tarvos

Hi all, just to loop back to my original post, I got it up on axle stands today and the "pebbles in the steering" feeling is actually coming from a stick-slip movement in the steering column intermediate shaft (sliding joint). It seems like a common Toyota issue (e.g. Camry TSB# ST002-07) although I have not been able to find a TSB for the Alphard. There is quite a bit of run-out in the steering rack pinion shaft that is pushing and pulling on this joint but I gather this might be normal and the grease has just dried out. Would be interesting to hear if others are seeing visible run-out though? Going to have a ponder whether to DIY it or throw it at the garage...Anyway just posting that up in case it helps someone with the same issue

Hi all, Can anyone recommend a good source for reconditioned racks? Looks like I'm going to have to bite the bullet and replace this on our ANH10. I have a "pebbles in the steering" feeling during low speed maneuvering and looks like there is potentially runout on the input shaft looking under the dash. Trouble is, the rack I have is already a recon rack fitted last year by my camper converter (now out of business). It never felt right but they denied there was an issue just before packing in. So I know there is at least one dodgy source of Alphard recon racks in the UK. I'm not sure where they got it. It's possible the internal parts are hard to source so they get little more than a lick of paint wherever I might buy from... Just trying to exhaust my options before paying out over £500 to ship a new one in from Japan... Thanks in advance

I decided to play Youtuber and made a 15min video to explain what I found, I hope it's useful. Would be interested to hear if others have these issues or if it's just us. Some bonus problems I haven't mentioned before including a serious electric shock risk from the inverter

Yes if I was to do this again I would have a full spec written down and agreed in writing ahead of placing the deposit, all the way down to cable and fuse sizes. We were in too much of a rush and busy with work and family during the build and left ourselves wide open unfortunately. Since going through this palaver I've wondered whether the community, perhaps led by a group of reputable conversion co's could come up with an "Open Source Contract" van conversion requirements or specs template that could be branched and tweaked to suit individual needs. I don't think it would need to be that complicated or wordy to give lay customers something to negotiate around. We don't have gas, thank goodness, but good point...

Thanks Rojie, have DM'd you. Sugoi is now in liquidation. Comically they were members of the Guild of Master Craftsmen but the Guild is not really an Ombudsman of any sort I found after contacting them. Redress wise, it's all in the past now unfortunately. Just hoping someone may see this and will save them an expensive result after they try their new camping kettle like I did, but didn't think to waggle their arm around behind the battery to test the temperature of the cabling. It was a bit hot.

Hi all, If you have a Sugoi Campers (south coast) converted van, like us, as Keith Bishop once said, "word of warning"...Get your electricals checked out, seriously... I've just spent the afternoon pulling out some horrors which means I'm now in a rush to reharness all of this before an upcoming trip, so I'm seriously unimpressed. Yes this is partially venting but also it's safety related info and I gather they converted a few Alphards (and Elgrands) down here. Some highlights: A completely unfused 16mm2 live wire, straight from the leisure battery, no conduit, running down the full length of left hand side of the van through several steel bulkheads. A survivable side impact could very easily have shorted this and burnt the van to the ground. The leisure battery ground cable was 16mm2 when the total load for the leisure circuits was 210A. This should have been 35mm2 minimum. Again, burning the thing to the ground is a very achievable outcome here. In a way they knew this needed to be more, as the outgoing live cables were a 16mm2 and a 25mm2. "Black cables aren't dangerous" clearly. The 1.5kW inverter input cables terminated with thumb screws, that were...thumb tight... Maybe we got unlucky but we had many issues with their work (not just electricals - lots more body and mechanical issues that I'm restraining myself from "just moaning about") which we made clear, and duly returned it for rework many times, up until they went...into...liquidation...I rather hope they've tweaked their workshop practices somewhat in the new conversion company I'm super excited to see they've started... Cheers

Just wanted to add this exact same setup works on our 2007 2.4 NH10 - that is, VGate iCar Pro BLE 4.0 ("ELM327 v2.3" using ELM327 Identifier app), Torque Pro, and the init string in the OP. The (free) Car Scanner app also works but it takes a lot longer to cycle through a pile of protocols (I haven't found, or looked hard enough for, a way to put the init string in that app yet).

Just to wrap this one up, it was a combination of a bad steering rack (presume sticky/stuck valve) and a bad alignment. Local Kwik Fit still haven't managed to find the NH10 and I hadn't spotted the comment on the linked thread about about giving KF Kings Heath a call beforehand, so it was still set up as a 20 but sorted now. The previous dodgy caster measurements were, I think, an artifact of the off-centre steering wheel. There's virtually nothing between them now it's driving dead straight, and clearly they wouldn't have moved with just a rack change and (not sketchy) realignment.

