PennSilverTaco's "Perfect 5-Lug Regular Cab" Build, Aspergers, and General BS MegaThread!

My parents never owned a Chrysler minivan likely because my dad didn't particularly like anything American-made that wasn't a truck...

However, I spent a good chunk of my childhood in the minivans owned by friends and family members; Well into the early 2000s, I remember the pre-1996 Chrysler minivans being a common sight on American roads! When we lived in on-base housing on Moffett Field in California, the family next door had a light blue 1987-1990 Dodge Grand Caravan or Plymouth Grand Voyager. This was in 1997-1998, so thing was anywhere from seven to ten years old by the time we moved in, but it was in great shape and likely paid off so more power to 'em! The van was the mom's vehicle, and the dad drove a red 1993 or 1994 VW Golf...

 

My crush in 2nd and 3rd grade was a blonde girl one year younger than me named Brooke Davis, who also came from a military family and lived on base...

Her mom drove a dark green 1994 Dodge Grand Caravan LE (This was 1997-1998, so the van wasn't very old), identical to my aunt and uncle's in Monterey but green instead of silver; Her dad drove a red 1985 Toyota pickup...

Even as late 2003-2004, I saw older pre-1996 Chrysler minivans parked in the driveways of homes in fairly upscale neighborhoods! I personally blame "Cash for Clunkers" for causing them to all but vanish by the end of the first decade of the 21st century; The newest of these vans were almost 15 years old by the time this program started, and not worth more than a few grand in perfect condition, so families leapt at the chance to get five grand for their 14-year old minivan with 150K miles!

 

Moffett Field had Navy, Army, and I believe Air Force; The neighbor who converted my Power Wheels Jeep to run on a tractor battery, Gary, was Army...

Gary drove a light blue 1985ish GMC Suburban 2500, and his wife had a white 1992 or 1993 Dodge Grand Caravan; The reason I remember Brooke's mom's van and Gary's wife's van so well is because aunt and uncle who lived just over an hour away had pretty much the same van. Brooke's mom's van was identical to Aunt Ellen's in every way except color, and was likely the same year (It may have been a 1995). Gary's wife's van was white with this gray composite lower body cladding, and painted silver steel wheels instead of chrome wheel covers like Brooke's mom's and Aunt Ellen's. 1991-1995 Chrysler minivans are virtually identical on the outside, but 1994-1995 had a different interior than 1991-1993; I remember that Gary's wife's van had the pre-1994 interior with no passenger airbag, and I seem to vaguely remember Gary telling me it was a 1993 when I asked him...

 

I thought airbags generally won't deploy without the ignition key turned on...?

Should I buy from the dealer or cannibalize a wrecked Tacoma?

 

no, you can definitely set airbags off without the truck turned on, I've seen it happen. better safe than sorry and disconnect the battery

 

Aunt Ellen’s van and Brooke’s mom’s van both had this style of wheel cover...



In 2001-2002, most of the hubcaps on my aunt’s van were damaged or lost, so they replaced them with generic El Cheapo Plastico wheel covers from Wally World or possibly Pep Boys...

 

Gary’s wife’s van definitely had these wheels...

 

Check the procedure for replacing the clock spring. Basically you'll need to disconnect the battery for a certain amount of time...can't remember the time, but that seems to prevent the airbag from deploying. I'm a little risk adverse, so I would probably wait at least 2X as long before doing the work...maybe disconnect it the night before?

 

Like most military bases, almost nobody stationed there was actually from California...

Gary and his family were no different; Know how I know? I distinctly remember that Gary’s old Suburban did not have a front plate; I believe they were from either North Carolina or Georgia, and it is quite possible that the Burb lacked California emissions control stuff and wouldn’t have passed smog there...

One of the many benefits of being in a military family (at least active duty) is that all states exempt active duty military from registering their vehicles in that state. My dad’s Pathfinder and my mom’s Camry remained registered in Pennsylvania during the two years we lived there; My dad had a New Jersey driver’s license with his parents’ address to legally circumvent state income taxes, but my mom had to get a California license. Washington was the only state in which my mom was not required to get a new license...

 

I recently picked up a 1987 Dodge Caravan brochure (among others) at Carlisle; According to what I’ve read in books and online, 1987 was the first year the Caravan and the Plymouth Voyager were available in extended-wheelbase “Grand” form and with V6 power.

My 1987 Plymouth Voyager brochure shows the Mitsubishi-built 3.0L V6 as an option, with I believe the 2.5L 4 as an option, even on the considerably larger Grand Voyager; If I found a 1987-1989 Grand Voyager SE with the 2.5L engine and 5-speed stick, I’d buy it in a heartbeat just so I could say I likely had the only one in the country!

By comparison, my ‘87 Dodge Caravan brochure shows the revised 1987-1990 front end, but does not list the “Grand” version or the V6 as options; The 2.2L and 2.6L from 1984-1986 are the only engines listed...

