elemental
Wherever you go, there you are.
Well - that sucks. For me it's bad enough when my van gets injured, and worse when I do the injury. Hopefully all of the damage is limited to the relatively easy replaceable glass.
What did you do to your Sprinter today.
- Thread starter flman
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jcmadeintheshade@gmail.com
Well-known member
Robb, some of life's best lessons are taught by learning what not what to do. It has for me. One and done.
Greenschlomo, thanks for the up-close photo of your new Falcon shocks. The first thing that came to my mind was a barrier of some sort to protect the adjustable dial.
If Falcon doesn't have any concerns, it must be a figment of my imagination.
Perhaps some barrier that can be easily removed to adjust the settings? I can imagine that the need to adjust once a desired setting is found, is rarely addressed after.
Varying road conditions would be the exception. For those who have this adjustability, do you take advantage of that when road conditions change, like going offroad?
I guess only a novice would think to ask. Forgive my ignorance. My only 4wd after 60 years of driving was a late 80's Ford 4wd van and my current awd Volvo wagon.
Some of the places I went with one wheel drive still amaze me how fortunate I was to not be stranded so far off the highway. Baja has been the gift of my life in so many ways. The salt of the earth locals made that become a reality without their trying.
Now back to the topic at hand.
Greenschlomo, thanks for the up-close photo of your new Falcon shocks. The first thing that came to my mind was a barrier of some sort to protect the adjustable dial.
If Falcon doesn't have any concerns, it must be a figment of my imagination.
Perhaps some barrier that can be easily removed to adjust the settings? I can imagine that the need to adjust once a desired setting is found, is rarely addressed after.
Varying road conditions would be the exception. For those who have this adjustability, do you take advantage of that when road conditions change, like going offroad?
I guess only a novice would think to ask. Forgive my ignorance. My only 4wd after 60 years of driving was a late 80's Ford 4wd van and my current awd Volvo wagon.
Some of the places I went with one wheel drive still amaze me how fortunate I was to not be stranded so far off the highway. Baja has been the gift of my life in so many ways. The salt of the earth locals made that become a reality without their trying.
Now back to the topic at hand.
elemental
Wherever you go, there you are.
I drove about 45 miles home last night from the movies. The wind had picked up to 30 to 40 MPH gusts (very intermittent) while we were being entertained on the big screen. The drive home was a bit easier than it might have been because we were in a more-or-less normal automobile, and not the van. I did pass one poor sod in a tall roof Sprinter hunkered down in the right lane going about 50 to 55 MPH.
Green Maned Lion
Der Unverbesserliche.
... how many miles do you have on your Sprinter?
If you are thinking thats an interesting point, you are going to get a very school-of-hard-knocks lesson shortly.
Sprinterair
Active member
Has been a very active traveler ourself( Family of two ) that's mean all over N America and Canada which I had one heck of time of fighting for crosswind in some extremed scenics ( some time almost loose this ballte).. therefore I am interest to your mod or considering a larger dia of my rear sway bar..
Green Maned Lion
Der Unverbesserliche.
Upgrade your rear shocks. The difference is astonishing.
jcmadeintheshade@gmail.com
Well-known member
I felt my old T1N 06's steering control correcting itself on a very windy day over a decade ago on a cross country trip. It was appreciated at the time.
I would hope this MB automatic function has continued with the newer models.
One windy day heading back to the west coast in New Mexico and Arizona with my high profile van, the steering control was certainly appreciated. It had to be more than my imagination that the van was correcting itself and staying within the lane markers, for the most part. haha?
With help from Agile's suspension upgrades, I have to believe there would be a dramatic improvement with a windy day on the road. My first drive home from Agile with upgraded struts and shocks was a dream come true. Buffeting from passing big rigs had little effect in pushing me around.
At that moment, I was reassured it was worth every dollar.
I would hope this MB automatic function has continued with the newer models.
One windy day heading back to the west coast in New Mexico and Arizona with my high profile van, the steering control was certainly appreciated. It had to be more than my imagination that the van was correcting itself and staying within the lane markers, for the most part. haha?
With help from Agile's suspension upgrades, I have to believe there would be a dramatic improvement with a windy day on the road. My first drive home from Agile with upgraded struts and shocks was a dream come true. Buffeting from passing big rigs had little effect in pushing me around.
At that moment, I was reassured it was worth every dollar.
