It has to be under $5000

My ex-wife (whom I'm on good terms with) asked me this question and although I always own at least one full sized van I don't own a trailer so I've never really thought about towing power. She has a travel trailer and a steel bumper pull horse trailer.

Her last van a '95 Ram 1500 wasn't strong enough and she doesn't want another truck.

So, ideas?

Nismo beat me to it. GM van with an LS-based V8. If you must, go with a 3/4 ton 2500 series. A friend of mine bought an extended 3/4 ton 2002 Chevy cargo van with that engine, and it's never given him a problem. It was an old freight expediter van. High mile, well taken care of. It needed a front end service, but he paid $2500 for the van, and I'd have no problems towing a house with the thing.

It will pull 4500lbs. Through the mountains and on the highway on a regular basis.

Posted by wannabeotaku Nismo beat me to it. GM van with an LS-based V8. If you must, go with a 3/4 ton 2500 series. A friend of mine bought an extended 3/4 ton 2002 Chevy cargo van with that engine, and it's never given him a problem. It was an old freight expediter van. High mile, well taken care of. It needed a front end service, but he paid $2500 for the van, and I'd have no problems towing a house with the thing.

better choice would be a Chevy Express/GMC Savanna van (3500 series) with a Duramax under the hood. Another good bargain, and I have driven these firsthand, is a 2000-2001 Chevy Express 3500 with the 6.5L TD V8 under the hood. I beat the ever loving shit out of three of them where I used to work and all ran well into the 170,000's before being returned to GSA. Only issues I recall were the throttle position sensors (which would cause the transmission to stay in "Drive" and not shift into "OD") and one of the A/C's shit out. These damn engines would pull a house down AND for their size and weight of the vehicle they were lugging around, were pretty good on fuel.

I could go from Vergennes, VT to Portland ME and a quarter of the way back carrying on a tank of diesel.

http://cincinnati....nAsk=0&maxAsk=5000

Plenty of options here, for a start.

She is now looking into the GM vans. Before I gave her the info she had made an appointment to see a 6.8 L V10 E-350. It's not a done deal at all though.

Gah the Triton V10 is awful! It's the gas engine for the person who doesn't like diesel! if you stick with the E-series, go with either the 6.0 or 7.3 PowerStroke; while they have small issues they can be fixed and have plenty of power.

I have to suggest a GMC Express as well but I know I haven't seen many diesel units on the used market that were not contractors vans without windows.

I'd avoid the Duramax engine like the plague. Diesels are meant to be inline. While I was at the GM we had a lot of problems with injectors on them (requiring cylinder head removal... NOT NICE in a van) and did a few turbos as well. The older 6.5s weren't as bad (there were some injector pump issues but GM covered them under some special condition 95% of the time), and the turbos seemed to get a lot of shaft play after 200,000 miles.

I'd say a gas powered Savannah/Express.

The current generation 6.6L Duramax Isn't that bad...I have friends with the Silverado HD with the motor and they have no problems.

And Bandi, the reason GM went with a V diesel was so they could retain tooling and dies with the Chevy 454.

Posted by bandi I'd avoid the Duramax engine like the plague. Diesels are meant to be inline. While I was at the GM we had a lot of problems with injectors on them (requiring cylinder head removal... NOT NICE in a van) and did a few turbos as well. The older 6.5s weren't as bad (there were some injector pump issues but GM covered them under some special condition 95% of the time), and the turbos seemed to get a lot of shaft play after 200,000 miles. I'd say a gas powered Savannah/Express.

i wasn't aware of that. I do know that the Allison transmissions were iffy in the early years of the Duramax/Allison combo platter. The 6.5L TD V8 uses the tried and true 4L80 HD automatic which held together pretty well. As I said, I beat the piss out three on a regular basis.
One of the things that I remember about that engine was that it drove like a gas engine... it wasn't afraid of RPM's at all. I had one throw a Check Engine Light halfway home from Concord NH one night. It was the throttle position sensor (those were throttle by wire) which meant the transmission dropped into Drive and stayed there. You're probably thinking "So fucking what?". It was kind of a big deal on that fat diesel as it was winding like a Honda all the way home. At retarded (for a diesel) RPM's, that engine held together.

Now the Fords were VERY unimpressive. First off, they were all over the road. I drove a brand spanking new 2004 Ford Club Wagon home from Hooksett NH (GSA's hub) and the goddamn thing wouldn't stay in it's own lane. This also had a Powersmoke diesel in it. I tell you this, my ballbag has more nut than that engine. Unlike the GM diesels, where when you mat the throttle and things happen, all this engine did was make a bunch of noise. Also, the transmission shifting wasn't very inspiring either. It was uncomfortable to drive where the Chevy I could drive 9 hours straight and not feel it. My friend still works at this place and he does the ordering from GSA and to this day, he will not order a Ford or Dodge van.

