Fitz’ 2016 Sprinter 4x4 RB 150S Build

[Fitz]

I’d forgotten about that scene, thanks for posting it!

[Fitz]

Nothing exciting about this post, just an item of routine maintenance taken care of.

I've been watching CAtuned Offroad's progress on their big brake kit for Sprinters. They have it fitted on a test van and are putting some miles on it, but they are not yet ready to release the kit. BTW, I went up to their shop in North Highlands (just above Sacramento) and met Max last week, nice guy and another resource to be aware of.

At 52,422 on a fully built Sprinter the front brake pads were worn down to 2mm, the rear pads at 7mm. I couldn't wait any longer, so yesterday Flint got new front pads, rotors and brake pad sensors.

All we need now is to be done with this shelter-in-place order so we can get back out on the road....!

[Fitz]

I know of three people who have broken this bolt, looking on the web there are others.

Shown below are the upper rear shock mount bolts for the Sprinter. The mode of failure is that they shear where they thread in, then a drill and an easy-out is required to extract the stub.

I'm not carrying the tools required to extract the stub on board (they are all in the garage at home) but I am carrying the hard-to-find-bolts. The van is drivable with the bolt broken and most any shop can make the repair, but not if you don't have the replacement with you.

Just a suggestion. The MB part number should be visible on the packaging in the picture.

[Klompen]

Is this problem/bolt unique to the 4x4 Sprinter or do I need to worry about this on my 2016 2500 4x2?

[jrobe]

I suppose someone with a 4x4 and more off-road use would put more stress on that upper rear shock bolt but this could certainly happen on a 4x2 also. I remember when I replaced my rear shocks thinking that that upper bolt going into a threaded hole in the frame seemed odd. I would have preferred a through bolt with a nut on a bracket. If that bolt breaks it would be a pain to extract crawling under the van.

I went to order a couple bolts online and could only find them for $12 each (typical for Mercedes). I will check at the Freightliner dealer when I am there next.

Thanks Fitz for another great tip.

[Fitz]

I agree with jrobe ^^^^. I have only heard of this happening on 4wd Sprinters, but I assume that is because off harder off road use vs. a change in the design.

See below for a picture of a failed bolt, not my picture, not my failure.


And here is a picture take at the MB dealer when trying to determine just which bolt was which. I ordered two of the 190's.

[Fitz]

This is a good reminder to re-check the torque on some of these key fasteners:

Wheels (no spacers, with Methods vs. stock steel wheels) - 133 ft lbs
Rear leaf spring U-bolts - 130 ft lbs
Rear shock mounting bolts - 80 ft lbs upper bolt, 60 ft lbs lower bolt

[Fitz]

In Post #690 on page 69 I showed the repair I made to the broken bracket that holds the lower bump stop curved block in place. In that post I included a picture of the Sumo Spring orientation, but to get it aligned properly I had to adjust the attachment with that side of the van supported by a jack stand, making the assumption that my bracket repair had moved the lower bump stop curved block a bit.

The more I thought about it the more I thought that something was off. I went back under the van and took this picture of the bump stop orientation on the other side of the van with all four wheels on the ground.


This led me to take this picture. Comparing it to other pictures from the past I came to the conclusion that the wheel had moved back in the wheel well.


Following this I had good conversations with both Mark Hesser of Van Compass and John Brindle of Agile, both excellent resources.

The original MB design for the 4wd vans includes a 3" tall lift block under the rear springs. You can see it in this picture that shows the addition of the Van Compass Spring Pack to the original springs.


Flint is heavy, with the rear axle weighing in at 5,260 lbs. (MB GAWR is 5,360 lbs.) What I believe happened is that over time the rear springs settled and moved the rear axle back a bit in the process; amplified by the weight of the van, our bouncing the van around off road, and the effect of the lift block.

The simple solution would have been to remove the Sumo Springs and replace them with the factory bump stops, thus eliminating the added non-aligned contact against the lower bump stop curved block. I'm convinced this would have been fine, but I'm also convinced it would have gnawed away at me...

What I did instead was to replace the springs and lift blocks with a set of Agile's 5,400 lbs. rear leaf springs. As John told me, being within 300 lbs. of the spring design value is the "sweet spot" and at 5,260 lbs. Flint was right there.

I had the springs shipped to CAtuned Off-Road's shop in North Highlands (they are both a Van Compass and an Agile installer and a good shop to do business with in Northern CA, ask for Max) where the springs were installed, here they are in place:


And here is the weight rating sticker on the top of the springs, uncovered by me after it was taped over by a thoughtful person while in transit...


And here is a comparison picture of the wheel in the wheel well when the work was complete.


I can tell no difference in how the van handles or rides with the change. I have removed the Sumo Springs and gone back to the factory bump stops. I believe the picture above shows the wheel better centered in the wheel well and I am happy with the result. This change was made with 52k+ miles on the van, check in with me at 100k and we will see how it is holding up!

[Fitz]

Best modification in 2019: Replacement of the Sure Power Separator with a Blue Sea 7622 ML-ACR Automatic Charging Relay with the ML Series Remote Control Switch. Now both the engine and house batteries charge with the engine running, when connected to shore power or with solar input, MUCH better.

The above is from the end-of-the-year summary that I posted on January 1st of this year, reference Post #685 on page 69.

What I need to highlight is: "with the ML Series Remote Control Switch", see the picture below. (Start with Post #645 on page 65 if you want more on the installation).



I've been putting in some crazy hours while working-from-home and sheltering-in-place, and Laura finally had enough of it so she jumped in the van and took a bit of a drive. (5,000+ miles in just under 4 weeks, she likes to move around looking at items of geological interest when she gets the chance!)

She was in Oregon visiting a friend who lives fairly remotely when she called me up and told me the headlights had been left on all night with the resulting dead engine battery...(learning from this story, when driving don't exit the side door because then the "headlight on" door switch reminder doesn't get a chance to do its job!)

What to do? Why, just reach down to the base of the driver's seat and push the top of the red switch located there, then start the engine! It took about as much time to do as it did to say it, and suddenly I was a hero as the van started right up!

One of the reasons for installing this particular modification was to be prepared just in case something like this happened. In this case all went according to plan and my future Flint modification budget got larger and more uncomplicated as a result, a very good thing!

[hein]

Originally Posted by Fitz

Please get some Rustoleum truck bed coating and black out the wheel tubs.



All the best,
Hein
DIYvan
541 490 5098