Traded One Connect For Another.. The Adventure Continues

2015 Ford Transit Connect SWB XL

When we last spoke, I was franticly searching for 17'' Sparco wheels with 215/50ZR17 tires. But parts sites and tire shops kept telling me, if we were to go with larger wheels and thin tires (load index of 95) we could risk liability issues down the road. We couldn't get a any straight answers, So we settled for 16'' Sparco wheels and Maxxis tires.

I finally found those wheels and tires through Tirerack.com The wheels required wheel rings which allowed the 73mm center bore to match up with the smaller axle size. We drove the van for several years without issues.

2021 rolls around and we thought it best to say goodbye to the old 2015 TCXL and get us a brand new 2021 TCXL. We left the dealership without one of the key Fobs not working because it was getting late. Once home I removed the fob cover and found that the pc board was completely rusted. We'll have to drive back to the dealership this afternoon to have them replace the fob.

Also, while at the dealership, the factory tires looked low, but because the salesman could not access the service area on Sunday to check the tire's PSI, I waited till I got home. Once home that evening, checked the tires and they were all 30psi.. which they should have been 41 front & 42 rear. Glad I had my Viair compressor on hand. The battery is still in a tough spot under the hood to access.

The most positive thing about the new blue van, is that back in 2015 when we first purchased the white van, Ford did not offer any other colors and we always thought Ford should have offered a blue van. Years later, they finally did.

Another thing, with the 2015 van, I had a difficult time viewing the speedometer. This time around the 2021, For the first time, I can now see the speedometer along with a few other gauges, because Ford redesigned the dash as to allow for more viewing of the instrument panel. The seats have also gotten a redesign and more comfortable.

We always thought it would have been a great idea if Ford deigned a heads up display that reflected onto the windshield. But that never happen. Though we never got a speeding ticket and no matter how far back the seat went or how far forward the seat went, when you tilted the steering wheel it would block the speedometer and other gauges.

The main issue with the 2015 TCXL speedometer is that it has the two protruding molded "hoods" which separate the tachometer and speedometer. Because of these molded hoods it was nearly impossible for us to actually see anything of these gauges.
With the new 2021 TCXL the instrument cluster, It is wide open without any molded hoods to block ones view.

The 2021 listed for 27k but with military discounts and a few other discounts, we were able to get the van under 19K and a astounding 6% interest from our credit union, we'll have the van paid off within 2 years. The 2015 van cost us 24K at 12% interest and took us 4 1/2 years to pay off. I think right now is a vandwellers buys market.

Moral of this topic, If you're having trouble finding wheels and tires for your van, change things up a bit. For the longest time, we kept saying that we have a "SWB Cargo Van" when in fact there's not difference with the "SWB Passenger Wagon" making this simple switch, a whole new world of wheel and tire options opened up to us.

So Our first issue and I should have known. Even the 2015 Transit Connect had the same issue. The passenger seat does not want to remained in an upright locked position. I've taken on the challenge of correcting this myself with the use of plastic spacers or shims. Placed under the rear floor mounts of the passenger seat. I'm hoping that this will raise and tilt the passenger seat back rest more forward. if not, Looks as if I'll be driving the van from now on.

Something else, although I appreciate all the kind thoughts by the vandwelling forums and members, I'm just not feeling that this is some where I belong. I mean the other morning, a fellow told me "all you want in your van is a bed?" this struck him as being odd after viewing his van with all type of junk just thrown in and mounted onto the walls. This is not how we are. We're merely traveling minimalist taking in only what we need and leaving the site better than it was upon entering it.

A roof over out heads, a place for us to sleep with gas in the tank, the rest we'll make up as we go along. With that in mind, we must take to the our travels and leave the forum.

I have a 2016 Ford Transit. It looks like the one in the 3rd picture, white color. I like the good mileage it gets, so I don't want to weigh it down too much. I added a bed, ice chest, and 5 gallon water jug. Everything fits just right. I would have preferred a high top, but it was out of my price range.

No need to apologize if all you want in your van is a bed. Being minimalist can leave a lot of space for other things in your life!

Even minimalists may end up with things on the walls after they discover that there are things they have along with them, which they'd like to keep organized. If your life is simple enough these can fit on the floor. But the more travel-related hobbies and activities you have, perhaps the more wall space you may need.

