Preseason prep for vehicles

Got 1300 bucks worth of new front end parts an oil change and soon 1200 dollars worth of tires. Should be good
 
I take a new air filter and cabin filter with me. Knock the dust out of the old one before the trip and mid-trip and replace before the long drive home. Lots of dust where I go, so closing the in cab circulator is important to keep gritty dust from covering everything.
 
I always.make sure I have a big 1st aid kit in the truck. Myself, people in my group or helping someone in a emergency. We travel lots of miles at odd times in the fall, just never know when a cheap 1st aid kit can help someone out.
 
Meh hunting season isnt any different than the rest of the year.

Give the spare an eyeball to see if its lookin scary. Maybe check the air in it if you are feeling spunky. That lil spare tire winch isnt froze up is it? Remember where you stashed the lug nuts for a steel rim? There still a lock in your bumper for the spare??? If so knock that fawker off before it screws you..

Otherwise I dont do anything but toss a toolbox in the truck come the wet season.
 
realunlucky said:
With Nevada seasons kicking off today I'm scrambling to ensure my jeep is in tip top shape to not only make the drive but to endure any condition two track I might encounter.

I'm a huge proponent of enough traction so tires (and chains in the snow) are easy checks (yet expensive to replace).

Today I'm focus on everything getting new fluids. Diffs, transmission, transfer case and of course oil. Time consuming but relatively cheap piece of mind

.

What am I missing? What do you do for your preseason vehicle check up?

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Gas up and go for the most part. It is not an epic challenge to drive a few states over and hit some two tracks etc. Keep up with basic maintenance though the year.
 
I've had some incredible bad luck in the backcountry.

Once was storing a quart of oil under the hood near the brake booster and it so hot the container started melting and dripping on the exhaust. Stopped when I saw something smoking under the hood and went grabbed the quart of oil and it pulled apart dumping the oil on the exhaust and instant fire. Luckily I left the door open and have an extinguisher mounted to the seat. Melted the the protective wire loom but not the wires. Also those small extinguisher are basically two squints so make the most of it.



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Probably been said but a new battery is never a bad idea. During hunting season it always seems like I’m charging something or using the dome lights for extended periods with the truck not running. Then throw in some cold weather for late hunts…
 
I try to always stay on top of maintenance. As the seasons change so does my vehicle edc to some degree. Have a great hunting season.
 
Another trip had the compass module go out and it malfunctioned the electrical system to the headlights so that was super inconvenient for driving in the dark. Simply unplugging the module fixed it but didn't know until I drove a couple hours to town and got internet service.

Same trip lost the double cardan drive line joint and had to pull it in below zero temperatures. The space to fit a wrench is super tight so no socket. In fact the long handled wrench could only get a 1/4 turn before running out of space. Would have given a hundred bucks for a different wrench right then. Took like an hour to get it loose. Added that short wrench when I got home.

One thing I also added was a large rubber floor mat to put on the ground to lay on and keep from getting muddy. As you can guess I've used it a bunch since then.
 
Ucsdryder said:
Probably been said but a new battery is never a bad idea. During hunting season it always seems like I’m charging something or using the dome lights for extended periods with the truck not running. Then throw in some cold weather for late hunts…
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Newer vehicles are super sensitive to voltage shortage and can cause all kinds of intermittent problems even triggering limp mode. Yet another thing jeeps are known for.

I always bring a jump pak for extra piece of mind and it serves double duty to charge things in base camp.
 
realunlucky said:
I always bring a jump pak for extra piece of mind and it serves double duty to charge things in base camp.
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This reminded me of an issue I dealt with for a couple of years, where I lost 2 new batteries in 2 consecutive winters, that caused me to keep a solar panel plugged into my AC plug/cigarette lighter socket year-round.

Apparently start-up consumes a lot more electricity from the battery than just the 10-minute trip to my shooting spot can recharge, and sub-freezing weather makes it worse. I shoot daily most of the time, and spring/summer/fall there's no problem. But mid-winter, twice, I went out to a dead battery. So dead my jumper pack couldn't start the truck when hooked up to it, and a charger inside the garage wouldn't revive it.

It seems to have something to do with a low-charge, combined with sub-freezing weather, enhancing the corrosion inside the battery's parts - so starting, driving 10 mins, turning off for an hour, starting, driving home for 10 mins, and sitting for a day/overnight was enough to kill them both in that weather. The solar panel seems to have solved the problem by trickle-charging it all the time though.
 
RockAndSage said:
This reminded me of an issue I dealt with for a couple of years, where I lost 2 new batteries in 2 consecutive winters, that caused me to keep a solar panel plugged into my AC plug/cigarette lighter socket year-round.

Apparently start-up consumes a lot more electricity from the battery than just the 10-minute trip to my shooting spot can recharge, and sub-freezing weather makes it worse. I shoot daily most of the time, and spring/summer/fall there's no problem. But mid-winter, twice, I went out to a dead battery. So dead my jumper pack couldn't start the truck when hooked up to it, and a charger inside the garage wouldn't revive it.

It seems to have something to do with a low-charge, combined with sub-freezing weather, enhancing the corrosion inside the battery's parts - so starting, driving 10 mins, turning off for an hour, starting, driving home for 10 mins, and sitting for a day/overnight was enough to kill them both in that weather. The solar panel seems to have solved the problem by trickle-charging it all the time though.
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I had a similar problem- my dad waited in the jeep while I chased a herd up the mountain. He would just start and run it to have the heater warm up it a bit. Apparently not running it at higher rpms slowly drained the battery. Luckily it started one last time when I got back but it threw all the dash codes and put it in limp mode. It was a long ride back to camp.

That's why I always bring the jump pak along now. Solar panel seems like a great addition. What are you using?



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