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Hello and a Road Trip...


Motorhead X
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After reading lots of informative posts on this forum, I am getting my Jeep this week so I feel like I can make a first post. The Jeep is a '91 Comanche Pioneer 4.0, 2wd, auto. 

 

I live in California and the Comanche is at my father's place in Georgia, so I'll be flying there later this week to pick it up and drive it home. Road trip! 

 

My father was a Ford loyalist, but about six months ago his F-250 Super Duty turbo diesel bit the dust. He thought it would last forever, but the motor fried at 150K. It was the dreaded Powerstroke 6.0. Shortly after that, a neighborhood friend finished rebuilding the Comanche and sold it to my father.

 

My father has since moved in with family and isn't currently driving. He said I can buy it for less than what he paid. I will update my signature with more details and post some pics after I get to Georgia and inspect it further. 

 

Compiling a list of things to bring with me on the journey. Please chime in on any suggestions.  

 

- spare CPS

- 5ft. of spare electrical wire

- my fairly compact tool set including sockets

- multimeter

 

Thank you to everyone,

bluenotenick

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1)  Credit card. Not saying you will need it, but just cheap insurance. Call your credit card company in advance to let them know you will be traveling.  Sometimes when you live in Southern California and charges start showing up in Georgia or Costa Rica, the bank "assumes" it is a fraud transaction and declines authorization. No fun when you are trying to fill up with gas in Kansas at midnight.

 

2)  Autoclub of Southern California Membership Card. Never can tell when you will need it.  This last Thursday the battery on Anita's 2 year old Camry crapped out at the beach.  AutoClub got it started and we got home.  Toyota is replacing the battery on Monday.

 

3) Power Pack for your cell phone.  Navigation takes lots of juice out of your cell phone.  Faster than your car charger can replace it sometimes.  No fun loosing power to phone in the middle of nowhere on a secondary road.  Ask me how I know!  Now I will take a decent size batter pack for the cell phone with me on long road trips.

 

4)  Have fun and don't forget to use the roadside rest stops!  Last summer, I took two different coast to coast round trips in the 91 Comanche - 15K miles in less than 4 months.

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Might cost, but I know a few shops that will give a car a onceover before buying for potential issues.  Perhaps get it done on that before a 3,000 mile trip? 

 

Going through some of the desolate areas, a small gas can wouldnt hurt.  Or a full size spare. 

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RustyRodder... was just thinking the same thing yesterday. When I get to GA, I should be able to contact the guy that did the recent major work. Hopefully I can meet up with him and go through everything he did to the truck and do some of the regular maintenance it needs. I have met him many times over the years when I would visit the area and he is a straight shooter. Plus he likes to drink beer, so if I buy a few rounds, he might help out. 

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Nice rig. Shouldn't have to much trouble with a 91.

I'd inspect the brakes, torque the lug nuts, check the fluids and check for leaks. See how it drives locally after getting it up to temperature and you should be good to go.

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Made it to Georgia today and got my first good look at the truck. Trying to post a few quick pics. What the heck is wrong with using Imgur to embed an image? It is not being allowed by the forum software.

 

This link will work though:

 

http://imgur.com/a/aoxJc

You have to use the "direct link" option and paste the link into the little picture icon when making your post. I don't think it lets you imbed albums, just single images.

 

That looks like a very nice truck. I wouldn't worry too much about anything, just the basics like everyone has said. 91s and 92s are the best of the breed.

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Like FrankTheDog and Minuit said... Best of the breed. Truck made it 2,300 miles in 60 hours with no problems. Averaged around 23mpg at 65mph. Spectacular country we live in. Getting to see that much of it in such a short time was a cool experience.

 

bluenotenick

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Sounds like a great trip. Pretty envious. Maybe some day mine will be solid enough to visit my buddy and his LWB in Northern Cali

Sounds like fun SublimeDom777. Nor Cal is really nice in the winter too when it's cold in PA. 

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  • 2 years later...

Some pics of another short road trip out to the Mojave near Joshua Tree. I wasn't planning on posting these, I just snapped off some quick shots. Was going to take some better shots for public consumption, but then I started climbing that huge hill of rocks and got totally distracted.

 

Also definitely need a good small axe as I was reduced to splitting wood with my claw hammer. Council Tools or Estwing? Everything on Amazon seems like overpriced crap.

 

It's like a playground for giants out there. Zero bugs, but coyotes and other small critters were definitely around.

Money.jpg

MJ.jpg

Eagle shot.jpg

Campsite.jpg

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3 hours ago, Manche757 said:

Nice looking truck! Interesting other world looking landscape.  Looks like you pitched your tent in a flash flood area.  

Yeah, I would never pitch my tent in that spot if rain were at all in the picture. Just to be safe I was off to the side of the main drainage route. It is hard to tell from the pics but that is the general, and most level, tent spot for this campsite. I could have pitched it closer to the rocks, but it was a little unnerving to be sleeping under those 5 ton boulders. An earthquake could easily send one rolling down. You can see some that have dislodged around the campsite. The most dangerous thing was probably me splitting wood with my hammer claw though! :laugh:

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