So.. we're run into our first issue. it's called Gout and along with gout I have a pinched nerve in my left hip. This now means we're having to look for a different seating arrangement for the van. I've explored several of the topics here in reference to disconnection or disabling the seat air bags and this may have to be come a permanent option if new or different types of seats are installed. One thing we are going to do is remove the "dead peddle" as this blocks my foot/leg from ease of access and while driving it places my leg in a scrunched up position. The next thing we're going to attempt is changing the angle of the seat to make it less of a bucket. Mind you it didn't feel like this when we had the 2015 TC. so somethings changed in the 2020 van. The wife says I sit to close to the steering wheel. but I can't adjust the seats back rest cause this will throw my back out. I can adjust the seat height but this doesn't correct the angle of the seat. It needs to be more level or tilted forward slightly. The 2020 TC bucket seats are very deep and difficult to get out of.

MY question is, do the larger Transit van seats fit into the smaller Transit connect?. I've seen several videos of how to adapted seats from one vehicle to another but my concern is loosing the air bag in the current seats or do I not worry about this and put what ever seat I'm most comfortable in the van.

Here's what's been happening since my last visit.

➤ I've developed gout, and a pinched nerve in my hip which causes my left knee to have extreme pain if I sit too long. I had x-rays and MRI done to prove this. My leg must remain straight as possible.

➤ I've ordered a new set of wheels for the van and had them shipped to my nephews house in Western North Carolina. trouble is, with my gout and knee pain not related to gout.. I'm unable to sit in the drivers seat for very long and not able to sit in the passenger seat at all because the back rest wont come forward enough.

➤ At some point we're going to have to drive 600 miles plus lasting more than 10 hours to my nephews house to have him test fit the new wheels and install a new set of Powerstop brake pads. then mount up the wheels with custom milled wheel rings to center the wheels on the hub. Then the nephews youngest son is going to deconstruct the van's dead peddle.

➤ Right now and as it looks and because I can't sit in the seats, the wife is going to throw the bed in the back and we're going camping and because of my meds.. I may not know where we are till we get there cause I'll be sleeping on the bed in the back of the van..

After a knee replacement I rode in the back in bed for awhile. It was pretty nice actually. I’ve been trying to think of an excuse so I can do it again. I turned the TV on and watched old movies all day. That was the life having a chauffeur [emoji3]

LostlnTransit said:

So Our first issue and I should have known. Even the 2015 Transit Connect had the same issue. The passenger seat does not want to remained in an upright locked position. I've taken on the challenge of correcting this myself with the use of plastic spacers or shims. Placed under the rear floor mounts of the passenger seat. I'm hoping that this will raise and tilt the passenger seat back rest more forward. if not, Looks as if I'll be driving the van from now on.

Something else, although I appreciate all the kind thoughts by the vandwelling forums and members, I'm just not feeling that this is some where I belong. I mean the other morning, a fellow told me "all you want in your van is a bed?" this struck him as being odd after viewing his van with all type of junk just thrown in and mounted onto the walls. This is not how we are. We're merely traveling minimalist taking in only what we need and leaving the site better than it was upon entering it.

A roof over out heads, a place for us to sleep with gas in the tank, the rest we'll make up as we go along. With that in mind, we must take to the our travels and leave the forum.

Click to expand...

Well, I guess you're gone. I'm sorry about that because I enjoyed reading your posts!!

@Debrajoy54 Not gone.. just yet. but as I spoke with one of the admins, I really doubt there's anyone in the vandwelling community who wants to see what direction we've taken the van.. and although we sleep in the back, we're calling our build a "sleeper" build and the name has nothing to do with the sleeping arraignments in the van.

New 18'' wheels, new tires, new Bilstein struts and shocks, lowered coil springs, upgraded sway bar, diamond tucked carbon fiber interior and an interior mounted spare tire. Although we've taken the van in a different direction than most of you.. we can sleep in the back and we do, but this doesn't mean we'll not help a fellow van owner..

As for our seating agreements, I've been toying with skateboard wheels and had them cut in half. These 50mm poly wheels are going to be used as spacers for the front seat frame rails. We're looking to change the angle of the seats and not lift them. Placing the spacers there will lift the back of the seat thus we can better change the angle of the back rest. Removing the foot rest/dead pedal helped immensely.

