i drove 2 1/2 hours on saturday to go buy a disco, pictures description looked good even called the guy on friday to get a feeling for what he had to say and maintenance etc, he was asking 11 k i had cash planned on driving it home, welll after the nearly 3 hour drive north omg **** me hard what a piece of junk, leaks, exhaust leaks, burned ignition wires from his home made relocation kit, inside was terrible old seat worn blower motor noisy no ac engine light for 02 and other crap , wow i took it for a little test drive down the street i almost crashed it, the steering was so bad there had to be something wrong, i could not believe it, there is no way i could drive it home, i turned around gave the guy the broken key he had and left in a hurry, i even called this guy he said everything was good the day before, omg wasted almost 6 hours driving

 

than you are fine

 

Make sure there's a jack and a lug wrench. You might want to try and break the lug nuts free now and then retorque, just so you're not trying it for the first time on the side of the road. If it's regularly driven you probably have little to worry about. Are you flying out to the truck and driving home or driving both ways? I like to travel with a few gallons of water. If nothing else you can limp to safety should you have a cooling system problem. Might want to check the aux fan before you set out as well.

 

I'm driving my car with a friend. I'm driving the Disco back and my friend will drive my car behind me. Sounds like, maybe just bring some extra coolant along.

 

My story was two fold. First I drove from KC to Laramie Wyoming to look at a "nice" D2. Pictures lied. Owner was cool but way off on the trucks condition. I drove with a friend with our mountain bikes so we got a good ride in at Gowdie which was worth it to get out during the pandemic. I got home, checked some ads and found another one in Wyoming, nicer than the other. Called the guy made a deal over the phone and rented a car one way and drove back to Wyoming one week later. Made the deal as the truck was in very decent condition. I drove it back 800 miles. Seller loaned me his ultragauge for the trip. All went well, no issues but was a bit scary. It was July and driving across nebraska in 95+ deg had me worried. Battery died when I got it home.

So yes, drive it with a UG or other temp monitoring tool and take basic tools and fluids, should be fine.

 

Just rent a flatbed truck. As long as you make sure the disco is tied down and you obey the speed limit, you should be fine.

 

Breaking the lug nuts and retorquing them is something that I would highly recommend doing very soon, if not necessarily before you drive it home. When I swapped out the tires after about 3 months of ownership I had a beast of a time getting one lugnut off. It took me 2 days to work something out and ultimately I had to order a new one to put back on. Someone must of hit that hard with an impact wrench. If I had to work that out on the side of the road it definitely would have been a tow truck call. Not I know they are all put back on with the proper torque and anti seize so next time it won't be such a nightmare job.

 

Do a standard walk around check :

1. Check all the lights, headlight,brake light. turn signals
2. Tire pressure
3. Fluids- oil, brake , P/S, wiper fluid, coolant
4. Drive a short distance and hammer the brakes - you want to make sure they work well
5. Check the E-brake
6. Check the wipers
7. Have AAA and drive home

 

In terms of tools, I recommend a typical 40 piece socket set, a couple sets of pliers, and screw drivers. Normal type do it all kit. The truck is probably good to go with only 91k, but you never know. Sometimes it is a small thing you can fix on the side of the road rather than call a tow. I once bought a truck with 125k on it, installed a new inline thermosat on it before I left, drove 2 hours home. 45 minutes from home I pulled in to a gas station for gas and when I let off the gas to pull in to the station the lower hose (OEM) blew off. Towed it home, but I could have put a hose splice kit in it from an auto parts store and some coolant and could have kept driving.

 

I've had good luck driving them home. I flew from denver to Albuquerque and drove my white one home. More lucky than smart (didn't really know what I was getting into) however the PO had detailed records and truck was better than advertised. Was much smarter about the green one, it was only in CO Springs so much shorter drive. But the exhaust broke clean off on the pass side down pipe on the way to get it...moral of the story is they are old and you never know what will happen. Extinct's above post has good info, I'd add a couple of adjustable wrenches and vise grips to the list, along with a full compliment of various fluids.