Does anyone reading this happen to have a source for the King Pin Inclination / Steering Axis Inclination spec for the ANH10 and the ANH20? It is not listed on jltechno.com, or anywhere else I care to search (briefly, anyway!). Having no luck finding an alignment shop with ANH10 in their database, but maybe we're not trying hard enough... Can use the JLTechno specs for ANH10 but the calculated caster angle is going to be wrong if the KPI/SAI isn't known. Thanks in advance

I've checked underneath with the Mrs on steering wheel duty and whilst there's nothing obvious moving around on the lower arm bushes, the steering rack is moving probably 5mm, maybe more, each direction (10mm ish total movement). Is that normal? Seems a hell of a lot to me but I am used to much smaller sportier things, and this is a barge by comparison...

Yes, also the 1° difference in caster left to right is about a 12mm difference in either the top mount or lower ball joint position (sin(1°)*700mm-ish). This should be very obvious if it were crash damage, and I'm yet to spot any...

Good point, we got a CarVX before we accepted the vehicle and then I promptly forgot about it. I've checked back and yes it's good. Well - no report of a "collision", whatever that means...I imagine you could clonk it off a kerb, not tell anyone, replace the wheels and CarVX would be none the wiser...? ( Thanks for the link to Amayama, bookmarked 👍

Thanks, that's useful to know. I've done a rudimentary hand check of the suspension up on a lift but it was just that, not a proper load. I'll get the Mrs to turn the handwheel around while I'm underneath as it's up on ramps at the front at the moment. I don't have a racing setup, looks dead stock. I do wonder if the 10 and 20 are different chassis whether it's subtle and someone can fit the wrong bit and have a "mostly OK" car that does weird stuff like this?? It's a fresh import so service history is in Japanese and I haven't tried to translate any of it yet. One more question now it occurs to me: Does anyone know of reference measurements for the subframe that I can try to get a tape measure over while it's up on the ramps, just to rule out an obvious bend in this? (will check the bushes first, but as a plan B...)

Hi all, We’ve got odd steering issues on our 07 (ANH10) Alphard, using the forum to get my thoughts straight and bounce ideas around if you have them: Pulls left Asymmetric effort left (easy, keen to turn) and right (heavy, sluggish to turn) Steering wheel off to the right when driving straight. We only recently got hold of it and the importer/converter has taken it to two alignment places to try and rectify it without solving the issue. The last (Kwik Fit) report showed: Reasonable toe (0.09° total toe-in front and 0.15° total toe-in rear) and camber OK, neutral steering (allegedly with handwheel straight..) Different Caster angles of 2.04° and 3.01° Left/Right which are potentially a concern What’s odd is that I would expect the difference in caster (more on the right), coupled with toe-in, to pull right and lighter steering going right, i.e. the exact opposite of what we’re experiencing (hence “odd” steering issue) Have also already checked for and ruled out: Obvious damage/wear to all four corners Tyre problem (it has 4 new Michelins all within 1psi) Sticking brake (no excessive heat in any brake after straight motorway run) I can measure ~5mm difference between subframe bolts and lower ball joint bolts left-to-right so I think this supports there being an alignment issue. Questions I have for the forum are: Can you folks confirm that ANH10 and ANH20 Alphards are a different chassis? I am asking as: Kwik Fit wrongly selected an ANH20 as the reference vehicle when they did the alignment. I’m not sure this is of much consequence, but obviously not a great start. Regarding specs I’ve browsed the forum and see there seems to be some trust in jltechno.com e.g. here and here show different values for 10 and 20. Pure speculation but perhaps the wrong chassis parts have been fitted to our van in the past. Am I correct that there is no caster adjustment on the ANH10? There is nothing obvious, but I am also seeing aftermarket offset rear lower arm bushes, and am wondering why… I am on the south coast between Southampton and Portsmouth, can anyone recommend an alignment place that knows what they are doing with these vans down here? Might even need to corner-weight it to rule out having the wrong spring in one corner, and other dumb potential problems like that… Anyone had anything similar and can report if/how they solved it? In general the van is in great condition and I seriously doubt it’s been in an accident, but it could have been kerbed hard, not ruled that out… Thanks in advance for any thoughts!

Interesting thanks, I guess this isn't the thread to go deep on this but I'm intrigued how you arrived at that number?