Driving ~6400kms for christmas, Anything mechanically I should worry about?

[cmcarr85]

hey dont know if you have any experience with the hitch mounted cargo baskets? I had dual exhaust on a truck and put a cooler on one of them and it melted on a 4 hour trip...
Not saying it will happen with whatever your carrying but just keep an eye out for it...

Have a fun and safe trip with the family....

 

[99Yuk]

Hehehehe... Thanks guys for the tips...

All in one jumper pack = good
Serpintine belt = good
gun = bad
fuel pump/cut hole = bad

hey dont know if you have any experience with the hitch mounted cargo baskets? I had dual exhaust on a truck and put a cooler on one of them and it melted on a 4 hour trip...
Not saying it will happen with whatever your carrying but just keep an eye out for it...

Have a fun and safe trip with the family....

Nope, I just bought this thing for this trip. http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/browse/4/Auto/AutoAccessories/CartopCarriers/PRD~0401145P/SportRack%2BHitch-Mount%2BCargo%2BCarrier.jsp. I put it together today and built a 3/8 plywood box for it 2' wide, 4' long and 2' high, put hinges on the lid, and a lock. I didn't want my shyt taking a walk.

My exhaust is stock, goes out behind the passenger rear wheel. Shouldn't burn out the box. But we have a saying in IT.. 'Shouldn't is a dirty word', I'll keep an eye on it. Thanks for the heads up..


I mounted the airplane landing lights to the front bumper Friday after work. Holy cr#p, what a difference! Way brighter than the HIDS! Just two spotlights that go straight out until they light something up. I'm lighting up stuff two kms down the road! Triggered their relay on the high beam, for a 6-hi mod! Usefull for driving in the wee hours of the night with no traffic.. The local loggers/truckers use these lights. Hard to aim them so the spotlights match height though. And the volt meter didn't go down when I flipped these on, so I'm not stressing out my ALT to bad!

And my rancho steering stabilizer kit from another thread came in. I hope that I can get it installed before I leave.

5 days before we go!

 

[wackasslife]

Hey i didn't see if anyone mentioned this but bring antifreeze! I don't know how cold it gets up there but check the cold weather antifreeze! I drove from pa to ak through ca in the winter of 2007 by myself. Pulled over to sleep one night and switched my heat from outside air to circulate (huge mistake) and somehow i woke up to a loud knocking sound. Well my antifreeze was boiling at the radiator. It was like -40 out and my water temp was like 230. Froze my ass off that night and didnt get much sleep. The mechanic told me that my antifreeze wasnt rated for that cold of weather.

 

[99Yuk]

Yup, I'm bringing a jug of anti-freeze.

So today I got my steering stabilizer installed! YAY!
And they checked over the yuk, found a rear wheel cylinder was leaking, so tomorrow they are going to replace both sides wheel cylinders and brake shoes. They checked over the front end and said it was tight.

I mentioned to our old guy Mech about the serpentine belt. He looked and said, 'yup, it's got some cracks'. So I got a new one and I'm going to keep the old as a spare during the trip.

 

[ravingmadman]

Hahaha. You are one crazy bastard. Aviation lights? 6-High? I about snarked coffee on my laptop. I also wanted to mention- you are bringing a good toolset with you, right? Or if not, at least a couple hundred bucks to buy tools if you need to. In fact, having extra cash never hurts, if you have it...

When do you leave? Safe trip to you, sir!!

 

[AtomicHoe094]

i think were making chevy sound like a *************... comeon be realistic, dont bring a damn thing!

 

[99Yuk]

Hahaha. You are one crazy bastard. Aviation lights? 6-High? I about snarked coffee on my laptop. I also wanted to mention- you are bringing a good toolset with you, right? Or if not, at least a couple hundred bucks to buy tools if you need to. In fact, having extra cash never hurts, if you have it...

When do you leave? Safe trip to you, sir!!

Yup, I got a cheapo CDN Tire set - http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/browse/6/Tools/Sockets/SocketSets/PRDOVR~0589270P/Mastercraft%2BMaximum%2B163-piece%2BSocket%2BSet.jsp - well it was cheap when it's on sale!

Extra cash? Who has extra cash at Christmas? But I did give myself an emergency cushion on the Mastercard.

And yeah, everyone I talk to thinks I'm nuts driving over there with two kids, two dogs and a very excited wife. Oh well, I can't back out now, the ferry is booked and everything! I just checked the weather report for the island. 30-50cms of overnight snow, and they only issued a 'warning', around here we would get a 'watch' issued. Makes me wonder how much overnight snow they would need to get to trigger a 'watch'. I'm worring that I didn't get my snow tires studded!

We leave in two more sleeps!!!

"Shutup Donkey, it's VERY far, far away!" Sorry more damned Shrek.

---------- Post added at 10:36 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:28 PM ----------

i think were making chevy sound like a *************... comeon be realistic, dont bring a damn thing!

HEHE, Yup, your right.. I should just cancel the whole damned trip! I don't want to infringe on GMC's reputation by suggesting that I be prepared for almost anything.

