E-Mail 'Vehicle Preparation - Part 2, by Traveling Mechanic' To A Friend

Email a copy of 'Vehicle Preparation - Part 2, by Traveling Mechanic' to a friend

* Required Field






Separate multiple entries with a comma. Maximum 5 entries.



Separate multiple entries with a comma. Maximum 5 entries.


E-Mail Image Verification

Loading ... Loading ...

12 Comments

  1. A side note on your bug out vehicle lifts suspension tire size etc.

    It’s easy to think I’m going to lift it to the sky and put 40 inch tires on it and long travel suspension components that way I can drive through rivers and crawl over mountains and be unstoppable.

    In short to make the biggest meanest “mall crawler” ever.

    Or to say “I’m gonna add 400 horsepower” and hot rod my way around.

    In truth

    What you need to have is a vehicle that can go faster than you possible solutions over a bit more rougher terrains. One that can quickly and reliably get you to a safe place.

    For example, I have a new to me 2002 [Ford] Explorer. My biggest mods planed is 32-33 inch tires and any lift (body lift) I need to put them on…. That’s it keeping the center of gravity as low as possible keep my cornering speed higher.

    Mods to the drive train will be lower axel gear ratios electronic lockers and that’s it.

    I won’t be changing spring rates unless I need to for the load I regularly carry.

    Stock is actually a highly researched balanced set up made to be as safe as possible and as reliable as possible. There are things you can do to go above and beyond this but by in large you are looking at percentages of increase … And you don’t feel percentages you feel effects.

    Take your vehicle off the road learn it learn it’s limitations learn it’s strengths and you will be much better equipped with minor mods than someone running a homemade monster truck.

    Some universal truths on what to add to your vehicle for bug-out vehicles.

    Trucks get a construction style camper or a load-bearing tonneau that you can add extra storage on top of.

    SUVs put your cargo in square boxes add tie-down points. Put a cargo van style cargo shield behind your last occupied seat just in case.

  2. Something else…. Look into replacing your windows with poly carbonate. It is much harder to beak. You can apply films to it like window tinting that make it scratch resistant. As well as tinting on the inside.

    You can also buy it with those coatings already on it. There should be local glass shops that will shape it to match your original auto glass , which came be used to lower the price of install by trading to the installer… Or selling original on Craigslist or eBay.

  3. Where Traveling Mechanic says “use a water hose”, Do NOT Use a Pressure Washer. You can completely bugger the structure with too much pressure. Also, better check if your air compressor blows oil along with the air. They can, especially old ones, and I made that mistake once and the dust I was trying to blow out of the radiator fins turned to crud that was twice as hard to clean.

    Has anyone ever tried using “Slime” or other pretreat in your tires, and gotten a good result? My most recent car has a compressor and a slime container in lieu of any kind of a spare, but I know some folks use it in their bike tires to good result and wondered if it might be worth a shot as a preventative?

    1. Slime works on small holes, but a highway tire will become out of balance. Don’t use it as a preventative in a highway tire, but I would use it to fix a flat if I did not know, or did not have a professional grade tire plugging kit. It is useful as a preventative in ATV tires. Using about a gallon of the stuff, it managed to seal 2 old and badly weather cracked ATV tires I did not want to replace. It can work wonders, but I would need a tire plug to fix larger holes. Unfortunately, it is often not easy to plug tires.

      The best assurance is to carry two spare tires. I have read that using an inner tube with lots of slime in it can seal up bullet holes, and is the next best thing to having run flat tires. I suppose it might be possible, but I could say with some confidence that gashes to the side wall and small punctures could be sealed. Tire plugs do not work well, or at all when the puncture occurs on the sidewall. If it is a highway vehicle, installing tubes would add a layer of protection and may prevent leaks if there was damage to the side wall. If you expect to take fire, then I would install as much slime in the tube as I could afford, and attempt to fill it up.

      1. Tunnel Rabbit–I’ve been reading your posts and blogs for years and I think you would have the answer I’m looking for. I was asking for help with comm. advice specifically ham radio base and accessories. I know almost nothing about comms. My sister is starting to study for ham test. I’m in the hills (about halfway up a hill) needing equipment for up to 50 miles as the crow flies. Have power, backup power, and handhelds (per your blogs). Want to buy a ham base while there’s a decent supply chain.We think 100W. Sorry I don’t know. Tried to do the homework online looking at Yaesu, Icom, etc. My brain just glazed over…Help! Thanks in advance.

  4. More spare tires. Your car may have a cheap doughnut tire and these are more prone to failure than normal tires. If possible replace that with a full size tire and rim. As a minimum I would carry two spares and four would be optimal. This does not have to be expensive. Go to a junkyard and ask for tires still mounted on rims to fit your car. Reject any with worn tires or damaged rims. Sometimes you will have to buy them separate and get them mounted yourself. Well worth the effort.

    You are thinking you don’t need to do this because you rarely have a flat and besides there are repair shops everywhere. True! Very true today, but will it be true in a bug out scenario. When I drive to Alaska I carry two “extra” good spares. There are repair shops on the Alcan but they are far apart.

    Two extra spares take up a lot of room in your trunk. Plan ahead and buy a roof rack. You don’t need to carry the extra spares everyday just when you go on a long trip through remote areas OR when you bugout. Check that you can get two tires into the roof rack. Typically one fits well but the other has to lean on the first one. Make sure each tire is securely and individually tied down. Also if you have a car, especially a small car it is likely that you can easily put the tire in the roof rack. But if you have an SUV or a 3/4 ton truck/van those tires weigh as much as a teenager. So you will need to find a way to get them onto your roof. A step stool, extra help/muscle, a loading dock.

    1. If you aren’t using your vehicle for towing you can get or have made a recieved mounted spare Tire rack that will hold as many as you want. Even for a passenger car.

      You could also mount a spare Tire rack to the front of your truck via a front hitch Mount.

      Tires don’t weigh too too much so you could put on your roof rack too

      I’ve seen guys in the desert with dually and or Baja fenders mount thier spares on the side of the bed behind those too.

  5. Another thought regarding weather on your route: get a couple of handheld Ham radios and program them with each of the NOAA stations along your route. This will make sure you have everything in place and you won’t have to try and figure it out as you go, like I did on a road trip a couple of years ago. You don’t need a Ham license to do this, because you don’t transmit – only listen. Stations along alternate routes can be written down and stored with the radio. I think most of these stations are on the 2m band, so a Baofeng is suitable and cost effective.

  6. Well done article . I will add that I carry a 8×32 pair of binoculars on the dash to see trouble far away . I will also add that yes I will keep the lenses clean on my headlamps and tail lights , but I also carry black Gorilla tape and would reduce the area of the headlamps and tail lights and cover completely the side clearance lights and reflectors.
    I will leave the vehicle dirty and spray down the license plate area with sugar water so all dust and bugs will stick to it . This will help defeat the licenses plate reading that law enforcement adores and the plate reflectivity . It should be noted that I always traveling with my snitch ( Mobile Phone) in a EMP pouch and I deliberately have no built in GPS in my 2019 vehicle .

Comments are closed.