[RhysHughes]

Not sure how, but the previous owner got it through the MOT with main beam not working. Somewhere down the line, the loom has been hacked into so they can have flashing headlights when they are on a shout.

This is all very well, but how to work out how to bridge the gap when the loom was hacked into, is a really interesting challenge!!

Rhys

 

[RhysHughes]

Not sure how, but the previous owner got it through the MOT with main beam not working. Somewhere down the line, the loom has been hacked into so they can have flashing headlights when they are on a shout.

This is all very well, but how to work out how to bridge the gap when the loom was hacked into, is a really interesting challenge!!

Rhys

Biter and twisted suggested cutting out all the non essential wiring, something I could see ending up with a buggered ecu when I connected two of the wrong wires together.

This went on for too long, but we got there in the end, biting the bullet I got my local auto leccy involved, suggesting he try and patch the loom, not how he went about it. He basically removed a mile of excess wiring and put it all back to standard, only charged me two hours labour too.

Should have done that in the first place!!!

Rhys

 

[64 SPLIT]

Some times it's just easier (and less stressful!) to pay a professional to do those kind of jobs 😁

 

[RhysHughes]

Some times it's just easier (and less stressful!) to pay a professional to do those kind of jobs 😁

Oh yes, it was done in a couple of hours, I had been flailing round behind the cash looking for elusive wires and connectors.
Rhys

 

[BitterandTwisted]

I spent a short while building ambulances, police 4x4's ,AA vans etc and i know just how much 'stuff' is put into these .
Then when theyre decommissioned people will chop plugs off cause its quick and easy but leave the rats nest of wiring behind .
Sounds like your man has been able to identify the bits to keep and junked the rest 👍 .

 

[RhysHughes]

So anyway, a deal of time has passed and we now hve a few years experience with the beast.

It works quite well at a lot of levels, but really the roof needs a bit of decent sorting. I've resorted to sealing the small holes on the roof with Tiger Seal and topping that with tiger seal.

The double mattress in the back was just a PITA, not terribly comfortable to sleep on and a real buisence when stuff needed to go in the back. The whole double bed bench has also prooved problematic, the floor is high enough on the RWD crafter without putting something in there thats another 12 inches off the deck. I've retrofitted body door handles as fitted to the vans put a step on the tow bar and chuck the spare wheel out there as a step when we are camping, but it's still not ideal.

I think the turning point came at a festival, when, after a long shift, I was in the van "relaxing" and ended up falling out of the back door while I was just opening the door "to let some air in", or maybe it was "to let some fluid out". Kind collegues from the security team rushed over to offer supportive howls of derrision and quickly called the paramedics who needed a laugh too.

There is going to be some design revision there.

Also on the "to sort out" list are all the electrical things in the rear. When the original solar went on, the regulator was placed at a height that would be good for the low bench I envisigised at the front of the body, which of course management binned and we ended up putting in something much higher which now obstructs access to the MPPT box and the controls for the ****** Diesel Heater which, incidentally runs much better on kerrosine than diesel.

I think getting in there and sorting it all out is the next job.

R

 

[Orion]

Thanks for the update Rhys, always welcome ( and humorous as ever )

If I may still suggest the tap hole stoppers for the holes in your roof issues?

Mine have been on for 2.5 years now, spot on. Never leaked. Couple of quid each well spent.

 

[RhysHughes]

I think, in retrospect, with all my silly suggestions aside, that might be the way to go. I have used Tiger seal with Butyl tape over the top, which seems to work very well, but thats a cheaper suggestion requiring my level of technical skill, one plug, one mallet....

Rhys

 

[RhysHughes]

it's high time I updated this thread....

One of my ongoing issues with the truck has been the gearing, don't get me wrong it's fine for round here on tiny little lanes and B roads. There are however other sorts of roads with letters starting with A and godness grascious even an M where yyou might need to make some progress.

Remember this is a 5 ton chassis which originally had a tacho and speed limiter, so 2500 revs at about 60
would probably be acceptable. With those two items gone things unravel a little, tolerates 70 at about 2900 but should you ventur any further, like 80 for example the whole thing feels like some thing is going to get out and walk.

So the hunt was on for a higher ratio rear diff. After a lot of hunting I sourced a 4.1 : 1 ratio to1 replace the original 4.7: 1 a modest up grade. This went in quite easily, well if moving bits of metal at that weight is ever easy.

