ASD Dad

Congrats on the van! Welcome to the site.

You just cant change engine physics. Diesels will always have low end torque and it will be pretty flat across the powerband. Gas motors need RPM's to make HP/TQ. Little stuff can help bring that down the RPM band but unless it's got some sort of forced induction on it it just cant do it well. Newer factory turbo motors do a fantastic job of having a nice fat and flat torque curve. Be very hard to do that with a bolt on setup.

Two old friends of mine bought a Sprinter diesel to convert themselves. They do a ton of surfing, mountain biking and snowboarding. They're making good progress so far.

Short answer - there is nothing that will come close to the power curve of a diesel. Your best bet is to visit one of the big Titan forums and ask there or just browse the engine mods section. There are many that mod these motors and drag race their trucks on those forums. Most bolt on mods - exhaust (including headers), intakes, cams, throttle bodies, ECU flashing, etc. will increase HP and TQ but mainly higher up the powerband where you want lower. Each of those could have drawbacks as well with driveablility, noise, increased gas use, etc. You have only one choice and it's not a good one and something you dont want in the first place. The Stillen supercharger for the 5.6 can be made to work on the NV. It requires a good tune shop and a custom UpRev tune done on a dyno. It would not be cheap and there are still issues. There is a member here that did it and broke his transmission the first tune they tried. I think it is running now but still has error codes to clear all the time. But it is the only true mod that would give you the fat torque curve you want. All that said - there are many here including me that haul a heavy trailer with the van full of people and gear. I'm pretty happy with overall performance. It's not as good as my old Tundra and nowhere close to a diesel pickup but I really cant complain.

I used to live somewhere with very strict testing. I used to drive on the street with my old track cars and I would need to lean it way out and fiddle with things to get it to pass. 9/10 times it worked so I was happy. New place we live has zero testing. I could drive with open headers if I wanted. I honestly wouldnt mind something in the middle like the OBD testing. There are many cars around here that just should not be on the road due to how bad they are running.

If anyone is interested this NV is for sale. He popped up under my YouTube feed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1hhEHWkfqk

That Sprinter is a beast!

As I said above, I havent seen a towing mirror with dual convex glass. They all have one large flat piece and one smaller convex wide angle. There is a reason they are made that way. http://www.allaboutcampers.com/trailer-mirror-adjustment/

Not sure what you mean, do you want convex glass on both parts of the mirror? You should have a flat glass upper with convex lower. I dont think I have ever seen any towing mirror that has convex on both, that is not the point of a towing mirror. The smaller convex mirror is your wide angle to check blindspots and the lane next to you. The larger flat mirror is set to see the side of your vehicle/trailer and even a little behind your vehicle. If this is your first time using dual glass tow mirrors I admit it looks very strange and will take a while to adjust but once you do going back to a single small mirror will drive you crazy.

I use one of those extension brushes used for RV's to wash mine. That and a a folding step ladder that I use anyway for my rack and it makes somewhat quick work of washing the van. We use the brush on our camper so it works out all around. I barely fit before (tried once) but with my rack on there is zero chance!

Welcome to the site Larry!

Nice work! Thanks for posting the photos and guide too.

Welcome to the site! Please report back if you get it looked at by the dealer and let everyone know the outcome. We have many here you report issues and then vanish so we never know what happened (if anything).

Welcome to the site! Yes, it reflects badly and tint will not help at all. We have tinted front windows and it is maybe a little worse than glass. I would not say it is huge though but it has been two years now since I drove it with clear glass! We have 20% ceramic tint. TBH, I am shocked more dont complain about it but I guess we all just get used to it. I know it does not bother me nearly as much now as it did when I first got it but I definitely know it is still there. If you get the anti glare let us know how it works out, I will get some if it works! I have to think a film like the privacy screen film they use on computer monitors would work. They only allow light straight on and block out at angles. I think that is a great idea if it works and may look into it myself the more I think about it.

Depends on the controller. Most these days do not need to be totally level, they work off accelerometers that can detect how they are setup when static. They do need to be pointed front to back more than being level so they can detect the force of slowing down better. The Equalizer is a great hitch. Been around a very long time and it works well. They are Very NOISY though! Just how they work, it is steel on steel friction for sway control. When moving slow and turning a lot they love to make lots of groans, creaks and pops. All normal. There are a few out now that are similar that claim to be quieter (some use brake pad material for the friction agent). Just read up on the instructions and setup so you know if the dealer did it correctly. Read up on hooking it up as well, you have to get the tongue up pretty high to get the bars on once you have the coupler locked down but again, that is normal for most hitches. RV.net can be good and bad. You have to weed through all the nonsense to find the tidbits of information you need. You're right though, if you tow more than a pop-up they want you in a 1 Ton dually a lot of times!! How about the old days of people towing with their station wagons or cars?? If you find a brand you like a lot of them have good forums. Forest River forum is huge and very helpful.

