Lowering a 96 Grand Caravan ?

[MountainMike]

Lol, well, if you do end up doing this, please make a build thread. For the mini-van lowering community on TRS

What about the crazies like me that would lift it?

 

[ozziemo27]

What about the crazies like me that would lift it?

I guess you'll have to wait on that one

 

[MountainMike]

Time for me to find a project, modifed people carriers FTW!

 

[ozziemo27]

SAS your 98! theres your project!

 

[B2 Addict]

I knew very well I would get some soccer mom, grocery getter,etc..etc.. remarks when I posted this thread. I fully understand, that's why I gotta make it my "own" . I always swore I would never have a mini van & made jokes constantly, but this thing is sweet, loaded to the max, very well taken care of, runs & drives excellent, & was bought for the price of the transmission which me & pops put in!!

Yes, I am trying to justify owning a mini van!

As for a build thread for the thousands of lowrider mini van fans, here is a before pic. It will be a while before I have updates cause I ain't gots no dough. Stay tuned, I know you anxiously await!

 

[ozziemo27]

And if you don't end up wanting to keep it, you could make a pretty good profit off of it selling it!

 

[exbass94]

DOOOOO IT.

 

[B2 Addict]

DOOOOO IT.

NEWLY MOTIVATED!!

 

[Ozwynn]

I knew very well I would get some soccer mom, grocery getter,etc..etc.. remarks when I posted this thread. I fully understand, that's why I gotta make it my "own" . I always swore I would never have a mini van & made jokes constantly, but this thing is sweet, loaded to the max, very well taken care of, runs & drives excellent, & was bought for the price of the transmission which me & pops put in!!

Yes, I am trying to justify owning a mini van!

As for a build thread for the thousands of lowrider mini van fans, here is a before pic. It will be a while before I have updates cause I ain't gots no dough. Stay tuned, I know you anxiously await!

you better get repair caps for the strut towers and the install kit for them and get that done before you have issues with the strut towers. I didn't take car of the problem when I first noticed it and now I need new towers to the tune of $1200 a side. You better do this before you start messing around with lowering it. Although I am all for that, I was going to lift mine and build an off road bumper for it...... pre runner lights on the nerf bar....... light bar across the top ....... 30" tires (biggest that will fit and still be able to open the side doors)

The problem effects 1 out of 4 of every Voyager, grand voyager, caravan, grand caravan and town and country 1996 model year through 2001 model regardless of the salt belt (meaning even in California these vans have problems with the strut towers)

 

[B2 Addict]

you better get repair caps for the strut towers and the install kit for them and get that done before you have issues with the strut towers. I didn't take car of the problem when I first noticed it and now I need new towers to the tune of $1200 a side. You better do this before you start messing around with lowering it. Although I am all for that, I was going to lift mine and build an off road bumper for it...... pre runner lights on the nerf bar....... light bar across the top ....... 30" tires (biggest that will fit and still be able to open the side doors)

The problem effects 1 out of 4 of every Voyager, grand voyager, caravan, grand caravan and town and country 1996 model year through 2001 model regardless of the salt belt (meaning even in California these vans have problems with the strut towers)

I appreciate the advice, but I am gonna have to admit my ignorance here, what is this issue with the strut towers & what exactly are the repair caps? I've never heard of this potential problem but I will look into it ASAP!

 

[Ozwynn]

I will try to take pictures of my strut towers tomarrow....... warning it will be a crappy cell phone pic.

When these were built it was determined that the strut towers where not strong enough so instead of doing a re-design Chrysler chose spot weld another strut tower over the existing strut tower. it was supposed to be seem sealed and fully welded, but it wasn't on 1 out of 4. so water, salt, crap, road gunk all get trapped in between the 2 layers. it is particularly bad on the Driver side because the battery in these tends to over cook and it out gasses right over the strut tower aiding in pre mature death of the tower. you look down my DS tower and you can see the parking lot. we are not even hardly driving it right now and definitely not out of town.

 

[Nater]

I had a old 97 Caravan, that kept blowing the transmission up, along with the halfshafts!

 

[Ozwynn]

I had a old 97 Caravan, that kept blowing the transmission up, along with the halfshafts!

they are a poorly understood transmission..... that was also light years ahead of its time. alot of time what people thought was a blown transmission was just a bad sensor that caused the transmission to go into Limp Home mode. I have 165,xxx miles on my AWD 99 town and country and no problems with the axles or transmission (and anybody that knows me knows how much I hate this car and I am not exactly nice to it) but what is a chrysler dealer (or local transmission guy) more likely to tell you ........ you have a blown $30 sensor that will take 30min to change or that you need a new $3500 transmission.

 

[Nater]

I was always told that it was because the larger V6 was putting out to much power for that transmission....Ya, I know....I was a stupid 16 year old at that time... I know 1 time for certain it blew up on me as evident of the pieces of transmission laying on the ground under it...Also went thru 2 halfshafts on the passenger side...

 

[Ozwynn]

well ........ it the same transmission from 1989 to 2005 and the 2001+ 3.8L makes 215 HP. the transmission stands up to 300 ft/lb torque turbo charged 4cyl.

I have an AWD with a 3.8L. you had one that wasn't maintained.