Sadly, aquiring the new axle coindicded with a rather less pleasant event, the main box decided to get out and walk. weThings had been looking dear, we were now in cancel Xmas territory. An interweb search for a new cogbox was launched. Now, there was a major change in gearboxes in 2009 with, apprently all models being given a higher final drive ratio. In fact the gearbox is quite top loaded with 5th and 6th being overdriven. It was also clear from the workshop manual that 2.0 cogboxes were a different beast to that of the 2.5 which is logical

Put a request into a part finder website of two and back came the quotes.

bought one from a breaker which would definately fit a 2010 - arrived the box and it was nothing like the one that had just come off the truck.

Phone the dealer and say it's the wrong part, "must be the other one" says he, to be fair he was a very helpful chap who checked with his VW fitter who said there are only two on the 2010 model year

So off we go to the races. The replacement turned up, first observation the part number was not the same. It was OK says my man, his fitter told him this part would fit with a bit of jiggling.

To be fair, this new box this box looked a lot more like the old one, at least this one had the same gear linkage as the one that came off.

Get it up in the air and offer it up, the primary shaft slotted right in - result. This would work so long as you didn't need to bolt the box to the engine and the starter wasn't going to fit and you would never get the rear box mount to fit and iven if you did the prop would not go on.

Why on earth would VW fit multiple gearboxes for the same vehicle with the same engine in the same MY? The guy in the breakers yard has been mega helpful and seems as ****** off and bewildered as me that the thing does not fit. He swears blind that both boxes came off a 2010 2.5.

I have resprted to being logical, I know, should have done that in the first place, got the part number off the cog box and started searching by part number. Glory be!!! I have found a match on the bay of evil, the exact same number - it's there on the photo. The vendor has listed the application too, this is a gearbox for a 2015 2.0 L crafter, thats OK then....

Sprinters basically have 2 gearboxes, but VW seem to have dozens of variants.


Rhys

 

[BitterandTwisted]

So have you now got one that fits ?

 

[suty455]

Another reason I bought a sprinter anywhere worldwide you can find mercedes parts (hope karma stays on my side now!)

 

[RhysHughes]

So have you now got one that fits ?

The guy who har sent me two units (both of which are still here) and I had a "robust conversation" pver the weekend.

To be fair to him, he was doing his best but he had a mate who was a Crafterologist who had been telling him which boxes to send.

He assured me this morning he had identified the correct box, from the part number I supplied a while back and told his custodian of the crafters to get one that had that same part number on it, which he has done and the courier is picking it up.

Watch this space....

Rhys

 

[RhysHughes]

On he plus side, I hav a cogbox here he sent me, which he said the second courier was going to collect when he delivered the next box, but would not take it away, so i have another carrier with another cog box on his way.

I could end up with two gearboxes here, to sell, that in effect cost me not a lot.

Xmas might be back on.

Rhys

 

[RhysHughes]

Another reason I bought a sprinter anywhere worldwide you can find mercedes parts (hope karma stays on my side now!)

I can sort of relate to this, the interfaces between VW side electronics and Merc are really complex, not it turns out there are more permutations of gearbox than tickets for the national lottery.
But, in the 2010 model year you get the option of the 2.5 5 cylinder, that alone makes it worth the choice.
My other car is an XC90, which alse has a VW 5 cyl under the bonnet.
Not that I live that engine of course.

Rhys

 

[RhysHughes]

Oh look, it's nearly the new year, surely the job is done, or is it??

Well, we had a gearbox on the workshop floor, that did not fit. So far, so good, back to the scrappie who had another which absolutely would fit. A week later it arrived and........

We now had a broken gearbox plus TWO that didn't fit. So this was two weeks on the ramp and no further down the line.

The scrappie, had a mate who knew crafters, who was adamant there were only two boxes, and I now had one of each....

David at Alf Kyne was as fed up as me.

I thought it might be time to do some research.

This is a 2010 Crafter, a new range of Gearboxes was introduced in Aprill 2009, giving (I believe) higher overall gearing. There were not 2 variants, there were in fact 6, all of them had exactly the same ratios so why they were different is a VW trade secret.

The logical person might surmise the variation was down to there being two engines, they would be wrong, there are 6 variants for the 2.5 and another 6 for the 2.0. The gear ratios on the 2.0? identical with the 2.5.

You really could not make this up could you?

Gave David the exact part number and he came up with exactly the right part.

That was it then, all sorted, or was it??

Now life itself got in the way....

