Go Long! Any advice for a cross-country drive in the Hundy? (1 Viewer)

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Totally agree, you should absolutely risk passing the virus from yourself to the inhabitants of small town America that have limited health care resources, all in the name of sight seeing. Bonus points if you throw in a couple of small pox blankets for "sharing" along the way.

Small town America doesn't care about it. Seriously, outside of urban areas, life is good and people are happy.

Also, his reasoning was that he hasn't had a vaccine, not that he was concerned about the passing of it.
 
Small town America doesn't care about it. Seriously, outside of urban areas, life is good and people are happy.

Also, his reasoning was that he hasn't had a vaccine, not that he was concerned about the passing of it.
Not sure the problem here, I agreed, it will be great!
 
Don't miss out on the small towns because you haven't had a vaccine yet. Some of the best traveling to be done now is to those small towns because they haven't had the hysteria you've experienced in New York. I've loved getting away to some small town in N GA and Tennessee this year because you can experience normalcy for a time.

Absolutely. Just finished a July-December stay in rural New Hampshire, and it was the best decision I could have made (buying the LC made it even better). The attitude there towards covid was totally different for a damn good reason... in 30 days, there was a single digit number of infections. Being 'way out there' was a good throwback to growing up in the South even though it felt weird swimming in a lake that wasn't mud-brown and 70 degrees.

Totally agree, you should absolutely risk passing the virus from yourself to the inhabitants of small town America that have limited health care resources, all in the name of sight seeing. Bonus points if you throw in a couple of small pox blankets for "sharing" along the way.

Yup. I always thought about it as a hipster plague ship, but it's something I don't mess around with. I don't really care if a place thinks covid is a problem or not, I'll still do my same process of quarantine plus PCR/Antibody testing before, during and after any change in location.

In my head, "getting a vaccine" is a fix to infection risk whether that's me as the carrier or me as the recipient. But I see what you mean.

Mongoose had a good point... "chill out, you don't need half of this" is a nice thing to remember instead of deciding that a part or tool is the difference between life or death (which just isn't the case).

Probably better on a different thread, but tracking C-19 cases and local community perspectives/impacts is something I do with my day-job. Happy to chat about it any time.
 
PCR test is not precise, in fact it is not really good at all. Antibodies are not always present, it's a function of T-cell memory...

Anyway, good luck with whatever you do...
 
Love the suggestions in this thread. Although some of the advice is overkill, I love it. I think people can pick and choose what they want based on the master list. Good to know I can refer to this thread to set up my cross country kit.

I'm joining this thread for the photos and updates of the trip! Let's see that thing all loaded up, too!
 
I know that somebody has already mentioned this, but make sure that your spark plugs are properly tightened down. I just made a cross country trip and I had a spark plug back out on my way home. Had to replace a coil and have the damaged threads repaired with a Time-Sert.

I change my spark plugs every 60K miles and these had about 50K miles on them. Should have changed them as preventative maintenance before I left.
 
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-Check oil levels in your diffs/tcase(bring an extra qt or two just in case)
-Trans service
-Load test alternator
-Get a jump pack, I have one that also has a small air compressor in it from Dewalt and it's great. Works nice for airing back up after a dirt road, and you can charge it back up as you go down the highway.
-Check tire pressure in your spare
-Get an alignment(will help with tire wear on the highway and they'll let you know if any of your steering/suspension parts are worn)
-Come along, tow strap, shackle etc.
-I carry a small Garmin GPS that I can text through GPS with. Out west there are a lot of big areas with no cell service, so it is nice peace of mind for when I find an old two track that doesn't look like anyone has been down it in a decade. The GPS won't call a tow truck for me, but I can text my coordinates to my brother and he can figure it out from there.

Have fun! I've driven cross country a few times in my Tacoma and always had a blast despite it being super uncomfortable for long trips...wish I had the 100 back then!
That list is solid. I would not worry about the trans service unless that is something not regularly done on the OP's vehicle. Other than that, prepare to buy gas and have fun!!! I have 435k on my 98 100 and it has never left me stranded in 22 years of ownership. I would not hesitate to drive it from Alaska to southern Baja tomorrow if I could just cross that dang Canada border.
 
Good stuff. 1800 miles is really nothing, especially if mostly interstate. Oil, Antifreeze and if your AT fluid isn’t molasses, and heater T’s have been replaced, good to go.

For 2 years I commuted 660 miles (New Orleans to Tampa/Clearwater FL) once a week. 98 100 (now at 320k, owned for 18 years). Only had a few issues: Cracked radiator. Fortunately happened 20 miles from home in Nola and made it back refilling every 8 miles or so and letting it cool. Plastic radiators need to be replaced on older vehicles (cheap insurance, $120 for a Denso).

