Sprinter 324FWBHS Maiden Voyage

[KevinLacy]

We picked up our new Sprinter last Friday. Spend about six hours at the dealer going over it with a fine tooth comb. Myself on the outside and my wife inside. We only found a few minor flaws that could be fixed on site. It's funny out of the hours spent and lists printed off the internet checking this rig out how many things we forgot. But no big deal just things you don't think about till you stay in it the first time. Spent the next several hours loading it, making lists of stuff we forgot, and a few more trips to wally world we loaded up the kids and headed out to the local campground. Now mind you I grew up around these things but first time I've owned one. First time for the wife and of course for the kids but all went well.

I put a set of Timbrens on the truck and Mckesh mirrors. They worked out real nice. Love the Pullrite hitch. Trailered great. Truck pulled much better than I expected for a gasser and 3.73 gears. Had no problem pulling home 60 miles on the interstate and two lane hills to the camp ground. Miss my old CTD Dodge though, maybe someday I'll have another but the Hemi did really good. A tuner would probably help the shift points.

So far I have ordered hardware to add gas struts to the other slam latch cargo door. Don't know why they didn't add that to both sides rather than just the right side from the factory. I will probably add JT Strongarm stabilizers at some point but it wasn't too bad.

Love the outside kitchen. Probably the only complaint I have so far is the water pump sure is loud.

[beer breath]

Congratulations! That is a nice floor plan you have there.

[Festus2]

KevinLacy -

Some of the noise from a water pump can be reduced by:
1) Removing the pump and placing a thicker, larger piece of plywood underneath the pump along with some sound-dampening material like cork or rubber. Screw the board to the floor. Refasten the pump to the board and dampening material.

2) Placing foam wrap around the water lines where they go through cupboards or partitions. If the plastic pipe is touching the partition, it makes it vibrate as well which increases the noise.

3) Replace some of the short lines nearest the pump with SS braided water line instead of the hard, rigid plastic pipe.

4) In extreme cases, try inserting an accumulator tank in the line. This will cut down on the pump cycling on and off so much which will reduce the noise levels. It is not always possible however, to find enough space to put in one of these tanks.

Hope these suggestions help.

[PerryB]

Ditto, most water pump noise is actually the plastic pipes banging around. Quite often it'll be where you have two pipes running parallel and they're slapping together. I used to have a Holiday Rambler that had a VERY noisy water system when new. I isolated all the pipes I could, and then made up some 3' flex lines to connect the pump to the system. It was originally connected directly to the PEX pipes and was transmitting a huge amount of vibration to the system. If I remember, I had to slightly relocate the pump to accommodate this, but it was pretty easy to get at on this particular trailer.

[Digby]

I like the idea of the JT strongarms. I would like to add these myself but I do not know if I have enough clearance with the battery box and the spare tire.