My wife and I are currently planning on taking a gap year after I retire from the military (summer '22)--our kids will be 9, 8, and 6, and we will be able to put all our stuff in storage for a year and hit the road with no rent or mortgage.
Planning to ship the 100 full of gear to Europe (20' container) and spend the year exploring (and homeschooling . . . ), probably camping the majority of the time. France, Spain, Portugal, UK, Italy, Morocco (yes, not in Europe--that'll reset our 6-month timer for a foreign-registered vehicle). Remains to be seen if we can score a 1 year visa to France or will have to engage in the "90-days in Schengen/90-out" dance.
Obviously most of Europe isn't terribly remote, so I don't need to prep for this like a trip across the Sahel. But would like not to lose time because of breakdowns or be forced to pay shops to do stuff I could've done before leaving if I'd had my act together.
We've had the 100 for two years; it was a very well-maintained truck before we bought it at 130k miles. It now has just shy of 150 on it. I'm currently at 5-10k miles/year, so it should have between 160 and 165k on it when we leave, and I think the trip will be 10-20k miles of driving before we ship the truck back to the States and figure out where we're going to live.
Major service/PM items (only listing most recent iteration of each), starting with most recent:
New denso iridium spark plugs and coil pack boots 148k
New gear oil in T case and front and rear diffs 147k
Brake fluid mostly replaced in the course of putting on all new flex hoses--April and Oct 2020
New ignition key shaft, replaced as PM MAR 2019
New heater Ts (OEM) Jan 18
Front pads and rotors, new CV boots, CV repack at 126k
Transmission and PS flush and fill at 120k
New (reman) starter and intake gaskets at 112k
New stereo head unit (!) at 116k
Wheel bearings repacked 118k
New battery at 80k (2012)--yeah, I know . . . I should do tht now
Brake fluid flushed 80k
Radiator repaired, new water pump and thermostat, new timing belt, idler, tensioner @ 95k
Before the trip, I'm definitely planning on:
Replace radiator and hoses and coolant
Repack wheel bearings/grease spindles
Replace brake fluid
Replace PCV hoses and valve
Replace alternator brushes
Wondering if I should:
-Do the timing belt, water pump, etc since if trip lasts 20k it'll be due at the end of the trip
-Replace driveshaft U-Joints
What am I forgetting?
Planning to ship the 100 full of gear to Europe (20' container) and spend the year exploring (and homeschooling . . . ), probably camping the majority of the time. France, Spain, Portugal, UK, Italy, Morocco (yes, not in Europe--that'll reset our 6-month timer for a foreign-registered vehicle). Remains to be seen if we can score a 1 year visa to France or will have to engage in the "90-days in Schengen/90-out" dance.
Obviously most of Europe isn't terribly remote, so I don't need to prep for this like a trip across the Sahel. But would like not to lose time because of breakdowns or be forced to pay shops to do stuff I could've done before leaving if I'd had my act together.
We've had the 100 for two years; it was a very well-maintained truck before we bought it at 130k miles. It now has just shy of 150 on it. I'm currently at 5-10k miles/year, so it should have between 160 and 165k on it when we leave, and I think the trip will be 10-20k miles of driving before we ship the truck back to the States and figure out where we're going to live.
Major service/PM items (only listing most recent iteration of each), starting with most recent:
New denso iridium spark plugs and coil pack boots 148k
New gear oil in T case and front and rear diffs 147k
Brake fluid mostly replaced in the course of putting on all new flex hoses--April and Oct 2020
New ignition key shaft, replaced as PM MAR 2019
New heater Ts (OEM) Jan 18
Front pads and rotors, new CV boots, CV repack at 126k
Transmission and PS flush and fill at 120k
New (reman) starter and intake gaskets at 112k
New stereo head unit (!) at 116k
Wheel bearings repacked 118k
New battery at 80k (2012)--yeah, I know . . . I should do tht now
Brake fluid flushed 80k
Radiator repaired, new water pump and thermostat, new timing belt, idler, tensioner @ 95k
Before the trip, I'm definitely planning on:
Replace radiator and hoses and coolant
Repack wheel bearings/grease spindles
Replace brake fluid
Replace PCV hoses and valve
Replace alternator brushes
Wondering if I should:
-Do the timing belt, water pump, etc since if trip lasts 20k it'll be due at the end of the trip
-Replace driveshaft U-Joints
What am I forgetting?
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