First of all it cut up a bit breezy. a lot breezy in fact. The storm hit West Wale and it hit hard. Trees came down like so many skittles, roads were blocked all over. The power went off big style, it tooks days to restore telephone, internet and everything.

What it also did was disturb somewhat the roller shutter doors on the unit. Disturb to the extent that things were bent all ver the place and it was all held together with big commercial ratchet straps!! The wind didn't abate though, not for some days, no one was keen to get up on ladders release the ratchet straps and see what happened, not while it was still windy.

Then of course Xmas happened, so that was another week.

Finally, yesterday, the van drove out of the shed.

Was it worth all the drama?

I'll let you know when I've been somwhere where I can get it into 6th....

First impressions, the gearing is quite a bit taller

Rhys

 

[RhysHughes]

The general feel is that the plot is more long legged.

Lets remind ourselves, this is a 5 ton chassis that originally had a govenor and tacho to boot.

Consequently there was no point gearing it up and the diff was a 4.7:1, the new axle is the 4.1:1

Using the Lufi to give accurate RPM and Garmin to report speed

60 in 6th used to be a shade under 2600 revs

It now shows close to 2100.

Thats a big difference, it feels more relaxed and less buzzy, how that will translate on our longer trips I don't know.

More importantly, will it deliver greater MPG.

Rhys

 

[Ewantodd]

Thanks for the update Rhys, always welcome ( and humorous as ever )

If I may still suggest the tap hole stoppers for the holes in your roof issues?

Mine have been on for 2.5 years now, spot on. Never leaked. Couple of quid each well spent.


View attachment 226263

Mint idea btw

 

[bus#14]

It seems, a lot of people on here go for the full on, home from home luxury conversion with every device known to humanity. Don't know if it's just me, but one of the things I like about a bigger vehicle is haveing versatility.

So when, after 11 years and 120K miles Newton the t4 was getting longer in the tooth than was good, I decided to upsize to a Crafter. It didn't help that we have just aquired custody of 4 and 5 yo grandchildren, which ever way you looked at it, Newton just wasn't big enough.

But which Crafter? Going the full monty LWB hi roof was tempting, however, we like to cross the pond occasionally and I remember from previous experience you can end up paying a lot of money to basically transport air on a ferry.

So a MWB with a low ish roof would be a preferred choice. At least 4 belted seats a must.

Being a bit old fashioned I thought that 2L isn't really a lot to shove that around so I was looking for the old 2.5. Further research suggested the later itterations as they came with higher final gearing

From experience I was drawn to ex Police / Ambulance vehicles as a lot of the donkey work has been done for you.

Cutting a story short I settled on an ex GMP 2010my CR50 135hp support vehicle, 9 seats MWB intermediate top. A nice factor is the proper sealed hard floor that means you can clean up after a long trip with the boys by simply driving it up on ramps. opening both back doors and blasting all the debris out with the pressure washer!!

All the interior lining is already done, side windows are a sort of shatter proof perspex whihc means if it starts getting very lively you can hide in the back. If its getting very lively you can hunker down as the internal panels are all done in Kevlar which gives a level of balistic protection. Did I mention I do festival security in the Summertime??

The front half of the back body had 6 seats on unwin racking, 3 of which came out striaght away, the other three can be removed in a few minutes using a 17mm socket and my big cordless. Already it has prooved it's versatility moving a Land Rover engine which was simply ratcheted down to the racking and 11/2 tons of compressed fire logs in 3 1 ton bags which, with all seats removed fitted easily in the back.

i've previously noted issues I had getting a sound system to work, that was easily solved by installing a second battery under the passenger seat with 200W of solar on the roof through an MPPT controller. Has an added bonus that I won't need to worry about having the music on when parked as it will never ever result in a flat vehicle battery.

The management wanted a proper double bed in the back, this was a bit of a head scratcher, if i wante to be able to continue using it as a van. The problem was solved by building a couple of frames on the sides of the van with another removable frame up the centre line. Then purchase a couple of sheets of decent ply cut them to size, put them on hinges to the outer frame and bung a mattress on top and, presto hey!!! Yeah I know, I need to photograph it all, best go off and get my camera....

Anyway thats us, so far so good,.

Rhys

I'm glad to us a VW van as a van and a camper.y t4 has a bed in back and table but Im able to carry stuff in it..Putting a big 7 point deer inside my westy was challenging but done Carry on. Bill VT and PR usa