Custom build - 2020 Westfalia Club Joker 4Motion - Offroad build thread

[larrylamb]

They’re all gone back to Cali (joke)
You managed a trip in yours yet

Kendal this weekend.

 

[soulstyledevon]

Jokers everywhere!
There’s now two 2nd hand bamboo green 4motions (only one in that pic couldn’t get the other green one in different spot) for sale at campersales.
It’s not on there website yet, arrived when I was there for solar measure up.
That’s it next to mine.
View attachment 94667

I didn’t realise you could get the Joker as 4motion and with the 204 engine.
Nice van

 

[sapto]

I like it! Where did you donthe transformation? Traveltech or Hess? I might miss that, however all the best for this weekend opening trip! I guess it might gets a little busy with the Jodlerfest in Andermatt?

Kind regards

 

[Webbah_in_Switzerland]

I like it! Where did you donthe transformation? Traveltech or Hess? I might miss that, however all the best for this weekend opening trip! I guess it might gets a little busy with the Jodlerfest in Andermatt?

Kind regards

I had it all done at the dealer so I have a single contact for both the van and the mods. Auto LaRocca. He's done these many times for both Cali's and Jokers. I live very close to Hess however and they will be doing a few final touches like a custom surf rack for the high roof.

 

[Webbah_in_Switzerland]

I like it! Where did you donthe transformation? Traveltech or Hess? I might miss that, however all the best for this weekend opening trip! I guess it might gets a little busy with the Jodlerfest in Andermatt?

Kind regards

It could be busy, but we go to a location that is not well known and camp in the Alpine farming land. It's about 2 km's above the paved road using a dirt fire road to get there.

 

[sapto]

It could be busy, but we go to a location that is not well known and camp in the Alpine farming land. It's about 2 km's above the paved road using a dirt fire road to get there.

Perfect! My relatives just told us there is a this huge Jodel Festival in Andermatt and they're going to us the Oberalppass for parking. Enjoy your wknd!

 

[The Merle]

I didn’t realise you could get the Joker as 4motion and with the 204 engine.
Nice van

Yep, I didn’t bother as my old van was a 150 and was happy with power so stuck with 150 for new.
They’re ditched manual 204 now but still available as DSG

 

[soulstyledevon]

Yep, I didn’t bother as my old van was a 150 and was happy with power so stuck with 150 for new.
They’re ditched manual 204 now but still available as DSG

The one at Camper sales looks tempting. Seems good value compared to a new van…?

 

[The Merle]

The one at Camper sales looks tempting. Seems good value compared to a new van…?

I dread to think how much and how long the wait is for a new 4motion.
They have just got a 2018 dsg 4motion bamboo with 10k on the clock one in pic, so keep your eyes peeled for it to appear if you decide to finally take the leap

 

[Webbah_in_Switzerland]

Yep, I didn’t bother as my old van was a 150 and was happy with power so stuck with 150 for new.
They’re ditched manual 204 now but still available as DSG

Mine is also a 150, but I had them remap the engine ECU and DSG with Pendle Performance. Very pleased!

 

[Webbah_in_Switzerland]

Some photos offroading and camping above the Furka Pass in Alpine farming land:

 

[Webbah_in_Switzerland]

It's been awhile since I posted so I thought I'd share. I've now had the van for close to a month and am really enjoying it! Having changed from a poptop to a highroof, for me, is truly a game changer. I'm especially looking forward to having the high roof this coming winter for some snowboarding trips in the Swiss Alps.

That said, today I'm sitting at the local VW dealer having some of the issues sorted as I bought the van used with low km's. They are updating the firmware for the Infotainment system which incredibly takes close to 5 hours. They also sorted a recall for the doors of some sort and a faulty camera that was preventing the automatic high beams from functioning. Considering that the van went out of warranty 2 weeks ago I was a little concerned, but the dealer (AMAG Buchrain in Switzerland) has been absolutely stellar! They told me they'd take care of everything for no charge even though it is just out of warranty. And I didn't even buy the van from them. Quality service experience and I will certainly be coming back to them.

I've just booked an appointment to have a Bear Lock installed for the DSG as I'll be going to Italy soon as well.

More updates to come with photos on all the bits I modified.

 

[Defender90]

Mine is also a 150, but I had them remap the engine ECU and DSG with Pendle Performance. Very pleased!

has the beach on your picture been lifted i want my ocean lifted? but not sure on the type of lift do you have any recommendations

 

[Webbah_in_Switzerland]

has the beach on your picture been lifted i want my ocean lifted? but not sure on the type of lift do you have any recommendations

Hi there, yes that is a good friend of mine. He had it lifted with Koni's and I think it is 35mm lift. He also mounted Projekt Monotube wheels with 225 size BFG KO2's. He's very pleased with it and said that it drives even better in the corners than stock even though it's lifted!

 

[Defender90]

Hi there, yes that is a good friend of mine. He had it lifted with Koni's and I think it is 35mm lift. He also mounted Projekt Monotube wheels with 225 size BFG KO2's. He's very pleased with it and said that it drives even better in the corners than stock even though it's lifted!

cool, only worry i have is the prop shaft angle but lots of vans seem to be fine with the 35mm lift

 

[Webbah_in_Switzerland]

cool, only worry i have is the prop shaft angle but lots of vans seem to be fine with the 35mm lift

Yeah, or you can also have them lower the differential to handle that. I haven't done that yet on mine (I have air suspension and typically drive with about 35mm lift) but might do that in the future.

 

[Webbah_in_Switzerland]

Today I also decided to change the starter battery to a new AGM 95A as the stock 70A EFB+ battery seemed to be getting weak according to my Bluetooth battery monitor. I swapped the battery to an Exide 95A AGM 800A Start/Stop battery.

