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Longer trips with higher mileage vehicles?

Riflerich

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As kind of another question to the cross country thread below. Do you trust your higher mileage vehicles
(say over 100,000 or so) to make longer trips? Longer meaning more than a couple hundred miles from home.
Have a well maintained '12 tacoma, has about 160K, but not sure about a trip out west, etc. I know this truck is probably good for another 100K but? Thinking about leasing a new one later this year for a few years and run this one around locally. Or am I over-thinking.
 
You may or may not be overthinking it.

Any time you leave for a trip with a high mileage vehicle your rolling the dice.

Done it several times. I leave the house and simply cross my fingers. If I break down on a tag I have been waiting for I would rent a truck to drive the rest of the way and hopefully my truck would be fixed on my way back through.

Always do a once over with a breaker bar checking the ball joints/wheel bearings/tie-rod ends, check the brakes/rotors, change the oil and filters and have good tires.

One final thought - Have a good AAA policy. You may not need it but when you do you will be glad you had it.
 
My corolla has 240k and I'm driving it all over the west this summer/fall for hunts. 160k on a Tacoma is nothing, if you are diligent about maintenance there is no reason to think you you won't be doing trips out west in that thing with 260k.
 
I put 100 miles a day on my 2010 F150. It has 263,000 on it. 1100 miles? Go for it.
 
I had a 94 Sububern for 20 years it had 300,000+ took it to AK, Texas, Chicago and hundreds of hunting trips in state, an MONTANA is a BIG state. If you feel good with your truck do it. My sub did not stop or brake down I hit a deer at 70 mph and ended my relationship with my Sub...:eek:
 
My 2013 F150 had 70k and cracekd a throttle body in middle of nowhere...stuff happens. I would take it and get an inspection, but plan for emergencies anyway.
 
It's a Toyota, not a Ford. You will be fine.;)

Ha, I was typing almost an exact response. I've driven all over the west in high mileage Toyotas, and never had a problem. The one time I was stranded bad it was a low-mileage Ford. You pay more upfront for the Toyota so that you don't have to worry about shit like this.
 
Ha! Old Toyota's have treated me really well. Although there was this time, and it was a doozy with sub zero temps. I took me an hour to walk the AAA gal through where I actually was, hence the map. Spotty service didn't help. I was legitimately in the middle of BFE SW of Baggs, WY on a Dec cow Elk huntIMG_0695.jpgIMG_0694.jpg. This truck had 330k on it and is why I now take them to Mechanics prior to a trip.
 
Its expensive to fix everything broken in that picture...

Been there.
 
All of my hunting vehicles have been old (at least 20 years) and I take it like this. One, don't do stupid stuff that puts undue stress on it. 2, keep up on regular maintenance and understand the vehicle (does it have any small leaks, does it use oil, etc). 3, replace all of the perishable stuff you can (bushings, shocks, hoses, belts etc). Then I am pretty comfortable. My round trip to camp and back ends up being close to 1k with all of the driving around and I haven't been boogered up yet.
 
Virtually everything made in the last 20 years is good for 200,000 at least. It really just comes down to maintenance. If you take care of, it'll be good to go. I drive a 2004 chevy 2500 and don't even think about going from my home in Washington to hunting-fishing trips in Dakotas, California, Montana, Wyoming, etc. Sometimes with a camper, sometimes with a trailer, sometimes with both, sometimes with just the pick up.
 
If your rig is well maintained, then I wouldnt worry about it. I drive my 03 F250 on several Western hunts every year without hesitation. It doesn't have a lot of miles, just 110k, but I just check all the basics before I leave and dont worry about it. If something is going to fail, it will happen.
 
Have a mechanic check it over to give yourself some peace of mind. Otherwise, drive on! If something is going to break it could happen at any time.

A few years ago I took my high mileage vehicle on a fairly long road trip for my honeymoon. 3 weeks later the transmission went without warning. You just never know.
 
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