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For 4x4 specific long distance trips, I like to ask on local forums for any trails or sights I need to see on the way just in case I didn't know about them. If it's easy enough to loop them in I will. Long distance, I'm packing every single tool I could need for any show stopper breakdowns I suspect and/or fear might happen, as well as the most critical spare parts. I brought quite literally 60lbs of parts and tools to Ohio and back with me recently for example, including essentially every major component of the engine management system along with enough parts to entirely rebuild half of my driveshafts. Anything that's hard to find at chain parts stores and junkyards, I'm bringing. Anything else minor, I'll cross my fingers and hope it won't fail or I'll notice it in time to limp to the first parts store that says it's on the shelf when I call. So far this has served me well. If I'm traveling in adverse weather conditions I'll bring a Jerry can of gas, spare fluids, and a sleeping bag as well. Don't forget water... I usually put a few gallon jugs of bottled spring water behind the seats before leaving. I try not to actually use them because I hate the waste of bottled water on principle, filling my nalgene at every stop I can, but they're there for either a drinking water or cooling system emergency. I second the suggestion of road trip snacks - eating like a kid in a candy store and/or raccoon in a dumpster full of expired gas station snacks is definitely part of the fun. If you're going through Wisconsin, I strongly suggest stocking up on cured meats and cheese curds and such at a gas station, I ate that stuff for literally the next two thousand miles last time. As a bonus, I don't think I had to take a dump from Baraboo WI to Seattle. I can't imagine why. If you care about the car, put at least a 10lb fire extinguisher in it along with a 5lb within arms reach if you can't reach the 10lb belted in. A fire can take your years long build away from you very quickly if you're far from help, hell even if you're close to help. You don't get much time between when the fire gets big enough to notice and when it gets too big to even have a chance of putting it out, and those little extinguishers don't do poo poo. 10lb is the bare minimum to have even a chance at stopping a car fire. I've seen a jeep get burned to the ground at an off-road park surrounded by people who all had extinguishers simply because they reacted to the fire too late and it got too big to stop. Make sure your spare is full before rolling. Pack more clothes than you think you'll need, especially underwear, socks, and if you drive unreliable poo poo like me, sacrificial t shirts for roadside repairs. If it's a recently finished build I spend 5 minutes after every gas station stop just nut&bolting a section of the car. Try to cover a different area every time you stop. This is how I caught two loose rear brake caliper bolts after losing only one and turned it into a 20 minute $8 delay instead of likely damaging a caliper, wheel, and having to get towed. If you haven't already, turn your GPS exif tagging on on your phone before you start the fun part of the trip, the tags are definitely helpful remembering where you took pics. If you're security paranoid/aware, just turn them off again once you get to the boring part of your return trip. Some of the places I've been I'd never be able to find on the map if it weren't for a picture or two I took there with GPS tagging turned on. "Muffler meat" doesn't work so well on the highway in the winter or cooler areas fall/spring but at lower speeds and in the summer, manifold burritos are great. Get the extra heavy tinfoil and use a few layers and they'll be fine. For years I've been debating adding a cooling system heat exchanger for making hot chocolate when snow wheeling but I haven't done it yet.
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Sep 26, 2022 09:55
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| # ¿ May 11, 2024 11:41 |
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cursedshitbox posted:In the weeks leading up to your trip is when you do the brunt of your maintenance. Don't go into the dez with something deep in maintenance debt. Just don't. Do your fluids, belts, hoses, check your hubs, brakes, etc now, not the day before. Do this now so that you're not carrying 500lb of superfluous bullshit which in itself can lead to a systems breakdown due to the additional load. You especially want to do this close enough to the trip that it's still in great shape, but long enough before it that anything you stupidly forgot to tighten (ahem, brake caliper bolts I was almost stranded by) and any defective parts manage to show their colors before you are too far from civilization. The last place you want to find out you double gasketed your oil filter for the first time in your entire wrenching career is 100 miles into the desert when you floor it up a hill and suddenly all your oil is on the outside of the engine and headers.
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Sep 26, 2022 22:09
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