So how long has it been? well here's what's been happening since my last visit. The van is coming along nicely but slow. main reason is because it's very difficult to locate parts for the Connect here in the states. I've had better luck searching in UK. In fact the van went from16'', to 17'' and now we're on 19'' wheels we acquired form England. This has been the best things that's ever happen to the van. The ride is very smooth and these Nokian tires can handle anything thrown its way.

If you're new to my reads, one might see that this is not your mothers camper conversion.. Instead this is our sports car where one has room in the back to sleep. Small added touches like Diamond tucked carbon fiber interior panels has made the interior seem a bit more custom vanish instead of a utility vanish.

Here's a few things anyone can do if they drive a small van like this. First we've removed the foot rest as this was causing lower back and knee pain. Second we've added 50mm Skateboard wheels to the rear of the front seats. This changes the angle of the seat by raising the back of the seat area. Done both of these small modifications has made a world of difference on my back, knees and hip. if you're thinking of getting a Connect and find that the seats aren't what you expected, I'll work up a list of what you need to correct the seat's angle.

Here's a few other things we've had to deal with over the last few years.. I was told or heard through the grape vine that the Ford Focus shares parts with the Connect. So in order to find out. We were invited to Hotchkis racing in the heart of NASCAR country. Once there we test fitted Hotchkis 32mm sway bar on the van and.. the installation failed. we learn that the Focus engine cradle uses a different design that the Connect. There's two main uprights or supports that are rounded on the Focus cradle while the Connect cradle doesn't have the se rounded edges. This means that the sway bar designed for the focus will not articulate (up and down) correctly on the Connect. if any of you actually break a sway bar on your older vans, the bar is easy to access and replace unlike the Connect. The entire engine cradle or support needs to be lowered in order to access the brackets holding the sway bar in place.

I know most of you are trying to save room within the interior of your van, But here's one thing we did to get rid of the heavy full size spare tire. We've hated how the spare was mounted under the rear of the van, so we had Discount Tire drop the spare and remove the cabling system. This meant we would have been without a spare tire. But I came prepared. I did some searching on a site called RoadKillCustoms (no relation to the show) as that site has a chart listing other wheels configurations. We ended up finding a 2005 Thunderbird balloon spare and used an offroad spare tire mount to mount the spare inside the van. The end result:

I like the rear swing away mount that allows you to rotate it into a rear table!

So while many of you are traveling the back roads trying to find somewhere to live or living in someone's front yard.. We just so happen to have install a 40mm rear set of lowering springs..

Finally completed that Diamond Tucked Carbon Fiber spare tire cover..

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a few things have happen since my last post.. I've "unofficially" picked up my first sponsor..

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Motul is a French made motor oil thats bene around sicne the 1800's they like what we're doing to the van so they sent a gift box full of stuff.. I kept the banner, the wife kept the hat and I've since given away all the stickers etc. few weeks ago got our first shipment of their Oil.

Just picked up a box of the Siless sound dampening sheets and we're going to start wrapping the interior of the van starting with the roof. So one might think we're doing this for insulation for a camper conversion.. But this is not the case, If you've read anything above, you should know we hate anything to do with a camper conversion. yet we can sleep in the back. once we have a few of these sheets adhered to the roof, we have other plans for a top cover..

Just in case others are wondering.. Yes the 19''x8.5'' ET40 wheels w/ 245/40/r19 Nokian G4 tires will fit on a 2020 Connect

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We have a lot of upgrades to do this year. So because my wife's sister was hurt, the wife and I can not take time off this year. So typically we would be gearing up to travel to points unknown.. Not this year. We're slowing installing upgrades to the van we've been meaning to do.. things like new shocks, new struts, repowder coat 2 sets of new coil springs, new end links, custom interior and more.. Right now I can't decide if I want spherical ball joints or the standard ball joints for the end links.. One major improvement is that we've finally got confirmation that our van can handle the eFuels.. But we need to mix fuels to do it.. $5.00 worth of reg and $35.00 worth of e85 makes for a great combo and plenty of pep. only drawback.. our MPG went from 24.6 down to 18.2

So if anyone has a question about the performance aspect of a small van.. you know who to contact..

Lost The Wheel center caps.. so I Painted the Rotor Hubs Gold..