I decided to forget the hardshell cases, forget the soft cases, and forget loading them into and out of my van. You think I'm joking, I'm not. I have shelving in the back of my work truck along the walls. I took 1/2 of one side of shelving and removed the inner shelves but kept the top shelf. Lined the resulting space with a packing blanket. Most of my kit fits right in there, right over the driver side back wheel protrusion. It's packed in tight, and very secure. No cases. I have the hidden side of the 3 toms exposed to the inside of the van, so if it does get dinged, you won't see it from the audience. I fit 3 toms, 2 snares, my throne top, and a rolling suitcase that holds my mics, cables, chimes, vibra slap and assorted items in that space. The only thing left is my kick and hardware.
I hung a carpeted wood shelf in the very back of the van as soon as you open the rear double doors, it's hung from rope and I slide my bass drum on it. So my bass drum is on a shelf about 2.5 feet from the floor. Rope keeps the bass drum from moving off the shelf fore and aft. My hardware bag rolls in right under the shelf on the van floor. All my gear is now permanantly housed in my van. No more worrying about leaving something behind. It's very freeing. And not having to deal with the hardshell case makes setup much nicer. I keep my snares in a soft bag to protect the delicate snares, that's it.
This took an entire day of my life to reconfigure my van like that but it's so cool that I'm always ready to go!