Road warriors

[D-Day]

We have a lot of nice 73-87 trucks on here, some of them award-winning. But what I wanna see...are the trucks that have been around more than just the block, but the country.

What's the longest trip you've done in your truck? I think a good basis is 500 miles one way, preferably longer. Sure, some people may rack up a 1,000 miles a week for work in extreme cases, but at the end of the day they're back at home and can keep an eye on their rig. Back at base, with all their tools and support and parts stores, perhaps a spare vehicle or a friend to help get parts.

But...when reliablity and dependability counts, when you're 500, 1,000, or even more miles away from home, all you have is your truck and the tools you may have with you. So, who here has a proven ride? Who takes their truck on regular jaunts across the country? Show 'em off.

The longest trip I took in my truck, without being home to go over my truck and make sure everything was okay, change the oil, etc. was around 3,500-4,000 miles back in February-March over the span of 7 days.

It included going from Toledo, Ohio to Atlanta, Georgia, back to Toledo, over to Philadelphia (with a quick trip to see the ocean at Atlantic City, Jersey), down to Elon, North Carolina, up to Columbus, Ohio, then back to home. There was a lot of hard driving, lot of it over 75-80mph and often times through the mountains. From snow to 60 degree weather; from long highways to cramped one way Philly streets; 11 states in 7 days.

This is mine.



On a camping trip to New Hampshire back in June. Over 900 miles one way...much of it through God-awful hilly state routes, country roads and steep highways. Great for motorcycles, not for my truck. I was glad to finally hit the highway and get on back home. New York was one of the worst states I've ever had the displeasure of driving. Perhaps it was the $4.35 a gallon gas and ridiculous tolls.

[BLE 'BURBAN]

Well not in my truck but I did make a trip from Anchorage, Alaska to Denver, Colorado way back in '83 on a kawasaki KZ650 motorcycle in 4 1/2 days. A little over 3200 miles.
That was my longest trip ever.

[Walts_restoration]

d-day, you have a beautiful truck. Makes me want a crewcab even more, its on my todo list. What wheels are you running?

I havent made very far road trips. but have drove my truck daily coming on 4 years now, except for the 5 months it sat clipless and i drove my camaro and other toys. When i first got it, at 87k, i wouldnt of hesitated to drive it to california. Now it needs a tuneup, but the truck has only let me down once in 4 years, and that was a bad bendix drive on a starter when i first got it.

[RunninLo]

early Jan of 04 I drove from Missoula,MT to Klakamas OR to pick up a Cuda a friend bought of ebay and coincedentally my wife's wedding dress. Drove there and spent the night loaded the car and drove home. Had a really sketchy blizzard on Lookout pass that minutes after we drove through they closed the pass for over 8 hours. There was at least one fatality accident that I know of.
trip was a little over 1200 miles round trip with out a single hint of mechanical trouble.

later that year my father, grandfather and I loaded the same truck and same empty trailer and drove to spokane, WA to pick up my uncle who was relocating from stockton,CA the four of us rode in the old crew all the way to Stockton so I could pick up his 56 F100 custom cab and bring it back to my place in Missoula. Again no mechanical failures and the only real trouble is I ended up using 3 of the four spares I brought for the trailer. Had a blast pal'n around with the "boys" on the trip. I finally realized that my very proper grandfather can tell a dirty joke or two once he's out of my grandmother's sight.
that trip was done over the course of 4 days and spanned approx. 2200 miles.

Both trips were done in my 1988 Chevy 1-ton Crew-cab 4WD (is it a K or a V30?) with 454 4.10 axles and a GV splitter on the manual trans.

Last year I also happened to do a one day fly from Missoula to San Jose, CA , load up a Budget rental truck (GMC cab and chassis) and drive it straight through to home. about 1200 miles one way and 44 hours including the flight and time to get/load the truck.

have a few more similar but those are the most recent,

Josh

[D-Day]

Originally Posted by Walts_restoration

d-day, you have a beautiful truck. Makes me want a crewcab even more, its on my todo list. What wheels are you running?

Much obliged. As for the wheels, you know, I really couldn't tell you without going out to look at them. I think they might say on the hub caps...I'll check next time I'm out there.

I needed a set of cheap 16" wheels locally, and fast, and those presented themselves. Didn't really care for looks or condition, but they served the purpose. I really wouldn't advise them because they are a bear to get the lugnuts off of. Forget using the impact gun; you need a socket with just the right wall, and have to loosen them by hand. I busted a ratchet doing that when a tire center put them on tight...couple that with cheap lugnuts, hoo boy, not fun.

I suppose with quality lugnuts at proper length they'd be fine, but overall I've not cared for 'em so much. I've thought about etching the chrome/metal on them and painting them gloss black, since much of the chrome luster is gone and they're also chipping. But I'd really like a new set of wheels if at all possible.

[old Rusty C10]

MY bomb i took on a trip where i picked up a uhaul trailer drove up to almost boston and picked up a junk mitsubishi eclipse and returned to NJ and within a day or so i then went through PA into Allentown and then up 81 North to Binghamton and then to deposit about 200 miles all told and the truck never missed a beat... she sucked alot of gas but she ran great

[TeamRinaldi]

Back in July I did 1900 miles from Greenville Sc to Tucson Az. This past weekend I went to the Grand Canyon, about 360 miles.

[pilotj]

A few years back, I pulled an old Pontiac from Roanoke, VA to Red Rock, Tx
(near San Antonio), then made three round trips from Red Rock to Dallas to pick up other cars and then pulled the '58 Chevy wagon back to Roanoke from Red Rock. Total of 3600 Miles. I did the same thing 2 weeks later (Roanoke, VA-Red Rock, TX-Roanoke,VA) to pick up the parts car. So I ran about 6300 miles that month. She aint pretty, but she's an unbelievably dependable workhorse!

[crawdadfox]

My old 87, "Copperhead", bought with less than 40,000 original miles. I put over 60,000 daily driven miles in three years. Including 6+ trips to Indy and the Ohio area (850 miles one way).

[Hyspeedz]

Hi RunninLo...really enjoy watching and reading about your 'Burb build. Good luck with it, and keep those pics coming. Merry Christmas

Hyspeedz