Looking to buy a new van. Transit or Promaster

BlindSquid

Active Expediter
Owner/Operator
US Army
I'm not a big fan of Garrett, they make the sprinter turbo's. The 1st replacement installed was defective from the jump. The second turbo (third) installed was still in it when I traded & 460,000 miles. Worked fine.
 

Treadmill

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
Also, won't lots of mountainous driving fry turbos?

Only 97K ... woof .. that ain't much at all ...

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Drove my sprinter in the mountains and anywhere else you can think of (no water though) and haven't managed to fry the turbo in 775k miles.

Sent from my LG-H918 using Tapatalk

Same here ... I got 608K on mine ...

Couple of years back I was speaking to a guy that owned a shuttle company in the Rockies. Ran Sprinters from the airport in Denver to Aspen, Vail, etc ... frying turbos was his #1 headache.

I said lots of mountainous driving :)
Got 626k on mine and no major issues except for all fuel injectors replaced in June 2017.
 
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Road Pirate

Active Expediter
Owner/Operator
I am new to expediting, but ran ltl for over a decade....i am going with a 350 transit non ext, 3.5 Ecoboost, 3:73 gears (7k tow)....Med roof...i plan on pulling a #1700 flatbed....i looked at the ProMaster, but couldn't get past the front wheel drive.... I hate my front wheel drive car in the snow... my father-in-law works at Jeep so all I drive are Chryslers for the discounts so my first choice was going to be the ProMaster...... I drove a few of the new Ford pickup trucks with the 3.5 and was actually impressed.... didn't take much flick of the throttle to get it moving...
 
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Grizzly

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
I am new to expediting, but ran ltl for over a decade....i am going with a 350 transit non ext, 3.5 Ecoboost, 3:73 gears (7k tow)....Med roof...i plan on pulling a #1700 flatbed....i looked at the ProMaster, but couldn't get past the front wheel drive.... I hate my front wheel drive car in the snow... my father-in-law works at Jeep so all I drive are Chryslers for the discounts so my first choice was going to be the ProMaster...... I drove a few of the new Ford pickup trucks with the 3.5 and was actually impressed.... didn't take much flick of the throttle to get it moving...


Ah ... yeah, ok ....
May I ask what you plan on doing with that flatbed?
 
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OntarioVanMan

Retired Expediter
Owner/Operator
I am new to expediting, but ran ltl for over a decade....i am going with a 350 transit non ext, 3.5 Ecoboost, 3:73 gears (7k tow)....Med roof...i plan on pulling a #1700 flatbed....i looked at the ProMaster, but couldn't get past the front wheel drive.... I hate my front wheel drive car in the snow... my father-in-law works at Jeep so all I drive are Chryslers for the discounts so my first choice was going to be the ProMaster...... I drove a few of the new Ford pickup trucks with the 3.5 and was actually impressed.... didn't take much flick of the throttle to get it moving...


Ah ... yeah, ok ....
May I ask what you plan on doing with that flatbed?
if I were a thinking type guy..I'd guess Pirate is with our sister business Hot shotting...Oil Field gang...
 
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ntimevan

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
Yep ... pull that trailer ... Fill out that Log Book ... Enjoy Expediting...

another day .. another pond
 

BlindSquid

Active Expediter
Owner/Operator
US Army
I am new to expediting, but ran ltl for over a decade....i am going with a 350 transit non ext, 3.5 Ecoboost, 3:73 gears (7k tow)....Med roof...i plan on pulling a #1700 flatbed....i looked at the ProMaster, but couldn't get past the front wheel drive.... I hate my front wheel drive car in the snow... my father-in-law works at Jeep so all I drive are Chryslers for the discounts so my first choice was going to be the ProMaster...... I drove a few of the new Ford pickup trucks with the 3.5 and was actually impressed.... didn't take much flick of the throttle to get it moving...

