranny pan drop & filter changes (Ford auto tranny's are their weak link from what I have been told & read), and similar maintenance. We just had major front-end work done on it and the high pressure oil hoses changed, and we just bought new wheels and tires (16" BF Goodrich TA All Terrain for summer and 17" Goodyear Kevlar MT/R for winter).

Any thoughts?

 

saw this was over a year old but to shed light on your question, im doing a cummins conversion on my 98 5.4l xlt expedition. its coil over rear not air bags, and has the e40d trans, with a 2h,awd, 4h and 4l range selector. im ditching the trans and engine as they are in great shape to make a TRUGGY drive line out of. i am using a 12 mechanical cummins, with the nv4500 out of my 98 3500 dodge that is in the process of a frame off resto cause its a one off truck. the cab has been stretched 10 inches and im installing a road ranger 10 speed OD transmission, thats air shift and 4x4. the things i have done to prepare for this are order things a little at a time, i have successfully done a common rail swap on a 2k f350, just search here for "05 common rail into 2000 f350" and enjoy the pics and the learning curve. my swap on my expo will go smoother as i am using the entire dodge drive line minus the transfer case. my goal is fuel economy and towing, i am using a ford f350 transfer case that has a converted range selector so i can keep my awd. i have a main shaft from a e40d donor that is going to be used to mate them together the things i have ordered so far are simple and cheap, a 3" body lift, you want to keep it cheap and keep the center of gravity low, the cummins staying at stock ride height will counter the 3" body lift, im making my own custom bumpers, and going with 33" bfg at's on 1.5 inch off set wheels, im going to slide the fuel plate forward for a little extra hp but dont want to trash the stock drive line. the body lift gives you the extra room to move the cummins back a few inches, go with a key on wire for the electric fans that have a master on and off switch on the dash to keep the relays down to a minimum and give you the extra room that the clutch fan would take up. i robbed an intercooler out of a w series cab over Isuzu from a junk truck at work. ( i work at a gm/isuzu medium duty diesel shop) the 12 valve is the easiest and i will start a build thread as soon as i get full time on the project. all together i have 1500 in the engine with 125k miles 215hp pump and 300 for parts to rebuild my trans before it goes in, and 250 in the body lift, and another 300 in the transfer case, but i can do all the work and machining myself. so all together i have 2350 in it before i start. plus wheels and tires and paint. likely will have 5k total when done maybe less, the expensive part is the nickel and dime stuff you need along the way, im keeping the stock cluster and adding guages to keep an eye on the cummins, its really not that hard to do just time consuming since there is no one ive found that has done one as of now. when done it will be painted the same as my dodge OD Jeep green with a POW/MIA flag air brushed on the tail gate/ hatch, as of now it has a new front end, flushed everything, and new seals everywhere. and 210k miles but in great shape.

 

Hi, Thanks for the reply. After some good thought we decided to buy a class A motorhome, and not do the conversion.

 

Did you buy the motorhome yet? I recently did some work on a friend's Winnebago. It's a 99 Ford F53 chassis with ~30K miles. It was AWFUL to drive! Constant FIGHT to keep it in the lane on the highway. I've pulled a big camper with an E350, a ~36' gooseneck with a Ram DRW, and pulled car trailers and small cargo trailers with just about everything from a midsize sedan to a 26' rental truck. I've taken short trips hauling stuff you can't even imagine, and this motorhome was the WORST EVER BY FAR!

Just sayin', if you haven't bought yet, take a good test drive first...

 

Yes, we bought it back in April...remember, this thread was started over 1 year ago...We bought a 1995 Safari Trek 28'. with the 454. It runs great and drives as well as can be expected for a vehicle of its size. It does not wander and my only issues are 1) vibration, which I attribute to a variety of 6 different tire manufacturers and age of tires, plus 1 slightly out of round wheel, and 2) engine overheating...not much air flow on that 454... But, I have plans on how to correct these issues over the next year or so. And, yes, some of the Class A's I drove were horrendous..all over the place, but not this one.