One important step when changing batteries is to recode the VW BMS so it is aware of the change, new capacity and especially the battery type to appropriately charge. I decided to use OBD Eleven Pro for this and initially attempted with my iPhone, but it wouldn’t show any adaptations for the battery in the app. I then pulled out an old Android phone and installed the app and was able to make the battery adaptation correctly. A confusing setting to some is the battery type as the correct setting is “fleece” for standard AGM, while there is another option called “AGM-Binary”. After researching this a bit I learned that choosing fleece is the way to go.

So far so good and the van seems very happy. Charging is working well and I’ll see how things balance out over the next days. No voltage sag at all for now which is great and cranking volts are now at 11 volts where the old battery had cranking volts dropping to 9 or lower.

Not bad for a fairly reasonably priced battery of this capacity with better chemistry. Cost in Switzerland was 170 Chf.

 

[pluc99]

I've just booked an appointment to have a Bear Lock installed for the DSG as I'll be going to Italy soon as well.

I'm happy with my bearlock. You don't have to fiddle with anything and the simple fact is I engage it every single time I park the car.

 

[BeagleMum]

I'm happy with my bearlock. You don't have to fiddle with anything and the simple fact is I engage it every single time I park the car.

+1 For BearLock very happy with ours.

 

[Webbah_in_Switzerland]

My water pump failed yesterday so I got busy making a small mod replacing it. The original location is a bit difficult to reach and replace so I moved the power and water hose to the removable top cover. Also added a Silver ion thingy to keep the germs at bay:

 

[Jay586]

I finally saw one on the flesh, locally, I assume on holiday...

Nice to see one after reading the threads on here.

 

[Webbah_in_Switzerland]

A few days ago there was decent sun and I decided to run some tests with my solar setup and a constant load of ~250 watts with my Zero Breeze air conditioner going. The van can get quite hot in the sun and I was curious how my setup would handle this and wanted to present the data in this thread.

Here are the devices I have installed for energy requirements:

- 2 LifePo4 Lithium batteries - 120Ah each for 240Ah total of leisure battery capacity
- Victron MPPT Charge controllers - 2 of them. 1 for my integrated solar and 1 for external solar via MC4 connectors
- Victron Charge Booster 30A - To charge the batteries quickly when the alternator/engine is on
- Victron 1600 watt Multiplus II Compact inverter - With all internal AC sockets rewired directly to the inverter for convenience
- Integrated solar - 2 panels of 85 watts each for a total of 170 watts
- External solar - PowerOak 420S panel with 420 watts when I need more juice

I use a lot of power as I "work from van" instead of working from home. This allows the freedom to choose a nice and different view whenever I want and is the perfect mobile office.

I also prefer to cook, make coffee (Nespresso), charge my Evolve Hadean Bamboo electric skateboard, and all my gadgets like Macbook Pro, iPad, iPhone, etc.

This test was using conducted with my ZeroBreeze AC unit as it uses 250 watts constant on it's highest setting and I could judge how well it will work on those hot/sunny days.

I have apps to view all the devices so let's dive in:

Victron app to view all Victron devices. In addition to those listed in "My Devices" I also have the 1,600. watt inverter but this firmware doesn't support grouping just yet. Ignore the "Eddy" devices as this was another van close to me and in range:



The ZeroBreeze is on and at full power as we can see in the inverter:



249 watts which is to be expected. It's currently 35C in the highest point of my van when I started the test (quite warm for me):




We can see the current output of both my integrated and external solar panels via the Victron app:



I'm currently getting about 320 watts total from both out of a maximum of 590 watts in perfect conditions. Considering there are scattered clouds this is ok for this test.

Looking at the load directly on the batteries (in parallel) show's a different picture as this includes all 12V consumers, of which I am also charging my Macbook Pro, have 4 dashcams, and have the refrigerator set on setting 4:



Conclusion: I'm very pleased with this setup! It should be no issue off grid at all and with hot/sunny days I can use my ZeroBreeze AC to cool things down without issue.

 

[Webbah_in_Switzerland]

A week ago I replaced the rear 40x40 standard pop-up roof vent with a nice Fiamma P-Touch fan vent. This has made a huge difference in keeping the van cool on sunny days! At low speed it makes very little noise, and opening one side window (opposite side of the sun if possible) draws in a nice cool breeze. At low setting it only uses 5 watts or less. Pleased!

 

[babble]

Such a cool van! what a set up. Thanks for the pics and details. Your little off road adventure in Switzerland looks amazing. No such adventures for me.....yet, because i still have my 2WD California coast. However, the order went off for my new 4motion Beach yesterday (2-seater), so some time next year I will be searching for slightly more off-the-beaten-track locations to visit. (I'll be raising it up 35mm and putting some better tyres/wheels on, but not planning on doing much else for now, other than getting a portable solar organized + fitting a victron mttp.)

 

[Webbah_in_Switzerland]

Such a cool van! what a set up. Thanks for the pics and details. Your little off road adventure in Switzerland looks amazing. No such adventures for me.....yet, because i still have my 2WD California coast. However, the order went off for my new 4motion Beach yesterday (2-seater), so some time next year I will be searching for slightly more off-the-beaten-track locations to visit. (I'll be raising it up 35mm and putting some better tyres/wheels on, but not planning on doing much else for now, other than getting a portable solar organized + fitting a victron mttp.)

Thank you! And congrats on your new purchase. Make sure you have also included "differential lock" with 4Motion if you haven't. I've seen some 4Motions out there without diff lock and with very wet grass or mud it's essential imo. Do it before delivery from the factory as retrofitting can cost between 5-7K which is crazy!