2015 Sprinter 4x4 build begins

[LandCruiserPhil]

not to be Dougie-Downer, but what happens if the solar panel fails? could a new one (same size) just be attached over the old? don't know much about these newfangled gadgets all you fellers have.

Good question
Failures are not that popular so far for me . Been running and installing home and vehicle solar for several years using several manufactures and so far no failures. At .125" thick going over the existing panel would be an easy option and a good sugestion. Im sure I can get it off it just not going to be as easy as a decal. Being I have an aluminum roof I not worried about any damage.

 

[mog]

not to be Dougie-Downer, but what happens if the solar panel fails? could a new one (same size) just be attached over the old? don't know much about these newfangled gadgets all you fellers have.

The VHB tape is not too bad to remove. It is used to hold emblems/badges on new cars, so a lot of people (including myself) remove those. Normally you can get smaller ones off by just heating them with a heatgun (hair dryers usually don't get hot enough... remember tape is rated to 300 degrees) and pry with something soft like a plastic bondo spreader. If they are large or tougher, then you can 'cut' them off through the foam part of the tape. Thin wire, like .025 aircraft safety wire is easy, but on painted surfaces I use waxed dental floss, since it can't scratch the paint. heat seems to help with the cutting method also. As always YMMV

 

[mhiscox]

The VHB tape is not too bad to remove. It is used to hold emblems/badges on new cars, so a lot of people (including myself) remove those. Normally you can get smaller ones off by just heating them with a heatgun (hair dryers usually don't get hot enough... remember tape is rated to 300 degrees) and pry with something soft like a plastic bondo spreader. If they are large or tougher, then you can 'cut' them off through the foam part of the tape. Thin wire, like .025 aircraft safety wire is easy, but on painted surfaces I use waxed dental floss, since it can't scratch the paint. heat seems to help with the cutting method also. As always YMMV

All important techniques, and you can also soften the bond by using 3M General Purpose Adhesive Cleaner. It'll generally work to let you unstick whatever was held down and then soften the residue. But it's messier than the non-chemical techniques. I resort to it when the other heat and/or prying might damage the substrate.

The General Purpose Adhesive Cleaner--available online and in many auto parts stores as a spray or liquid--has proven generally benign to car paint and most other surfaces. But I have had a few surfaces on which it either created a milky appearance or took the color out of the area (notably, a light colored vinyl dashboard). Good stuff worth having, but best to use first in an inconspicuous area if you have any doubts.

 

[Err]

Outstanding, we have the panel attachment and removal at failure covered. I break everything so this panel is doomed to fail eventually :sombrero:

The wife got in there and put her touch on the bed and it's lookin cozy now. That's a queen size 6" thick memory foam mattress.

 

[fog cutter]

thanks for the thougthful replies

 

[Err]

Back to work on the bed today... I found that after driving on bumpy roads for just a short while the bed was making all kinds of noise. The metal to metal contact between the panels and between the panels and side supports were creaking. The wood on top of the panels was also vibrating even with 4 t-nuts and a 6" memory foam mattress sitting on top. First thing I tried was creating a little extra pre-load with my angle brackets that hold the panels down. That worked for a few miles but it all went back to being noisy in short order. So, I took the bed apart today and put 3M 2228 rubberized mastic tape between all the metal on metal and wood on metal contact points where there was any chance for vibration. I've used mastic tape quite a lot for quieting things down, mainly chain slap on mountain bikes, and it's tough to beat except for being a hair bit expensive. It's readily available at Home Depot, you'll find it in the electrical isle.

I put full length strips at the panel to panel and panel to side support junctions -

Then I pulled the 1/2" birch plywood tops off the panels and put little strips of the 2228 all around. The dog supervised -

Here's a shot from up under showing how the L brackets attach the panels to the sides. Note the panels sit on top of the side supports and the L brackets just keep them in place, they're not load bearing. -

One other cool thing I discovered is that it's nearly effortless to tap the ends of 8020 to accept a 5/16 or 8 mm bolt. -

So yeah, what an adventure building this bed. It has taken about 3x as long as I expected and cost a bundle. I still have some concerns about the M8 rivnuts I used to attach the bed to the walls of the Sprinter. If they start to loosen up, I'm going to rivet and bond thicker steel plates to the walls and then either tap or rivnut them. I'm hoping it doesn't come to that but I was pretty surprised at how light gauge the metal is in Sprinter's walls. Think Reynolds wrap...

