Our new (to us) Sportsmobile

Brushogger

Adventurist
Looks great!

Mind if I asked what you paid? We love our Van-let, but I do daydream of a big E350 someday. Finding a used one, though, is the only way it will happen.

Congrats!
 
Michelle and I were just discussing the pros and cons of one of these.
 
Very nice van. My last van was a walk through diesel hard top similar to yours and my current van is a V10 pop-top EB-50 layout. Both are great choices in their own ways. Enjoy!
 
Looks great!

Mind if I asked what you paid? We love our Van-let, but I do daydream of a big E350 someday. Finding a used one, though, is the only way it will happen.

Congrats!
Thanks again guys! I'll just say we got a really good deal. You really need to have funds immediately available to get a deal on these when it pops up. They go fast. We were having a van built, so I passed on an amazing deal on Expo a month or so ago. It was in Corpus Christi, Tx before the hurricane. It was a white 96 or 97 SMB, 4wd, 7.3 diesel with a penthouse top for IIRC $20k. It was gone in just a few hours. The only way our deal happened was to have a cashiers check overnighted to them or it was going to be first come, first served. All we had was their email, and I was getting no replies. My amazing wife applied her sleuthing skills, checked their backgrounds, and got their phone number. It turns out their internet was down over the weekend, so no other buyers could reach them. My wife rocks!!!!
 
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We finally got this big dog home! It was wandering a bit, so we had Chris and John at Off Road Innovations in Winchester, VA replace the ball joints and one tie rod end. That fixed it up. I highly recommend these guys. They are very knowledgable, and have an alignment rack so they don't have to farm that out. They can even build drive shafts in house. Now it will be going to Deviant Customs in Edmond, OK to have new bumpers built, and do some suspension mods. We decided not to add a roof rack. This baby is tall!
 
Alan, I can't wait to see it in person. Wish you could make the Ozark gathering this weekend. Thursday night I will be camping near Broken Bow... how far away?
 
Alan, I can't wait to see it in person. Wish you could make the Ozark gathering this weekend. Thursday night I will be camping near Broken Bow... how far away?
We're now living in Oklahoma City which would be quite a detour from Broken Bow. I was hoping to make the Arkansas rendevous, but Scheryl's flight from Denver doesn't arrive until after 10 Friday night, and it's also my turn to be on call for the week. I'm saving the Oztent basket for you. since I'm going to sell the tent. We're really digging this van! It's so great to break camp by just climbing into the driver's seat. When we were on the road, we just left the bed set up. It will mean giving up some trails due to its size, but it's also going to be our house after retirement since we'll be traveling full time. I think it will still be pretty capable after adding the lockers, better (and bigger)tires, and the exterior armor goods. We have decided not to add a roof rack since it's already pretty tall. You can shower inside, but it's pretty tight. The hose is plenty long enough to shower outside. We plan to just string a curtain up between the open rear doors.

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Alan, I appreciate you keeping the cage for me :) I agree with the nice packing up easily... especially in bad weather ;) Our FWC is not as easy but still nicer than breaking camp with the Jeep and OZ. We really need to catch up. Try and keep us posted on your wanderings soon we will both be in the same state at the same time ;) BLUE SKIES!!!!
 
Brushhogger,

I'll just come out and say it. I am bigly jealous. So jealous I must call you a name or two. Swine!! Lucky Bastich!! There it is out of my system now.

I've been van hunting for a while now and you scored a beauty. Take your wife out to a very nice dinner. She earned it pulling this one off.

If you are ever in So Cal, We got a two acre yard and you the wife and the van are welcome to land here anytime. Of course I will demand the deluxe van tour as payment for camping fees. :)
 
At my advanced age this seems so much more practical. We'll all be interested in the long-term reports of your adventures and experiences with the van.
 
GC, at some point we'll definitely be taking you up on the campsite offer! I've never had a vehicle quite this big before, but I'm really digging it. I always figured the MPG's would make traveling in something like this too expensive, but it's not that much worse than the FJ when it's loaded for a month long trip. We purchased it in Virginia from a couple in Winchester. The trip home was about 1300 miles, and the worst tank was 12.7 in the mountains. The best was 13.8 in the flat lands. I'm sooooo glad we decided to go this route vs keeping the FJ and getting an off road tear drop trailer such as the Moby. It's only been on one very short trail, but it was very capable even with the stock tires. I've seen a few videos of Sportsmobiles at Moab, but it will be a bit before I have the guts to try that. We'll definitely be posting more, as in two years this will be our house and we'll be traveling full time. I found a local fabricator with a good reputation who is supposed to build the bumpers and sliders. He has a good reputation and does great work, but is very hard to reach by phone and email. I contacted CBI Offroad about this one they did ( http://www.cbioffroadfab.com/2014/01/02/sportsmobile-upgrades/ ) . I may be taking it to Idaho, as that is pretty much what I'm looking for.
 
Finally got started on it. It was in great condition when we bought it, but some areas needed beefing up. This was it the day we bought it.
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The first thing needed was bigger tires. It had a little bit of tail wagging the dog that needed addressing.

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Next, after several recommendations, I took it to Jared Bratcher at Deviant Customs in Edmond, Ok. He installed the Agile Off Road R.I.P. kit to improve the suspension. He also installed the ARB OBA system.

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Next some armor was needed. I had som special needs for the bumpers, so Jared is building them also. The front is close to being complete.

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He’ll also be installing the Superwinch 12.5 Talon winch.

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More to come.
 
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