Dastard Posted March 30, 2018 Hi. My name is D and I just bought a NVP3500. We are expecting our 5th kid in a few months and needed a vehicle to hold the entire family and pull our camper. All our kids are still in booster seats or car seats and this was the only one that can hold them all and we can grow into. Brake controller and air bags are first on the list of mods. Anyone recommend something else? 1 andy_george reacted to this Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mk1_62 Posted March 30, 2018 Running boards. They are a must for the kids getting in and out. 2 ASD Dad and Mark Rogers reacted to this Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mark Rogers Posted March 30, 2018 Welcome to the club! If you haven't done so yet, you should consider joining the Nissan NV Families group on Facebook. +1 for the running boards If you don't have a garage that fits the NV, a remote starter is great for getting the temperature right before inserting the kids. But running boards should be a higher priority. The rear seat belts tend to rub the necks of older kids, so you should look for some seat belt covers when the kids are out of their car seats. And, if you have the cloth seats, put some Scotchgard on them ASAP. 1 ASD Dad reacted to this Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mark Rogers Posted March 30, 2018 (edited) Another tip: Put disposable underpads (e.g. https://www.amazon.com/Healthline-Disposable-Underpads-Count-Trading/dp/B00HUCQY1A/) under the booster seats and car seats. They help a lot for keeping bottle drips, sippy leaks, puke, etc. from drying on the van's seats. You can find them online, at medical supply stores, and even places like Walmart and Walgreens. Bring extras on long trips. Edited March 30, 2018 by Mark Rogers 2 Ambulock and ASD Dad reacted to this Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dastard Posted March 31, 2018 I will look into the running boards. We got leather seats. Nothing worse than getting crushed Cheerios out of cloth ;) and we already have great seat covers. Remote start is on the list of wants, not needs so it will wait but I want something inline, not spliced and the dealer wanted over $500 which seemed a bit high... I am surprised how nice it drives compared to my Tundra though. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dastard Posted March 31, 2018 Mark, what model running boards did you get from steelcraft? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mark Rogers Posted March 31, 2018 (edited) The Steelcraft model number is 600-41300. Edited March 31, 2018 by Mark Rogers Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dastard Posted March 31, 2018 Are there supposed to be some sort of panel or strip on the roof over the rack mounting points? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ASD Dad Posted April 3, 2018 I had nothing on my roof but that was a 2015. Maybe it was there during shipping and the porters at the dealer didnt prep well before delivery. Welcome to the site BTW! I really like my Luverne steps but they were a total nightmare to install. If you get them installed, great - let them deal with the headaches. Once installed they have been rock solid and my kids and family members like them a lot. I would not worry about airbags too much. The NV 3500 is a 1 ton van vs. your Tundra. I owned a Tundra for 85,000 miles with many of that towing various campers around and I know how soft that suspension is. It was tuned for ride comfort and not hauling a load. I added Timbrens to my Tundra which helped a lot while keeping the ride normal during unloaded driving. Even with the heavier tongue weight of my toy hauler the NV handles it fine. If I do anything I may upgrade my WD bars to the next size up, I am right on the line of each bar rating so my current bars are near max. It rides fine but I need to pull max chain links to get the weight moved properly. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TinyStudio Posted April 3, 2018 Welcome aboard D and congratulations I've had our 2017 3500 NVP SL HD for a few months now and I added the Luverne running boards that ASD dad has I agree they are Rock Solid I got the aluminum black. With five kids it is easier for them to get in and out plus my wife likes it as well. You should also consider adding overhead entertainment I've got two boss 10.1" DVD systems in place I'm going to add a third. The first two are hooked in Tandem and play through the stereo it's a pretty sweet setup we're also going to use our Roku on it with Wi-Fi. Other additions for us included a roof rack that I can put my Sears x-cargo on as well as a Thule hitch mounted cargo holder, side molding and a front hood protector Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dastard Posted April 4, 2018 Tiny, did you do the install yourself or have someone else do it? Any "How to" videos or pics to go along with it? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TinyStudio Posted April 4, 2018 Good morning I followed the modification manual to pull out the headliner and then mounted the DVD players to the cross-members through the center you can't put them on the side like that one picture shows with the guy with the four because they maybe too close to the side airbag curtain. I'll upload pictures and I don't have any video because I did it before spring break, I'll remember to shoot some video when I do the third one. The tricky part is with the dome lights there's a retaining ring that snaps on from the back and if you don't remove the whole headliner it's very difficult to get your arm in there and snap it back on. if there was a way to post pictures right from your phone to these Forum posts that be sweet but I haven't found out how to do that I've uploaded everything to the cloud and I'll have to do it from my PC Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