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marklg
Well-known member
This is @calbiker's post on how shocks help:
Suspension upgrades to improve handling in gusty winds
Just for another perspective -- Like most people here -- I doubt we have too many millenials on the forum -- I have a significant amount of experience driving in all sorts of conditions. I've driven approx 800,000 miles in just about every sort of vehicle short of semis and dump trucks. In...
Regards,
Mark
Sprinterair
Active member
I'm much leaning to Hillwig but they're only made for T1N3500 and some dually , shocks upgrade will be after if I have HD SB.
schwarzwaldsprinter
Active member
After Engine is finally installed, all systems check okay, it is time to install the old tires with my self-made tire handler (makes things sooo much easier), and take it on a test drive with transmission adaptation and keeping an eye on the DAD life data. 
mrfish27
Active member
Got started on the ARB twin install. Made an 1/8" aluminum mounting bracket and a hardware list (for tomorrow). Wiring and plumbing still to do.
Accepting recommendations for the hose from the unit to the air outlet, which will be inside a rocker locker. Don't know the exact length yet.
Accepting recommendations for the hose from the unit to the air outlet, which will be inside a rocker locker. Don't know the exact length yet.
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HeathenNomad
Well-known member
T-9 days until we head south, which of course means after weeks of flawless use, one of my battery terminals seems to be having issues, as it lost connection last night. I checked everything and it seemed tight and , but I could manipulate the terminal and fuse holder and make the connection come and go, so I am need to out today and look in the light. If I my terminal is messed up, I am considering upgrading to 1 300ah vs the 3x100 I have now. Batteries are ~2-3 years old and no issues until now and it might be bad design on my part of not providing enough support to the terminal and fuse holder, so I need to reinforce that part. Any recs on decent priced lithium 300AH battery and Victron, BB, and Renogy are not in my price range?
SprintMoto
Well-known member
In the same boat essentially, but own 4 X 100 Vatrer Lithiums that have worked flawlessly. Will most likely replace them soon with a single 460AH with self heating. But overall these batteries have been good 2.5 years strong.
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marklg
Well-known member
I've said before, I prefer at least two batteries for redundancy. If you have a failure like you have now with one battery, you have nothing, and your trip is ruined.
Regards,
Mark
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Onhiatus
2018 Passenger 144 RWD
I use a power station, but in 5 years of owning the van I'm on my fourth - all of them replaced under warranty (the last three stations have been Ecoflow Delta Pros, and I replaced them through Costco as opposed to through Ecoflow). The systems never failed all at once, so have never interrupted a trip, but have added to stress while traveling. So Mark's comment about redundancy is spot on.
I recently bought a Elefast 330Ah LFP. It has bluetooth, but no internal heating. I have tested it, and plan to set it up, as a "solar" input to the DP. Capacity wise, it should move us from 3+ days of un-augmented power to 7+ days. More importantly, it gives us an alternate power source if the power station were to fail on the road.
I'm about a month in with the battery and it hasn't even made it permanently into the van yet, but so far it seems fantastic. Price wise it was < $1/Ah, vs the $1/Wh I paid when I started with the van.
marklg
Well-known member
That does not speak well for the reliability of the Ecoflows. I have four Lifeblue batteries that are 6 years old, including 6 AZ summers and they are still at 98% capacity. The only issues I had were externally imposed, a load dump caused by shutting off all the loads, and a missed connection. The Xantrex inverter transfer relay contacts were welded by an external short. I detached them and cleaned them up. For most that would have been the end of the unit as they do not do repairs after warranty, and that is long past. It's probably 18 years old. But basically that was also externally caused. My Sterling DC to DC converter has had no issues besides the poor thermal design I mitigated with extra cooling.
So, in my case at least, individual components have been reliable, and if there were issues, fixable by me.
Regards,
Mark
Onhiatus
2018 Passenger 144 RWD
I don't disagree with you - the software on the ecoflows is not robust, especially when upgrading. I made the decision to go with an all in one for a bunch of reasons, most of which are still valid. It was simple, it did not require specialty knowledge, and it wasn't really more expensive (at the time).
If I were re-doing the electrical (and I might), I would probably go with individual components. That would get me some redundancy, and make the system repairable. Though today if something goes wrong, it's very simple for me to unplug and verify that it's the power station and not the rest of the system. Then if it is the power station, I can take it to costco, get a refund, and order a new one - new warranty, new batteries, and each time I've done this the price has gone down. In fact I took the $500 I got back last time and invested it into this battery - getting me more than 2x capacity, and redundancy.