I've thought of this combination myself (with a high roof) Especially in light of a tire swap to a lt245/75/16 size.
The front wheel drive is also a negative to me.
When in Europe in winter on many a morning going to work, the fwd vehicles lined the roads uphill. My (71) Ltd Ford never faltered, even when forced to stop as someone spun out in front of me (on a slope).
On cars though it can be quite handy when crawling on ice (level roads).

Fwd is good for many & on "average" drivers will improve their capabilities. Deviate from average it just forstalls the inevitable.
 

Road Pirate

Active Expediter
Owner/Operator
I'm pulling an 18-foot aluminum flatbed single car trailer so It can be multi-purpose... it has easy track installed so I am good to go. Just trying to be versatile. I might do part-time hot shot.. I don't know.... I don't need to run a log book because they go by gross vehicle weight for MC numbers not grossed combined vehicle weight...
 

Road Pirate

Active Expediter
Owner/Operator
I have a few friends that are purchasing agents for cars so I wouldn't mind to pull a car on a back haul.... I'm not coming into this thinking it's easy but I've been in the trucking industry for 15 years so I'm willing to give it a shot...
 

Road Pirate

Active Expediter
Owner/Operator
I am new to expediting, but ran ltl for over a decade....i am going with a 350 transit non ext, 3.5 Ecoboost, 3:73 gears (7k tow)....Med roof...i plan on pulling a #1700 flatbed....i looked at the ProMaster, but couldn't get past the front wheel drive.... I hate my front wheel drive car in the snow... my father-in-law works at Jeep so all I drive are Chryslers for the discounts so my first choice was going to be the ProMaster...... I drove a few of the new Ford pickup trucks with the 3.5 and was actually impressed.... didn't take much flick of the throttle to get it moving...


Ah ... yeah, ok ....
May I ask what you plan on doing with that flatbed?
if I were a thinking type guy..I'd guess Pirate is with our sister business Hot shotting...Oil Field gang...
Nope, new to the industry, but not Freight.....
 
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BlindSquid

Active Expediter
Owner/Operator
US Army
I would suggest "sumo springs" they replace the axle snubbers.
I've had the "timbren" brand on the sprinter. The sumo's are longer an engage the axle quicker, with no axle slap (a problem with the shorter timbrens). I use the 3000 lb rated ones on my transit.
 
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Road Pirate

Active Expediter
Owner/Operator
I would suggest "sumo springs" they replace the axle snubbers.
I've had the "timbren" brand on the sprinter. The sumo's are longer an engage the axle quicker, with no axle slap (a problem with the shorter timbrens). I use the 3000 lb rated ones on my transit.
Yeah I already looked into the air bags....this is also my main car besides my wifes van, I have a lot of faith in this vehicle then its ability to be worked...... hopefully you had good luck with yours......... so my bushing upgrades, suspension, ect, are gonna piece together nicely
 

Road Pirate

Active Expediter
Owner/Operator
Well at least you won’t be strapped to just covered wagon type of freight.
Good luck
Yup, my friend which was also my dock supervisor always laughed at me because of all the straps and load bars I would take every morning!!!!! One morning I came into work and they're will load bars and every slot, all the way up the wall
I think the key to this business for me, is to be versatile.... pull a car this day, get 7 or 8 skid back haul... I have a gig setup two days a week to deliver about 45 packages a day.... $13 /delivery...
So far the routes averaged about a hundred and forty miles and takes 6 hours or so..... I know I'm not going to get rich doing this but I'm going to try to have some fun!!! I'd rather spend more time driving and making some money, than worried if i am going to get fired for stupid things...i worked for a company that pushed fear...they broke me!!!lol
I hate seeing the Doom and Gloom on here..... I am the cliche by saying I want to just be good at what I do, not comparing to someone else, but always looking to help also.
 

BigStickJr

Veteran Expediter
Retired Expediter
I don't know.... I don't need to run a log book because they go by gross vehicle weight for MC numbers not grossed combined vehicle weight...[/QUOTE]


Really ?
Are you sure on this ?
Seems illogical at best.
 
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