Alternator died - Driving to Tampa light came on around Mobile AL - drove 20 miles to a Home Depot and bought 3 batteries. Used 2 - each battery got me about 200 miles. Recharged batteries when home and returned to HD. Ordered Denso alternator from Rockauto (I think less than $100).

My coils started going bad, I would replace one at a time and carry at least 1 spare. I didn’t have my OBD dongle with me camping 100 miles from home, went to an O’Reilly’s and borrowed their OBD tool - replaced it using my spare (and bought an oil filter/oil on sale to give them some business).

I did have a CV axle pop out (my fault) at night around Biloxi driving to Nola. Just locked the center diff and kept going. Replaced the axle a few weeks later.

Serpentine belt, coil, water, OBD reader, antigravity jumper, 12v compressor, tire repair kit (used it on a trailer tire) — that’s really it. I have added a fuel pump just in case (all this stuff always in the vehicle with some tools).

One thing I miss about my commute - Buc-ee’s!
 
Also (everyone with a 100) should know this thread, and carry a few feet of wire (#14).


This was an intermittent problem for me for a few years (sometimes fixed by wiggling or replacing EFI fuse). Finally rewired it (similar to thread solution).
— Kevin

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It's just a slippery slope, if we start suggesting folks carry extra kit based on "it could theoretically happen"...why not bring an extra drive shaft and wheel bearings? Extra steering rack? extra ring gear for the rear diff? That's all I am trying to say.

 
i'll be sure to carry a spare for every "it came loose" + "it broke" thread that I can find on mud :popcorn: @JunkCrzr89 you wanna help me build a new offroad trailer for all my parts?

#OneIsNoneTwoIsOne
 
i'll be sure to carry a spare for every "it came loose" + "it broke" thread that I can find on mud :popcorn: @JunkCrzr89 you wanna help me build a new offroad trailer for all my parts?

#OneIsNoneTwoIsOne
If you do what this thread says, here’s what you’ll need:

1608518633998.jpeg


I did a 6,000-mile cross-country trip with no spare parts. Guess I’m crazy 🤡
 
When I heard ‘that’ clunk when I gently stepped on the brake rolling from a 35mph zone, the first thing that came to my mind was this thread. That damn 17mm brake caliper bolt was true! Lol. But kidding aside, I hold myself accountable for not checking that area.

I learned an important lesson today. That’s life, we make decisions, and we live with the results. No regrets. Just grateful it happened how and where it happened, could’ve been worse.
 
Thanks for all of the gear, prep, and advice. Some stuff I didn't have time to get to and other things just didn't have space/budget when it all came down to the final buzzer. But having a list of things that might be important was better than nothing at all.

On the final tally, we clocked a total of about 4,500 miles in two 2.2k mile chunks.

A few thoughts from the time on the road:
- this country is freaking huge
- it never came up on the thread and at $500 it wasn't cheap, but the Drive Reach from weBoost was a total gamechanger.
- every 'actual problem' we encountered was self-inflicted
- checking stuff before we left made a massive difference in FUBAR's on the road


A few shots from the road:
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(Eureka Springs, AR)


832F75EC-5AFF-4311-B473-3B1C11FCB73F.jpeg

(The Lucky Bodega Cat- our trusty copilot from NYC)

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(somewhere outside of Amarillo, TX)

1CC87AE1-15F6-417B-95AD-C7976E9FB29B_1_201_a.jpeg

(White Sands, NM)
 
Love the photos! Thanks for sharing those. It's cool to see your cruiser along the different backdrops of your trip.

Interesting thought about the cell phone booster. I can see how that would be super helpful in some of the more remote areas. I'm assuming that works for cell calling service but also GPS and data service?

Any other words of wisdom?
 
Love the photos! Thanks for sharing those. It's cool to see your cruiser along the different backdrops of your trip.

Interesting thought about the cell phone booster. I can see how that would be super helpful in some of the more remote areas. I'm assuming that works for cell calling service but also GPS and data service?

Any other words of wisdom?

Yep! It made a big difference in the cell, data, and GPS signal. It boosts the incoming and outgoing signal but if there's only a cell signal you're SOL for data. That meant having to resort to downloaded music sometimes.... the inhumanity of not being able to stream HD audio the entire trip almost broke me.

WIsdom?? haha, not sure I qualify for that department.

But....find a good co-pilot and marry them. My partner doesn't drive but she has got a 6th sense for when I'm starting to lag and drops an "epic soundtrack" to get us over the home stretch. And the snacks.... :)
 
Spotify Premium is worth it for the offline music.
 

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