Almost went a little too far in the van.

This was the destination. I didn't actually go through this one since it was only a 50 foot walk to the river. The darn trees and bushes were fighting us all the way. Well fighting me anyway. Darn sportsmobile sits a little tall and the trees like to bite. Getting some really nice Arizona pinstriping though.
This was the snafu of the trip. The road wasn't in good shape and then I took a somewhat wide line, then the road gave way more. Glad I have a lot of weight near the floor. This is about as leaned over as I ever want to be. Luckily I was able to drive out of it very slowly. Assuming the camera is basically level that's got to be 35 to 40 degrees. We ended up rebuilding the road to get everyone through and back out again.

Nuts and Bolts Pictures of the Front Suspension

I've had some people asking specific questions about how the front end went together. Here are a few not so hot pictures with short descriptions that may help.
Front left. Was hoping to get the steering tubes up higher.
Steering linkage and crossmember "adjustments".
Front right lift block and bump stop.
Front right. darn digital cameras and lighting.

Nuts and Bolts

Front right.
Front left. Crossbar mount and steering arm. Lift block.
Lift block and bottoming pad with rubber stopper.
Rear trackbar? mount. Sorry, maybe not up on all the lingo.
New transfer case crossmember mount.

Nuts and Bolts

Front Drive shaft
Rear Drive, fuel tank, transfer case.
Front left side. New bracket installed to mount cross bar. I think that's what it's called. The bar that keeps the axle from shifting left and right.
Spacer under the front spring. It's hollow and bolted down.
Top of transfer case in front. Shows some of the trimming on the crossmember. That's it for now. Hope that helps some of you guys out a bit. Send me email if you need more.

Tom.

Van update, working great.

So how is that sportsmobile doing? Very nicely thank you. I'm still completely satisfied with the van. Here are a few pictures from elk scouting on the mogollon rim, AZ in September. I really should keep track of the days I spend in this thing. Seems like at least a third of my life is in the van. Elk scouting late September, camped on Mt Lemon last weekend, this week living in the van at work, next week elk hunting, after another work week I'll be at Glamis dunes for 4 days, then back to work for a week in the van.

The inverter has been working fine since it's recent repair. Surprising how little I use the thing. I finally got around to taking the van to the transmission guy. He found a small pinhole in an adapter that he made. Took it off, welded it up, and good to go. Makes me feel silly for not taking it in for so long. The tire shimmy turned out to be an easy fix also. I finally got around to balancing the tires. Turns out I never had them balanced, just forgot it in the build. Had them balanced and what do you know, no more shimmy. I also installed a two shock steering stabilizer just for extra peace of mind.

Rocky Point (Puerto Penasco, Mexico)

Here is one of the main reasons to own a 4x4 Sportsmobile. 3 days maybe 10 people seen.

One of my favorite van pistures to date.

Some Problems with the van.

Well I guess it's only fair to talk about the not so great parts of the van. I guess those Baja roads are catching up to me.

My inverter died the other day. I looked into new ones and found a replacement cost of around 2000 bucks, ouch. I decided to look into repair options. I found a great place in Tucson, AZ that was able to track down a broken solder. It cost me 315 bucks, but opposed to 2000 I was a happy camper. These people were great to deal with. It's called RV MD 520-270-9922 kind of a mom and pop place.

I'm starting to get a steering shimmy. At certain speeds especially in turns my steering wheel will sometimes shake. I'll have to invest in a steering damper and I'll take it in for a re-alignment. Based on some of the potholes I hit in Mexico this is not a surprise to me.

I've got a good transmission leak developing. I had seen wet spots before, but looks like it needs to be addressed now. My transmission was rebuilt for the conversion so it should be under warranty. I'll check for loose connections first then probably take it in.

That's most of it for now. Lots of time spent driving and sleeping in this van. I'm using the heck out of it. Always a bummer to have things break, but considering the usage I'd say it's holding up well.