Updated on May 4th, 2025
We bought a van with a broken transmission. Not just shifting a little funky broken, but truly will not go into any gear broken. Was this a good idea? Probably not. Andy and I have done a lot of crazy things over the years and this doesn’t even register in the top 5. The only crazy part of this idea was that we were about to own three cars and only one working transmission. Yup, you read that right. Andy was halfway through rebuilding the transmission in our 1973 Jeep CJ5. We decided that buying a van that needed to be towed to the house was a brilliant idea. *Insert eye roll here*
Why We Bought a Broken Van
When we sat down to talk about what our next campervan was going to look like, the very first thing both of us said was, “it has to be a high top”. Lavendar, our last van, was a Chevy Express low top. While she did the job, there is no way we could have lived in her full time. Even before my cancer diagnosis, we knew that we would be spending anywhere from 4-12 months at a time in the van, so we wanted it to be a lot more comfortable this time around.
We also knew that we were going to be on a relatively tight budget for a full-time build. We decided that we could afford to set a budget of $30,000. This meant that we needed to get a van for less than $20,000 if we were going to have enough left to do a decent interior.
In the US, there are three major options for high-top vans: Mercedes Sprinters, Ford Transits, and Ram Promasters. After watching Facebook marketplace for a few weeks, we knew that the Mercedes and Ford would be out of our budget. That’s ok though. Both are notoriously hard to work on yourself if anything goes wrong. Andy doing all of our maintenance and repairs is one reason we are able to make all out adventures happen. That meant we were looking for a Promaster.
We had three requirements:
- Very little or no rust
- No transmission issues
- Under 200,000 miles
The problem we were running into was that almost every van on the market that met those requirements was in the $21,000-$23,000 range or was beat. And I mean beat. We test drove one that wasn’t even firing on all cylinders listed for $15,000, and another that didn’t have a single straight body panel for $18,000.
Then Andy stumbled on the listing for a 2017 Promaster. It was a 155 high top with 144,000 miles and not a spot of rust listed for $8500. We did some quick research on how much replacing the transmission would be and how doable the job was in a driveway. Armed with some cabin fever, cash, and a touch of delusion, we drove the 4 hours to check it out.
A Good Deal?
This van was in nearly perfect condition. Not a spot of rust on the body or the underbelly. A few minor spots of surface rust on the interior. The engine sounded great and the service records were impeccable. It also had 4 brand new all-terrain tires on it. We knew it was very unlikely that we would find a van in similar condition inside our budget. Even with the potential cost of rebuilding or replacing the transmission, we were making out with a good deal since we were able to do that work ourselves.
The owner of the tiny dealership offered to tow it the four hours back home for only $400. Hands were shaken and the deal was done.
Fixing the Transmission
The first hurdle of fixing the transmission was removing it from the van. We needed to get inside to see what was going on. Andy had high hopes that he could get it working for around $400. We were hoping for the best but planning for the worst. The worst in this case would be having to buy a rebuilt transmission for nearly $4000.
Andy managed to get the transmission out and into the garage so we could see what was going on. Without getting too technical, Andy thought that it might just need a new lift pump. Unfortunately, once we had it apart it was clear we were not getting out of this for $400. The inside had basically imploded.
Andy had already found a company who could get us a rebuilt transmission for around $3500 and in less than 7 days. The next hurdle was where to get it delivered because it was coming by freight and both our temporary digs and my dad’s house had posted weight limits because of the spring thaw. Fun fact, loading a 200lb Promaster transmission into the back of an ancient Volvo station wagon in a Home Depot parking lot is possible!
To say getting the new transmission in was a dirty job might be an understatement. Mud season in Maine is always fun but especially so when you are laying under a car in a gravel driveway. But after several hours of building cribbing and slowly bringing the transmission to the height we needed, it was bolted in. Andy ran some fancy software flash, and we had our moment of truth. It started and it went into gear!! We officially have a van to turn into our land home!
Cost Breakdown
While we were hoping that this was going to turn into an absolutely stellar deal, we still ended up significantly under our initial $20,000 budget for a running van and all repairs to make it reliable!
- Van: $8,500
- Tax, Title, Registration: $500
- Tow Home: $400
- Rebuilt Transmission: $3873
Total Cost: $13,273
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