I'm gonna suggest for bang/buck a old diesel cube van. Ford E350. 7.3 power stroke.

Posted by Samurai i wasn't aware of that. I do know that the Allison transmissions were iffy in the early years of the Duramax/Allison combo platter. The 6.5L TD V8 uses the tried and true 4L80 HD automatic which held together pretty well. As I said, I beat the piss out three on a regular basis.

It's funny, everyone at the GM dealership I worked at raved about the Allison trannies, but they seemed pretty problematic- I replaced a lot of valve bodies, range switches and output speed sensors on them, a lot more than on plain old hydramatics or whatever they were called.

It's too bad Dodge never made a Cummins powered full size van... I used to drive a 2001 Ram 3500 for the race team with a 360 in it, everyone hated that old beast but me. I thought it was comfortable, got decent mileage for what it was, and I put about 100,000 miles on it without it seeing any maintenance or love. The best was driving from Ontario-Calgary (3500 km roughly), halfway there it started overheating (Needle BURIED) to the point where it couldn't accelerate past 80 km/h. I called my boss, he said just drive it till it explodes. So a day later I arrive in Calgary, stuck a rad in it, and she's still running great to this day.

Posted by bandi It's funny, everyone at the GM dealership I worked at raved about the Allison trannies, but they seemed pretty problematic- I replaced a lot of valve bodies, range switches and output speed sensors on them, a lot more than on plain old hydramatics or whatever they were called. It's too bad Dodge never made a Cummins powered full size van... I used to drive a 2001 Ram 3500 for the race team with a 360 in it, everyone hated that old beast but me. I thought it was comfortable, got decent mileage for what it was, and I put about 100,000 miles on it without it seeing any maintenance or love. The best was driving from Ontario-Calgary (3500 km roughly), halfway there it started overheating (Needle BURIED) to the point where it couldn't accelerate past 80 km/h. I called my boss, he said just drive it till it explodes. So a day later I arrive in Calgary, stuck a rad in it, and she's still running great to this day.

actually, Dodge did make a Cummins-powered van... but it was by special order only.
GSA had three of them that they tried to get us to take. We flatly refused because Dodge vans sucked so bad.

as a funny ha ha, my friend Ron owns a marina here in town and had to order a truck a few years ago. He ordered a Dodge 2500 standard cab/long box 4wd with the non-dually axles. It's got a tag on the door that reads "THIS VEHICLE SPECIALLY BUILT FOR VAN SLOOTEN MARINA"

The issue with the GSA special Ram Vans with the 5.9L Cummins (USFS here in Oregon had a few of them) was that they had to make some compromises to make the engine fit right in the engine bay of the Ram Van. Also, it was a pain to actually work on the thing since you basically had to remove the engine to do even basic maintenance because there was no damm room! I don't know why they didn't go with the 3.9L 4BT Cummins since that would of gave it the same power as the Magnum V8 but with double the torque.

And Samurai, they did manage to use the same transmission as in the Ram trucks, the 47RE which had great reliability. What made the Ram Vans in later years more of a issue was the A727 transmission which had some issues dealing with the Magnum V8 attached to it.

She is going to look at a 2001 Duramax and a 2002 Express with a big block (don't know which one)tomorrow

She said the guy with the V-10 350 seemed pretty desperate to sell though.

Posted by CaptOrbit She is going to look at a 2001 Duramax and a 2002 Express with a big block (don't know which one)tomorrow She said the guy with the V-10 350 seemed pretty desperate to sell though.

Don't do it...the V10 is an awful engine and your performance is awful!

Posted by Agent Skelly Also, it was a pain to actually work on the thing since you basically had to remove the engine to do even basic maintenance because there was no damm room!

Didn't stop GM from piling either of their diesels into a van. What a god damn abortion to work on. Ever replace a chain driven injection pump on a V8 by feel?

Posted by bandi Didn't stop GM from piling either of their diesels into a van. What a god damn abortion to work on. Ever replace a chain driven injection pump on a V8 by feel?

GM at least made the oil filter easy to remove!

And I guess you never had the pleasure of working on a bread van that had a GM LS1 in it and you removed the wrong bolt that was actually part of the engine mount and your hand almost was crushed....

Posted by Agent Skelly Don't do it...the V10 is an awful engine and your performance is awful!

He emailed her, said he'd let it go for four grand.