What have you done to your 200 Series this week? (10 Viewers)

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Caught up on a bunch of maintenance and put together the final logistics for our summer road trip this week.

General Itinerary is:
Chattanooga to Breckenridge for a week (we do a week in Summit County every summer)
Breck to Dinosaur National Monument/Flaming River Gorge
Flaming River Gorge to Grand Tetons
Grand Tetons to Yellowstone
Yellowstone to Devil's Tower
Devils Tower to Sioux Falls
Sioux falls to Chattanooga

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We'll be doing a combination of Staying in Hotels/Lodges and 4 nights tent camping (two in Dinosaur and two in Yellowstone).
The plan goal is Mountain Biking, Sight Seeing, and a little light duty 4x4ing. To prep the truck I've done the following in the past week or so. For reference, the truck is a 2008 Land Cruiser with 257k miles, of which I've put on the last 55k.

1) Radiator Flush/Fill
2) Serpentine Belt/Tensioner/Idler (Took care of a little belt noise on startup)
3) Transmission Flush per @NLScooby's great video (used Valvoline Maxlife Synthetic ATF after some research. Yes I know ATF WS or Die). We towed our camper a few hours away right after and shifting performance was much improved. I'm pretty sure this had never been done.
4) Oil Change
5) Diffs and Transfer Case Fluid Change
6) Installed Budbuilt Front and Engine Skids
I opted for the AL front skid and the Light Steel Engine skid as I wanted something better than factory, with good access for oil changes, but didn't need the extreme protection of Bud's heaviest option. Install was very easy. I had a bare aluminum front skid on my Tacoma and liked it because it didn't get rusty as it got scraped/took hits from sand, rocks, and road debris.

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Now it's time to wash her up, put on the roof box, bike rack, and awning, and start packing!
Then all there is to do is to burn some fuel!
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Happy Summer Road Tripping to everyone!
That’s going to be a killer trip! We are currently dotting ‘I’s and crossing ‘T’s on our big summer trip but kind of worried about camping spots. We had plans for New Mexico but the fires have us getting out of those plans and looking at southern Colorado and around Moab.

Do y’all reserve your spots or do first come first serve?

We’re pulling a Conqueror and hope to find spots off the beaten path versus established sites where the rv crowd go.
 
That’s going to be a killer trip! We are currently dotting ‘I’s and crossing ‘T’s on our big summer trip but kind of worried about camping spots. We had plans for New Mexico but the fires have us getting out of those plans and looking at southern Colorado and around Moab.

Do y’all reserve your spots or do first come first serve?

We’re pulling a Conqueror and hope to find spots off the beaten path versus established sites where the rv crowd go.
We’ve got everything booked ahead, NPS campsites, hotels, and lodges included. We’ve done some less structured trips before, but lately post COVID there seems to be more people vying for the same spots. We have a small camper, but we’re doing the tent this trip to travel lighter. We haven’t been able to put together more than a week at a time since our 7 year old was born, so we’re stoked!
 
We’ve got everything booked ahead, NPS campsites, hotels, and lodges included. We’ve done some less structured trips before, but lately post COVID there seems to be more people vying for the same spots. We have a small camper, but we’re doing the tent this trip to travel lighter. We haven’t been able to put together more than a week at a time since our 7 year old was born, so we’re stoked!
That’s sort of the boat we are in travel/kid wise. Ours are 5 and 6 and have camped a ton but nothing more than a weekend at a time so it should be mind blowing for all of us.

100% agree with you on your post Covid statement. Changing our plans this late has really added an unwanted element of adventure. At least we will have our camper so if we we have to we can post up in a parking lot, fingers crossed it won’t come to that.
 
Any more pics of your rig?
Sure...this trip

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Nice pics and trip. For some reason, I thought you had a LRA aux tank?
I haven't put one on yet. I run the Jerry's as a precaution but have found having to stop every 2.5 to 3 hours gives me a chance for a stretch. The only place I've run into..uh oh moments has been in NM and on the White Rim trail. Both times I used one can. Today I got close because I went into Flathead area 2 days ago with half a tank, then went exploring. Lol. It's nice knowing there is still about 5 gallons in tank even when it shows empty.
 
I haven't put one on yet. I run the Jerry's as a precaution but have found having to stop every 2.5 to 3 hours gives me a chance for a stretch. The only place I've run into..uh oh moments has been in NM and on the White Rim trail. Both times I used one can. Today I got close because I went into Flathead area 2 days ago with half a tank, then went exploring. Lol. It's nice knowing there is still about 5 gallons in tank even when it shows empty.
I hear you on getting out to stretch, it's a good thing. Before I had my LRA and Slee rear bumper (installed at the same time)l, I had a few close calls or probably just inconvenience. I didn't have any good options back then to carry gas. In hindsight, getting the Slee w Jerry can mount would have solved the gas storage problem easily.

On some of the organized multi-day trail events, I bring along 1-2 Jerry cans for others in the group and they get used up on the trails or back at camp.
 
I hear you on getting out to stretch, it's a good thing. Before I had my LRA and Slee rear bumper (installed at the same time)l, I had a few close calls or probably just inconvenience. I didn't have any good options back then to carry gas. In hindsight, getting the Slee w Jerry can mount would have solved the gas storage problem easily.

On some of the organized multi-day trail events, I bring along 1-2 Jerry cans for others in the group and they get used up on the trails or back at camp.
Same here...The added weight of fuel and the 5 gallons of water is worth it for the peace of mind/just in case. I also do extended hunting trips where I've used the fuel and water but that was planned into the trips.
 
I haven't put one on yet. I run the Jerry's as a precaution but have found having to stop every 2.5 to 3 hours gives me a chance for a stretch. The only place I've run into..uh oh moments has been in NM and on the White Rim trail. Both times I used one can. Today I got close because I went into Flathead area 2 days ago with half a tank, then went exploring. Lol. It's nice knowing there is still about 5 gallons in tank even when it shows empty.
White Rim trail is 160 miles. Wouldn't think you'd have an issue with fuel range on it?
 
Thanks.. I thought I looked more closely at the picture to begin with. With my sunglasses on I didn’t see the giant Slee emblem in the front skid. Should have been in the SQOD thread.
 
White Rim trail is 160 miles. Wouldn't think you'd have an issue with fuel range on it?
True but when it's a spur of the moment, navigator induced..."hey that looks fun"...starting way too late in the day run. Im glad i had a can. Lol.
Finished around 11PM with many "lets see what's over here" gambles. Spooky driving the last few hours in the dark with truck lit up like a Christmas tree, especially on the switch backs. Definitely want to do that again with a night or 2 of camping and a full fuel tank. Lol
 
Rear long travel shock hack. It'll either work epically or fail miserably.

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