I got started on my bike rack under the bed, will snap pics shortly, it's coming along nicely so far.

 

[EuroJoe]

Subscribing

 

[Finatic Angler]

Any 3 months thoughts? Is the vehicle living up to what you thought is should? Trouble?

Really considering one for me in the future

Thanks

 

[Err]

Any 3 months thoughts? Is the vehicle living up to what you thought is should? Trouble?

Really considering one for me in the future

Thanks

So far, my overall impressions are fairly positive and I can be extremely critical. The van format is nice for having inside space to hang around in, change clothes and access all the crap you packed while driving down the road. The driving dynamics are quite good except in really heavy cross winds (as expected). It has a nice heavy truck feel to it with just the right amount of boost at the steering wheel. Most of the upgrades that I took probably should be standard at the base price but the bi-xenon headlights in particular are notably good. I got all the extra door sill lighting which is nice for climbing in and out at night. The NAV seems to work OK as do the rest of the functions in the head unit. They do stick you with the worst sounding speakers I've encountered in a modern vehicle and wound up blowing $1700 to get it right. I love the high roof and don't see any reason why anyone would ever want the low-roof version. It's already too high to park most anywhere that's covered and the high-roof adds tons of useable space plus it's really nice to walk around standing straight up. Traveling with our dog sleeping on the bed with the fridge just behind the seats and all the convenience that comes with is what has me won over.

Caveats and problems... I've said it before and I'll say it again, it's just wildly over-priced. For $60K you get a shell to start building on not much more. It's noisy, the A/C barely keeps up, the suspension doesn't handle a load, there are few creature comforts compared to anything else in this price range. So, when you look at a Sprinter, remember that to get it just to a half-*** DIY camper you're talking another $15-30K depending on what you do and that's turning your own wrenches. If you've been drooling over an OSV build, they start at $20K but that's for just some paneling and wiring, you'll be in no less than $50K by the time you have a traveling rig. Ok, off that soap box, they're expensive, you get it.

Problems, none so far that I've had it in the dealer for but I do have a loud clunk in my rear suspension. This is apparently fairly common with the first few 4x4's. I'm waiting a bit till they get the fix sorted as I understand it's just an irritating noise and not a situation of imminent mechanical failure. On the long term, these Sprinters can be fairly expensive to maintain. I'm still debating an extended warranty. With nearly 4k miles already, it won't be long till I hit the factory 36K limit. A good friend just had to have is gas pedal replaced on his under warranty. The strangest things are wildly over-engineered on these vans and when they break there's no many other than an MB Sprinter dealer that can fix. The engine and tranny feel rather old-school, really it's probably just the tranny but the point is it makes you think it's gonna be as reliable as an old farm tractor. I wish, hope that is true. Time will tell.

The only other thing is that we're very into moto and mountain biking which tend to be very dirty sports. Right away I threw a roof top box ($1200 with ladder just for that little mod and I had the racks on hand or it would have been another $300 or so) on top to keep the stinky gear out of the interior but generally speaking, it's hard to keep the dirt and mud out of the interior. That's the down side to having all the space together vs. my old truck where we had locking, weather tight storage under the bed and separate from the cab and our sleeping area. When we travel long distance, mountain bikes will be stored under the bed and motos on the hitch. I can already see needing to take extra care with loading and unloading the bikes not to track mud all over everything. I'm not a neat freak, I just don't want my nice green shag carpet full of mud

 

[mhiscox]

So far, my overall impression . . .

That was an extremely useful and well-written report, and I very much appreciate your insights. Thanks.

 

[fog cutter]

nice to hear unbiased and straightforward statement/ opinions.

 

[spressomon]

Thanks Err for posting honest and candid feedback! To be honest, and I realize everything is a compromise, this is what has kept my wallet closed for all things Sprinter. I'd love one...but after all my Toyota years I'm not sure I have the patience...to revisit Euro again. But your project is, like other's, inspiring!