Welcome to the site OldBird. Sounds like you have been visiting the RV.net or Good Sam forums, most of the old timers there are the ones that say if you go over "x" lbs then your vehicle will blow up and you'll kill everyone on the highway... Biggest thing you need to worry about is staying within overall weight. You do that and you are fine to tow anywhere you want within reason. The last I looked (Nissan doesnt really publish it anymore) the combined weight was 16,000 lbs loaded. You also need to check your rear axle weight on the van and dont go over the receiver ratings. If you are getting that big a TT then a good WD hitch is absolutely required. Make sure you know how to set it up, dealers do a bad job most times. After that load it up, load up your van and go weigh it. There are lots of tutorials online on how to weigh it and where (CAT scales are the most popular and cheap). Then you will know 100% if you are in your limits and you will know 100% if your WD hitch is properly setup. If you have never towed before I highly suggest practicing pulling that long a trailer around including tight areas and backing it up. The rear end will swing a lot wider than you think with the axles located near the middle. It tows big trailers just fine. Make sure all tires are aired up properly for the load (van and TT), the WD is setup right with antisway also setup right and you are good. Zero issues with temps - engine, oil or tranny. We have giant coolers mounted right in front of our radiators and in the grill opening. This is towing through mountains in 100* heat and zero issues. Yes, you can use tow mode and lower gears to go down hills. It wont brake as well as a diesel with an exhaust brake but it does really well. Going up expect to be in 3rd gear at high rpm on the highway. No issues. I have my Tekonsha mounted in that radio slot. I think I still have photos on here somewhere. Most put it by their right shin/knee to make it easier. Just get the right harness and it plugs right into the factory pigtail that should be wrapped up down by your parking brake pedal.

Hope somebody takes you up on it. I assume if they let you use their van they get a very nice discount on the end product...

Looks great! What wheels/tires did you go with?

That is an amazing shot!

The search is basically Google for the site and it should work well enough. There are/were a few rack threads. You do have several options, it just depends on budget and how DIY you want it to be. Aluminess will run you $1500+ along with a couple hundred at min for shipping. A rack like my Topper is $400-ish. Aluminess is custom to order. Mine is a contractor rack that I made some easy mods to for my needs. If you want a full basket like your photo and you want it to just bolt right on I think Aluminess is it. A member here got a Smitty to bolt up as well but it is not a drop in fit. If you have any offroad shops nearby they can build you something as well. A few have gone that route. Good luck and let us know how it goes

Welcome to the site and congrats on the NV. Did you use the search function of this site? It works pretty well and there are several rack topics posted. Quick answer - that rack appears to be an Aluminess and they can build what you want. They are not cheap. Ladder is not Aluminess, appears to be a generic ladder you can get anywhere that sells van accessories other than they coated it black (most are chrome). If you want a full basket rack Aluminess is among the best and they directly bolt on. Others like a Smittybilt would need some mods on your end to bolt up. There are bar racks, contractor racks, etc. Aluminess makes ladders that bolt right up to their racks vs. the door. Also not cheap. Yes, racks can have a lot of wind noise and it can also reduce MPG. It's just a fact of aerodynamics. There are things you can do to reduce noise like fairings or wraps. Again, that is all posted here.

Welcome to the site DaveO!

That looks great! Nice job.

Greyhound used to be the cheapest option around for shipping big items like that. Yes, the bus people. You could ship big awkward items or heavy items way cheaper than a LTL Truck (semi). By buddy used to have a online bicycle shop and used them all the time for the big crates they used to ship carbon bikes. It's not the most convenient since you have to take it a Greyhound center and pick up from one (at least you used to) but it was 1/4 of the cost.

Let us know how they work out. Ever since my last blowout on the then top trailer tier (Maxxis) I vowed to not return and went LT tire. Havent had an issue since and they look brand new after thousands of miles of towing. I will need to get new ones due to age well before they are worn out. I thought you may try those commercial van tires but the Endurance sounds nice, I will need to check them out. Thanks for letting us know. EDIT: Just checked those new Endurance tires out and they look really nice! I would try them if I was in the market. There are still a lot of lateral forces when turning put on trailer tires that are not a factor with a LT/passenger tire. These look like the first viable alternative to an LT. I'll still with my LT's (Wrangler HT)for the next couple of years but I am looking forward to seeing how these new Endurance work.