If I were re-doing the electrical (and I might), I would probably go with individual components. That would get me some redundancy, and make the system repairable. Though today if something goes wrong, it's very simple for me to unplug and verify that it's the power station and not the rest of the system. Then if it is the power station, I can take it to costco, get a refund, and order a new one - new warranty, new batteries, and each time I've done this the price has gone down. In fact I took the $500 I got back last time and invested it into this battery - getting me more than 2x capacity, and redundancy.
Green Maned Lion
Der Unverbesserliche.
I spent my morning in the van- while my wife was working- making use of a number of things I bought from McMaster-Carr. If any of you buy your fasteners from Home Desperate, stop doing that- McMaster-Carr has much better quality hardware for honest much more value oriented pricing, they get to your door the next day, and it takes the ???? out of the crap you find at HD or- God forbid- Amazon.
It fit into two categories; the first was replacing standard nuts and two long fasteners in a few key areas with cap nutted fasteners. This will put an end to things getting scratched or torn. Should have done this long ago, but finding half-decent cap nuts was nearly impossible.
The second part involved me doing a bit more work to my monitor stand. The final problem was that the bolts that were being used for adjusting the monitor were ordered too short because I was using a tape-measure (yes, I'm ashamed) to measure it. So one of the items in the order was a digital calliper. I had a mechanical one, but it was from my watch making days, and was- of course- in mm. That's a problem since I'm using standard fasteners (hush, @vreihen- I get it now, ok?).
I changed a few other things around, but the main thing was the bolt layout on the height sled. I bought proper-length serrated hex bolts, washers, and lock nuts, to go with the 'deluxe' t-nuts. I tightened it down niece and good. I don't think it's going anywhere.
It fit into two categories; the first was replacing standard nuts and two long fasteners in a few key areas with cap nutted fasteners. This will put an end to things getting scratched or torn. Should have done this long ago, but finding half-decent cap nuts was nearly impossible.
The second part involved me doing a bit more work to my monitor stand. The final problem was that the bolts that were being used for adjusting the monitor were ordered too short because I was using a tape-measure (yes, I'm ashamed) to measure it. So one of the items in the order was a digital calliper. I had a mechanical one, but it was from my watch making days, and was- of course- in mm. That's a problem since I'm using standard fasteners (hush, @vreihen- I get it now, ok?).
I changed a few other things around, but the main thing was the bolt layout on the height sled. I bought proper-length serrated hex bolts, washers, and lock nuts, to go with the 'deluxe' t-nuts. I tightened it down niece and good. I don't think it's going anywhere.
schwarzwaldsprinter
Active member
Yesterday, I had finally my windshield installed.
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Then I decided to clean up a few items on my list. The big item was to relocate and insulate the Espar metal pipes, routed from the Espar along the fender around the break booster. My van did not have the Espar installed when I bought it in 2002. I had it added a year later and the dealership installed it as an aftermarket item. Not a big deal, but there was no metal piping. They just ran longer hoses across the fuel filter to the back of the engine and the circulation pump by the firewall. I really wanted to have that out of the way to have better access later.
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Next was to clean up the fan blower and cabin filter insulation installation, secure and protect some loose cables, and to re-install the battery tray and battery.
iCloud Photos - Apple iCloud
View, organize, and share photos and videos with iCloud Photos on the web. Changes will sync across your devices with iCloud.
share.icloud.com
Then I decided to clean up a few items on my list. The big item was to relocate and insulate the Espar metal pipes, routed from the Espar along the fender around the break booster. My van did not have the Espar installed when I bought it in 2002. I had it added a year later and the dealership installed it as an aftermarket item. Not a big deal, but there was no metal piping. They just ran longer hoses across the fuel filter to the back of the engine and the circulation pump by the firewall. I really wanted to have that out of the way to have better access later.
iCloud Photos - Apple iCloud
View, organize, and share photos and videos with iCloud Photos on the web. Changes will sync across your devices with iCloud.
share.icloud.com
Next was to clean up the fan blower and cabin filter insulation installation, secure and protect some loose cables, and to re-install the battery tray and battery.
BrentfromHB
Well-known member
Im trying to be done by January 7th... going camping in the mountains with my parents and told them to cancel my cabin... called back a week later as progress slowed down and cabins were sold out .... So...gotta finish! Few wires to pull, bit of plumbing, water tanks... and it's a wrap! Progress is slow when you only work on it 3-5 days a month lol
.... So...gotta finish! Few wires to pull, bit of plumbing, water tanks... and it's a wrap! Progress is slow when you only work on it 3-5 days a month lol