My ‘87 Caravan brochure was printed in late 1986, so I’m guessing it was a carryover and the V6 Caravan was not available...? I’m confused!

 

Also, the very first time I laid eyes on my aunt and uncle’s second Voyager was in the summer of 1997, when it was still brand new...

We were back in California by then, and my mom and I had flown to the East Coast for a family reunion of sorts. My grandma was still living in Old Greenwich, Connecticut at the time; My aunt, uncle, and cousins came up from Virginia in the new 1997 Voyager. I remember thinking that the then-new van was greatest thing in the world just because it had a cassette player and a CD player!

 

I had my spiral cable out when I did the right side steering wheel controls . As mentioned above , keep battery disconnected .
Why not add the steering wheel controls while you are in there
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/installed-steering-wheel-audio-controls-on-my-08.316944/

 

I miss the house in Old Greenwich...

The house was built in 1968 and my Grandparents bought it in 1974 for $74K; My grandpa, who I’m named after, died of Alzheimer’s in 1982...

My Grandma continued living in that house until 1999, selling it for over $600K that year and moving to a retirement community in Virginia so she could be closer to family...

That house is now worth well over a million dollars! It is a modest house for what it is worth, but a very well-built one; Roughly 2,000 square foot 2-story colonial with 4 bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms, and one half bathroom...

It even had a finished basement! The house had gas baseboard heat and the original boiler from 1968 was still going strong when grandma sold the house, but it did not have central air; Grandma had a window A/C unit in her bedroom, and there was a window unit in the family room, but that was it...

I spent a lot of time at that house between 1990 and 1999, and I do not remember ever being uncomfortable during the summer! When my Grandma died in 2015, we buried her next to my grandpa at a church in Old Greenwich, and stopped by the house to take a look at it; I can verify that the house was retrofitted with central air at some point prior to 2015, because I hear the unit running when we there, and though it was hidden behind shrubbery a subsequent visit to Google Earth gives a clear view of the unit on the side of the house.

My grandma kept that house in impeccable condition, but aside from rthe kitchen getting redone in 1995 or so, the house was a timewarp and desperately in need of an update; For example, it had green carpet in the living room and dining room, wood paneling in the family room, gray shag carpeting on the second floor, and green plumbing fixtures in the upstairs hall bathroom!

 

For mine I had to buy the wiring harness, the stalk, and the clutch switch. You won't have to worry about the clutch switch if yours is an auto.

Disconnect battery, unscrew the airbag via the two torx screws on the side of the wheel, disconnect airbag, unplug old harness, plug in new harness, screw in cruise stalk and connect harness to the stalk.

Put it all back together and you should be golden.
Btw I used all oem parts for the install.

 

Problem solved...

Picked this up at the dealer yesterday!

 

Gary and his wife had at least three boys, two of whom were a few years younger than me and one named Anthony who was probably two years older than me...

Three kids; Now you know why they had a Suburban and a minivan! At one point, Gary bought a 1980s VW Vanagon and intended to sell the Suburban if I remember correctly, but then decided to keep the Burb and turn the van into a trailer, to be pulled behind the Suburban...

The van was in halfway decent shape, so I’m guessing it wouldn’t pass smog or something; When an older vehicle won’t pass smog in California, it can be a death sentence, but I don’t think Gary ever turned the van into a trailer...

 

Gary had a small fleet of Power Wheels for his boys, including two of these...



I think he’d had one of them since it was new, but the majority of the trucks were bought secondhand at yard sales and at least one was rescued from a dumpster.

Gary converted all of the Power Wheels he had to to tractor battery power, and they generated A LOT of torque; The Bigfoots could be especially unstable if you drove recklessly...

 

I remember this like it was yesterday...

Our consisted of three 4-unit buildings on a horseshoe-shaped “court”...

One of Gary’s younger boys was driving one of the Bigfoots in the court, and he kept putting it reverse and backing up, then abruptly pushing the forward button without taking his foot off the accelerator; With the original Power Wheels battery, nothing was likely to happen...

However, the larger tractor battery gave the Bigfoot so much torque that it would do a wheel stand; Gary was doing yard work, and warned his son repeatedly not to do this...

His son did not head the advice, and the inevitable happened; The Bigfoot went up on its rear wheels, flipped backward, and ejected Gary’s kid before landing on top of him...

I should probably tell you right now that the kid was not injured beyond a few scrapes and bruises, but he still started crying anyway.

Gary rushed to help his kid, and asked yours truly to drive the Bigfoot back to the house; My yellow Power Wheels Jeep was quite roomy for what it was and had plenty of room for a growing third grader to spread out, but the Bigfoot had only been designed for one roughly Kindergarten-aged driver. I barely fit in the damn thing, but I got it back to Gary’s house!

 

I say again, Gary’s kids had two of these, and one of Gary’s sons managed to flip it over right on top of himself while driving like an idiot...

 

Once Covid is over pack a bag and drive any direction. Stay at decent hotels or motels.