Ready for a road trip to Knotts Berry Farm.

zxlwno · Feb 19, 2008

The final touches were done on our D today and it's all set for a road trip to Knotts Berry Farm. It's about a 7 hour drive from Tucson.

Here's what was done over the past few weeks and today:

Brake fluid changed out.
Brake pads checked. OK.
Upper and lower radiator hose changed out. Air bled from system.
Windshield replaced. The old one had a crack on the edge that was creaking when backing out of our driveway. Creak is gone.
Underhood seal installed. Missing after accident repairs.
Front lower belly shield installed. Missing after accident repairs.
Crack in the top of the grill repaired. Cosmetic only.
4 new tires mounted and balanced.
4 wheel alignment.
Oil changed in late January. Low miles since then. Oil still looks great.
Washer fluid full.
Power steering fluid full.
Coolant full.
Boots on front suspension parts look good.
Front shocks checked and are good.
IsoHeet fuel drier put in tank.

Did I miss anything?

DCDAD · Feb 19, 2008

Serpintine belt condition?
transmission fluid level?
differential fluid level?

have a great trip to the park, sounds like your all ready to go!!

Ron

zxlwno · Feb 19, 2008

DCDAD said:
Serpintine belt condition?
transmission fluid level?
differential fluid level?

have a great trip to the park, sounds like your all ready to go!!

Ron

Ahhh. Yes. Belt looks good. I asked about it at the dealership and they said it was fine.
Transmission fluid has been changed out 2 times in 56,000 miles. ATF-4 put in both times. Level looks good. No leaks of any kind from underneath.
Front and rear differentials along with the transfer case where changed out about a year ago. Front differential was slightly overfilled. I just had it leveled off a few months ago. They had to remove some.

DCDAD · Feb 19, 2008

looks like your all set then, just bring along fort knox for gasoline, and your gonna have a great time. I'll be ridin my D up to reno around the first of march to see my brother who just accepted a job there. Really cool because he's been in Euclair wisconsin for the last 11 yrs, and I haven't seen him since he left. lookin forward to it!! good luck on your trip!!

Ron

IndyDurango · Feb 19, 2008

Check the air in the tires. Put it at 40lbs in each for the trip. Just because they were balanced, doesn't mean they're inflated correctly.

Also, why the wheel alignment? Was it out of whack? I've never had mine aligned.

Have fun on the trip :!:

IndyDurango

zxlwno · Feb 19, 2008

DCDAD said:
looks like your all set then, just bring along fort knox for gasoline, and your gonna have a great time. I'll be ridin my D up to reno around the first of march to see my brother who just accepted a job there. Really cool because he's been in Euclair wisconsin for the last 11 yrs, and I haven't seen him since he left. lookin forward to it!! good luck on your trip!!

Ron

Yeah, I know. Lots of money for gas. Plus we're going to use the roof rack so even worse mileage.

zxlwno · Feb 19, 2008

IndyDurango said:
Check the air in the tires. Put it at 40lbs in each for the trip. Just because they were balanced, doesn't mean they're inflated correctly.

Also, why the wheel alignment? Was it out of whack? I've never had mine aligned.

Have fun on the trip :!:

IndyDurango

I did have to add air to the tires. I put them up to 36lbs. You recommend 40?

The old tires had a lot more wear on the inside. They were so bad that they were causing it to drift to the right. My wife curbed the tires quite a bit in the past. The alignment was off but I'm not expert. I don't know how off it was.

zxlwno · Feb 19, 2008

Lower radiator hose close to the fan.

One final question. Does anyone know if it's normal for the lower radiator hose to be less than 1 inch from the fan blades? I replaced the hose myself. It's an OEM hose. Everything fits just fine but it sure seems close.

FSTDANGO3 · Feb 19, 2008

It's a very close fit on my 4.7 as well
I have about 1.5" clearance.
Steve
DOC Pres

zxlwno · Feb 19, 2008

FSTDANGO3 said:
It's a very close fit on my 4.7 as well
I have about 1.5" clearance.
Steve
DOC Pres

Ok, thanks. It's closer than 1.5" for me but close is close. It's not like the hose is going to move towards the blades I hope.

zxlwno · Feb 20, 2008

Belt changed.

Ok, I replaced the serpentine belt myself. The old one wasn't cracked but after 56,000 miles it had glazing. I did it without tools. Getting the old belt off was easy. Putting the new one on was difficult until I figured out that I should put the belt on the tensioner and then pull it up to the A/C pulley. Once I did that it was perfect.

dizzyD · Feb 20, 2008

Your gonna forget to stop by my house, If your coming interstate 10, you'll drive right by my house! Once you cross the 15 and 91

zxlwno · Feb 20, 2008

dizzyD said:
Your gonna forget to stop by my house, If your coming interstate 10, you'll drive right by my house! Once you cross the 15 and 91

Yep, I-10 I think. Either that or I-8 and up through San Diego. It's only about 20 miles more to go I-8 and I-8 is a lot less crowded plus we don't have to go through Phoenix. We're still deciding though.

If we go I-10 is there a Durango specific honk? I don't think we'll be stopping. I gotta get the kids there fast or they'll explode.

dizzyD · Feb 20, 2008

zxlwno said:
I gotta get the kids there fast or they'll explode.

I know! :roll:

zxlwno · Feb 22, 2008

We're here in Buena Park right now. We ended up taking I-8 to the 805 to I-5. The wind was really bad. At one point we were going uphill against the wind and getting 5-6 mpg. We filled up in San Clemente and paid $3.39 a gallon for 87.
Our average mpg was around 12 or 13 except for the uphill against the wind areas. We had luggage on the roof rack so I'm sure that lowers the mpg a bit.

Knotts Berry Farm was fun. They sure added a lot of coasters. The last time I was there was in 1984.

dizzyD · Feb 22, 2008

Braved the rains, did ya!

FSTDANGO3 · Feb 22, 2008

Glad to hear you had a safe Journey
Steve
DOC Pres

zxlwno · Feb 22, 2008

Thanks.

Yeah, rain, wind, fog and sand.

thomsonc · Feb 23, 2008

I like Knotts Berry Farm- better than Disneyland in my opinion. I found there are less people there; a lot of the tourists from Asia pack Disneyland.

zxlwno · Feb 25, 2008

We're back home now. We left at about 8am Tucson time and got home by 4pm. No problems at all.

I did find 2 more cosmetic problems. One was a missing bolt that holds the front lower plastic spoiler/air dam to the metal bumper. I was able to find a replacement that had the right size and thread pitch. All is good with that now. The other item is a missing round plastic cowl fastener with a torx or star on it. I can get one from the dealership.

Ready for a road trip to Knotts Berry Farm.

zxlwno

DCDAD

zxlwno

DCDAD

IndyDurango

zxlwno

zxlwno

zxlwno

FSTDANGO3

zxlwno

zxlwno

dizzyD

zxlwno

dizzyD

zxlwno

dizzyD

FSTDANGO3

zxlwno

thomsonc

zxlwno

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