Great job Sam. Good to see things going smoothly compared to the nightmare you had in the previous vid. Just to check Sam - you didn't tighten the 2 big bolts on the wishbones until the van was back down on its wheels otherwise the bushes will be twisted and may tear.
Good point. we did tight them up but made sure they still had movement while I set everything else up The rain stopped me recording all the final checks but rest assured I did tighten the bolts fully
Thanks for this, great video, very informative especially as I'm about to change my front spring and shocks and the part numbers are a god send 👍. I have also watched your later video about the numbers and thanks to that I didn't buy the one on eBay I was looking at but I did speak to Midland truck and van in coventry and managed to procure an official 5T spring from Mercedes. The numbers are different but I don't know why.
Great job Sam ! and you have such a lovely network of friends. That's a good example of your kindness paying back. I with I could be so handy to convert a van myself. But I have few ideas...Hugs xxx
I'm a firm believer in Karma paying itself on,Sam. Thats why I never give bad karma because Karma has a long memory for either good or bad. Karma looked fondly on you and you've managed to get what you need. I watched Neil's video the other day putting a leaf spring on the front and said to him I did not know crafters had a front leaf spring. Just shows, you learn lots following peeps on youtube! Gotta say, that looked really hard work and not something I think I could do on my own....in fact I mentally wished I'd been there to give you a lift! Impressed with the engineering on that leaf spring assembly ,though I did wonder what the leaf spring itself was made of. Good job done! Bessy regs-Kenny
Very interesting, I am stuck, changing both wishbones on my 2002 Sprinter, I was stuck for ages because I had to buy a much more beefy ball joint splitter, and when they went, oh what a bang! got one side finished but on the other side I cannot get the two arms which hold the silentblocs into their chassis holes. Measured the width and height, same as the old ones, no idea what to do.
@@TheCraftyBlindersvanlife After much more time and loss of blood I measured the old wishbone against the new one, from outer edges of opposite silentblocs, original one 461mm new one 455mm. A quarter inch may as well have been a mile. No more Mapco parts for me thankyou.
@@TheCraftyBlindersvanlife No more Mapco parts for me, I have wasted so much time and the van is in the garage on axle stands and I have other vehicles waiting to get in, I don't know if the part is going to be replaced, and if so when.
Hey Sam, do you think I could change the rubber leaf spring bearing under the plate on the control arm without undoing the shocks, i was thinking if I remove the saddle plates attached to the sub frame whilst the wheels are on, then jack up the van and put on axle stands, remove the wheel, undo the 4 bolts on the roll bar plate that it might work. i don’t need to remove the leaf spring, just swap out the rubbers? I have a very noticeable knock on bumpy terrain and I think it’s coming from that area. Cheers 👍
@@TheCraftyBlindersvanlife turns out you can’t do it, the small bolts on the plate that screws to the wishbone won’t come out due to being obstructed from the shock. You got me thinking about the top mounts and after inspection they looked perished, the rubber was dry and brittle showing tiny cracks so I did replace them and boy o boy, what a difference, biggest difference so far and I’ve replaced pretty much anything that moves on the front end trying to get rid of an elusive knock/chatter, I’ve put in new wishbones, steering rack, steering column, koni shocks, anti roll bar links and bushes, 5t front leaf spring and corresponding front hubs and the chatter is finally gone but even after all that the ride was still a little wish washy and unstable until I changed the top mounts…..so much smoother. Thanks bud 👍
Good luck with the build we have a Facebook group when you can ask these kind questions also and share you build with us too fb://group/746842809394772?ref=share
The older we get the harder it is to get under the van.... well that's my excuse for not doing too much underneath.... 😉 Just a tip, I noticed you tightened the inner bushes when you the arm was down on the floor. Only problem with that is that when you fitted arm to the upright and then the van sits on the floor the rubber bushes are really twisted and loaded far more than designed. Try slackening them off at ride height if you can? 👍 Just noticed JimB said this earlier. This could also give the impression that it's sitting higher.
A dab of red rubber grease on rubber bushes is great for easing them in and letting them settle to correct position without tearing. Don’t seem to hear much about it these days but still works for me. Reckon you should still get a sachet of it with any suspension bushes
Hi Sam, glad its all sorted. Why cant these things happen when its warm and dry? If you get a chance can you put up the part number for the front spring as I have two 906 numbers advertised but they seem a bit dubious as one listed also comes back to a later 2019 3.5 tonne sprinter unless they have the 5 tonne spring as standard? Might see you at the spring Overland show if you're going?
Good one Sam when I move to France I won’t have a choice but to use AUTODOC 😢and did you buy the bolts from Vw I got mine from them and not as expensive as some of there bolts
Hello Sam , just seen this vid , when doing lower arms the bushes should be tightened with the weight of the van loading them up , hard to do on the floor, that’s when a pair of ramps come in handy, it can extend their life .
Well done Sam - I too had the same problem with ordering online from what I thought was a local parts supply company only to be waiting up to 10 days for parts to arrive in autodoc boxes 🤬 - what did you do about that order - cancel it before it arrived or refuse to accept it ?
