5 MUST HAVE Upgrades for your Sprinter Van
Hey everyone,
I am at a beautiful undisclosed camping spot in the middle of Moab with my adventure van, and I started thinking about my most essential Sprinter Upgrades, and wanted to share.
Here are the 5 things you need to do to your Sprinter Van that you may not even know about right now.
All the things I'm going to talk about today are items that when customers make these changes they say”I will never go back to the van the way it was before”.
#1 Fuel Tank Upgrade
Fuel tanks are heavy, they're awesome but they're heavy and they suck Fuel!
You have a standard tank that is just too small especially on long trips. You know you get these Vans all built out and you're going in the middle of nowhere you need to have extra fuel. Also - your heater runs off of diesel so you need to have extra Fuel! One of the best additions we have for these is an extended range fuel tank.
The whole point of an adventure van is to get off the beaten path. The problem is that every adventure seems to include constant fuel stops. Additionally, vans need more than 1/3 of a tank diesel for the heating system to run properly. Don’t get stuck constantly changing fuel - extended range fuel tanks make all the difference.
#2 Suspension Upgrade
The next thing you want to worry about is suspension. Now this is something that a lot of people may be used to with off-road vehicles jeeps and that kind of thing.
Why do we want to do suspension?
I've talked a lot about this in other videos and if you want to learn more about suspension I encourage you to go watch those videos. But for now I want to explain in the high level is that when Sprinter Vans get built out they're under sprung and they don't have enough shock Reservoir volume!
So what happens is that spring collapses - you're riding on your bump stops and when you're riding on your bump stops the van has a very wallowy and harsh feel all at once.
The van is going to sway side to side a lot you're going to get your wind assist triggered a lot which is pretty terrifying when you're on the road… so what you must do is add more spring rate in the rear we do that with either an Adderley for a full replacement pack and then you're adding some adjustable off-road shocks and they you see the factory shock is still there and there's the additional piggyback Reservoir.
It's going to keep your shock fluid cooler when you're going on washboard roads and it's going to keep the van stable on the road on ramps, driveways, everything!
Trust me - do some research on suspension…. these things is pretty much life changing we recommend the Van Compass Stage 2, 4 or 6.
#3 RennTech Tune
So we’ve addressed fuel, suspension, now let’s go inside the van.
Sprinter Vans, when they get built out, they can be a little sluggish. That’s where the RennTech tuner comes in. With this RennTech Tune, you are gonna optimize your engine to be more powerful, to run more boost, it’s gonna be able to get up those mountain passes at high altitude. If you drive these things a lot you realize they can be a little bit anemic! It takes like 2 minutes to install, it plugs into your OBD2 makes a world of difference.
#4 Storage
This may sound silly… I get a lot of folks that are like
“Why do you need storage? You're in a giant van! I go out in a Jeep and you're in a van and you're complaining??”
Well the reason is your van is not empty! It's full of a bathroom, a shower, a fridge, a cooktop, a bed… there's all kinds of stuff in there that gets built out. Plus, keeping the inside clean is tough! So you want to keep the dirty stuff like shoes, shovels, MaxTrax, snowboards, etc. on the outside! That’s where storage boxes and cargo boxes come in.
Personally, in my storage boxes I put extension cords, soft shackles, leveling blocks, tire changing jack, tool roll, soft shackles, a tree saver, and recovery gear. Everything you’re gonna need for safety on the road. That would take up a lot of room in your van. Instead, in a storage box, it’s outside the van, organized, and ready to go at a moment's notice.
#5 Differential Skid
Skid plates in general are a REALLY good idea to get when you are off road. I am actually pretty far from anyone right now… I don't have cell signal. So you want to make sure that you don't smash that skid on a rock and then all your diff fluid spills out… and then you are stuck.
Differential skid plates are super cheap insurance!
The diffs on Mercedes-Benz have a very odd design in that the diff cover hangs down ever so slightly from the main body of the differential. So what happens is if you scrape it over a rock, it'll peel it back like a potato chip and all your diff fluid will spill out! Sometimes you can hammer it back but if your dip fluid has spilled out you're again… badly stuck.
Also, if you take your van in for a tie rotation a lot of folks are trained (poorly) and they jack up the vehicle on the differential… well on a Mercedes that can bend your differential housing cover as well and cause all kinds of problems! For cheap insurance (I think it's a few hundred bucks) definitely a diff skid. Can’t recommend it enough.
So those are just five things… that are not as flashy! They're not things that you're necessarily going to see right away like a cool roof rack with lights or a winch and side steps. Those things all look cool… but we want to make sure we get you out to the adventure safely and efficiently, so those are the five things that I think every Adventure van should look into!
Full Video:
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More soon,
John Willenborg