What to do before 1200 miles?

[Triathlete]

Make sure air pressure is equal in all 4 tires and the amount of wear appears even...that will keep the TOD happy.
Also make sure the air cleaner is clean/new.

[TheGanzman]

Call "Horseless Carriage"...

I would say that a lot depends on the mileage/condition of the particular VX you're getting ready to drive. FWIW, I'd drive MINE 1,200 miles TOMORROW, but I'm fastidious with maintenance, and I've driven it 800 mile roundtrips a half dozen times...

I'd plan on carrying some rudimentary tools with me, including a can of "Fix-A-Flat"; a flashlight, spare motor oil (3-4 quarts), a bottle of antifreeze, and prolly an upper and lower radiator hose and a section of heater hose(s); alternately, you can buy a "splice/repair" kit for both radiator and heater hoses. I'd also carry a plastic "splicer" with hose clamps so that you can bypass the heater core by removing the heater hose inlet/outlets to the core and clamp them to each other if your heater core takes a crap on you...

Yeah - I'm "old school" - I've also done the Kowalski "Vanishing Point" run East-West and West-East about a dozen times. I only wasn't able to "limp home" ONE time - blew a head gasket in a '71 4-4-2 convertible in Nashville TN and had to layover for the requisite repair...

Good Luck! An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure - I don't know WHAT the hell that means, but I LOVE the way it SOUNDS!

[Mile High VX]

I'd add a set of jumper cables and maybe a set of wiper blades purchased on site and installed before you take off.

Any items you may need for inclement weather; snow scrapers and such. Perhaps pick up some deicer and windshield washer fluid.

Also don't forget all of the car chargers for phones and such...

Enjoy the drive...you'll smile all the way home!

[VX KAT]

Ya'll ar makin me laugh....
LOL....she's a jeeper from MinneSNOWota.....I think she's got the basics of snow prep...

Kate....look at the questionnaire...it'll give you a roadmap of what VX items to prepare for on your drive home.

• TRANNY SOUNDS -Lots of people are surprised how loud and clunky the tranny can be....from P-D and P-R, even D-P...there's often some lash and a slight delay in the clunk engaging...don't know how to tell you what's "ok" or "normal"...just a heads up that it may sound weird. (it sure did on mine...and it was A-OK!)

• TOD & TIRE SIZE/AIR PRESSURE/WEAR/SAME MODEL -Billy's comments about this possibly affecting the TOD is also a good heads up....many owners have heard some nasty grinding sounds when any of these are too far off (and yet, others have NOT had this occur in those circumstances )
  

• ROUGH RIDE- remember, this thing is a rough rider, any way you look at it...so expect a really clunky, harsh, vibrating ride on anything other than smooth pavement. And you'll likely get some good hard clunks going over road joints etc... Might want to take a peak at the rear bump stops ahead of time so you know how much clearance is there...and how slamming a ride you can expect in the rear.
  
  
• WINDOWS: Probably won't need to worry about the windows since it's cold...can do that when you get home.
  
  
• DOOR HANDLES: As these things have gotten older, many people are having problems with the door handle mechanism breaking. Don't think you can do anything about it, just be aware....and always open the door handles GENTLY so it doesn't slip off your fingers. One VXer got some gritty strips and cut them to fit up under the outer door handle so our fingers don't slip off the plastic handle and possibly break it. Think it was VCrossFan that did it...he sent me 2 strips, they work great, never have the handle slip out of my hand.
  
  
• SEAT BACK RELEASE - the little black knob that makes the seat back come forward to allow access to rear seats....HANDLE THAT KNOB with care...it's old and dried out too and fragile!
  
  
• CVs- After having a CV boot split this past summer, and seeing all the grease that leaked out...and what damage I COULD have done if I hadn't found that early......I'd at least want to take a peak at the CV boots to see what condition they're in.
  
  
• CAREFUL WITH THE DOOR LOCKS....those things somehow end up locking themselves when you're outside the truck....ALWAYS KEEP A KEY WITH YOU...ON YOUR BODY! It's happened to me at least twice!
  
  
• MIRROR: Might want to buy 2 small convex mirrors stick-ons to take with you...it will likely have one already stuck on, but it's really helpful to have. Most put it on the lower, outer corner of the mirror....but for some reason, my oblong shape ones were most useful in the lower, inner corner.
  
  
• BLIND SPOT...OR HUGE BLIND SPOT....Get familiar with that big hawnkin' blind spot before you roll out.....it's not a C-pillar...it's a C-WALL!!!!!!
  
  
• CD PLAYER- DON'T EVEN BOTHER...it'll most likely just eat your CDs....stick with your temp stereo....

See ya when ya get home!