Most of my trips have been within two hours in any direction from my family or friends in Ontario. So I havn't had a need for anything quite like this before.

They tell me that once I leave Ontario, it's a different country, and I should try to make a mad dash across Quebec. If you don't speak a word of French, you may as well not be alive to them. That's the big reason for the bring everything mode. Hit Quebec and bam! Nothing! No help! On your own! 'Too bad so sad' apparently is the french saying.

 

[99Yuk]

HEHEHE, Here's a couple pics of the lights mounted eh?

They are spotlights, hard to aim them so they align with each other.

Leaving tomorrow!

 

[99Tahoe]

I like those lights. How much did you pay for those?
Oh and good luck on the trip

 

[99Yuk]

I like those lights. How much did you pay for those?
Oh and good luck on the trip

I got them on sale 50% off for $25 each! I would pay full price for these, they are so awesome!

Here are some pics with the Christmas lights, eh?

I like 'em. Driving home the other night on the highway and a car passed me and the kid in the front seat was grinning from ear to ear! I figure someone's gonna smile on trip! And if in Newfyland, might as well act Newfy...

 

[99Yuk]

Well, this trip is over.
7840kms round trip.

It took three days to get there and three days to get back. I have numb bum!

I love my truck! Plenty of power and 4x4 to pass those imports in the snow. Plenty of space in the interior for the kids and dogs, etc.
On the Newfoundland island I went from sun shine to rain to snow blizzard in one hour, and then I went though it again. Comming back thru Quebec/Ontario there was a massive snow storm, but we pulled right thru it!

And I packed up a massive safety kit, and didn't have to use a single item.
The only trouble I had was while in Marystown, NL, the rear axle was acting like it was locked up, wheel hop while turning corners, etc. I brought it to a local shop who charged me $160 to adjust the rear brakes, and replace the pinion seal. Not bad at all!

The lady working at Marine Atlantic (The ferry) who gave us our tickets said that in all of her 17 years of working the drive thru ticket booth, she has never seen Christmas lights on a vehicle.
Then the ferry crashed into the dock as we watched from the top deck. Punched a 1foot hole in the hull 15feet above the water line. Ferry service was shut down for three days after that. We were lucky that we were on that last ferry, we made it in time for Christmas, others didn't.

Goobies, NL. Gas/washroom stop.

These ferrys are huge! See that transport in the background? Compare that to the size of the ferry!

Newfoundland alegedly has alot of moose. This was the only moose that we saw.

All in all a good trip. Nothing major happened, and it wasn't me in the ditch, no accidents, no nothing, just us mosying along at 10 over the speed limit. Pretty uneventfull really.

 

[92__silverado]

Glad the trip was so uneventful. Sounds like kind of a fun excursion honestly, glad you did not have to use any of your safety equipment. If i had not bought a Tahoe while you were on your excursion this would definitely have sealed the deal in my mind. Congrats on your trip, and welcome back!

 

[99Yuk]

BTW, If anyone was kinda curious to know what a trip like this costs, I've updated my estimate to reflect actual costs. It can be found HERE.

Glad the trip was so uneventful. Sounds like kind of a fun excursion honestly, glad you did not have to use any of your safety equipment. If i had not bought a Tahoe while you were on your excursion this would definitely have sealed the deal in my mind. Congrats on your trip, and welcome back!

Thanks. It was fun, and I'm glad to be back home.

 

[92__silverado]

Expensive trip for sure. Wow. The fuel and ferry prices really knock it up there. I guess one man alone could knock down the fuel cost slightly, as well as the food and if you didn't have to ride the ferry it would help bring the price down. You got me thinking I would like to do something like this in the states.

 

[ravingmadman]

Nicely done. You know if you hadn't packed any of that stuff though, you'd have needed it all... Murphy's Law sucks.

 

[99Yuk]

Expensive trip for sure. Wow. The fuel and ferry prices really knock it up there. I guess one man alone could knock down the fuel cost slightly, as well as the food and if you didn't have to ride the ferry it would help bring the price down. You got me thinking I would like to do something like this in the states.

I'd actually recommend that someone do a trip like this.. It's not as bad as you might think.. I just took my time, made sure I was prepared for anything that may come up, and I used the GPS attractions/fuel feature alot.
It was pretty cool having the gps though. I'd hit a major city, click on attractions, and it would point out the list of tourist traps in the city, I'd pick out the one we wanted, add it as a waypoint, and follow the arrows/voice. I got to see/visit many places that otherwise we would have just driven by.
I could have saved about $300 by not taking a bunk for the ferry crossings, but after spending two days in the truck, a bunk with a private shower was a good thing!

---------- Post added at 10:06 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:03 AM ----------

Nicely done. You know if you hadn't packed any of that stuff though, you'd have needed it all... Murphy's Law sucks.

Haha, You know it! Yup, I was thinking the same thing, if I didn't have that stuff, murphy's law would have bit me in the ass for sure!