 

[Redline]

That was an extremely useful and well-written report, and I very much appreciate your insights. Thanks.

Yes, x2!

 

[AFSOC]

Problems, none so far that I've had it in the dealer for but I do have a loud clunk in my rear suspension. This is apparently fairly common with the first few 4x4's. I'm waiting a bit till they get the fix sorted as I understand it's just an irritating noise and not a situation of imminent mechanical failure.

Could this be axle wrap, and the overload leaf "clunking" against the main pack? I once had a truck that had that happening when empty, when hauling a load the clunk went away. FWIW, I used a leaf spring clamp on the leading edge of the overload leaf to apply some preload. Not an elegant solution but effective.

 

[Err]

So, I was driving to ride motos last night and was thinking about this thread, more to add...

I do quite like the actual driving experience overall. The visibility is good, the mirrors leave little for blind spots and the blind spot monitoring takes up the rest. The safety features like blind spot monitoring and lane departure were irritating at first but they've grown on me. I also like that I can leave the backup camera on while I drive to keep an eye on my motos on the hitch rack and still see my Nav or Stereo status in the instrument cluster. The turning radius is rather city friendly and the overall length of the 144 makes parking a snap. I've jammed it in some parallel spots in downtown that you wouldn't think much more than a Smart Car would fit in.

Beyond functionality, there's no denying the cool factor of a big 4x4 van. That's not exclusive to Sprinters either, the Ford's and Chevy's are awesome and, of course the Syncro's. I was most certainly drawn in by this a bit. Part of my critical eye is that it's just my nature but also I was thinking that it would be at least nearly as well equipt with all the automation, creature comforts, and attention to detail that I've come to expect from modern cars. I've owned a few Euro cars, notably Audi and VW and, particularly with the Audis, the interiors are just fantastic. Buttons well organized and easy to reach, ergos spot on for anyone in a "normal" height range, and the fit and finish just fantastic. By comparison, the ergos are down right weird in the Sprinter, buttons placed with seemingly no rhyme or reason, some completely obscured. Basic features like auto power window up/down are absent and the power door locks are rather randomly over on the dash next to the shifter and there are two separate buttons for the front and rear doors that require a secret handshake before each actuation to exact the intended function. So, not only does the MB product not even come close to an Audi, it pales in comparison to my outgoing Ford and it is easily bested by the half-baked attempt Toyota made on my '11 4-Runner.

Back to driving... As I was driving along last night I was thinking about that tight steering that I do enjoy and then I started drifting to the fact that I was holding a cheap plastic steering wheel in a $60K vehicle and was suddenly irritated. Come on MB, what the hell? Not like I ordered stripper cargo van for $36k. There was a lot of stop and go traffic last night which also pointed out the barely adequate brakes and the mushy feel at the pedal. Upon resuming highway speeds the turbo lag is quite evident and it's best to shift the antique 5 speed auto manually if you want to get moving any time soon. So that was a bit harsh, but in the Sprinters defense, once you're up to pace and rolling down the highway, none of this really matters. And really, just how enjoyable can a Sprinter, or really any vehicle be in stop and go traffic this side of a 1299 Panigale S in a lane-splitting legal state.

I tend to think that as I rack up more nights crawling into bed, particularly those cold and rainy nights, without stepping foot outside I'll start to turn more positive. More grabbing cold beers out of the fridge to kick back around a campfire or maybe even hang out inside and watch a movie will improve my mood. Less time turning wrenches and more summer road trips is what I need. And really, if you look at my criticisms it's mostly about the interior, yes the motor and tranny leave a lot to be desired when coming from a 'merican turbo-diesel pickup but it hauls the Sprinter down the road just fine. On the up side, next time I go car shopping, bet I'll be wildly impressed by almost anything having gotten used to the spartan Sprinter.

@AFSOC - Could very well be, not certain.

@* - Thanks for all the supportive comments. I really am having a lot of fun with this project and am full of opinions (obviously!) but they're just opinions.