M family and I are taking the Rover on its trip next month, and its gunna be a big one. Driving from where we live in Winnemucca NV all the way back home to Dryden MI.


So I a starting a list of what we are going to need for the trip. I already have a small tool kit that will be going with us as well as a first aid kit. It will have a fresh oil change and new tires before we leave. The Rover just rolled over 94k miles.


So my question is suggestions on other things I should take with me or things I should look at doing before hand. I don't know much about the maint. record for this rig, we have owned it less than a thousand miles.


Also my choice of tire as two different size options for me to choose from so I would like to know which you all would choose. My rig isnt going to be a heavy duty off road runner but it might see some sow and desert sand.


sizes are Nitto Terra Grappler G2 285/60R18XL Tire 120S or Nitto Terra Grappler G2 LT275/65R18/10 Tire 123S . Yes the links are to the Walmart page. My wife is an assistant manager there and we get a discount plus she will make sure the service manager does the job personally....

 

Put the 285s on. For long trips and around that mileage I made sure to have all fresh fluids, I renewed my T-stat and all the coolant hoses. My brake lines had all been renewed as well. You are near the mileage that requires new spark plugs, have you done that? What about Tranny fluid?

I would do all that, and keep the good parts removed, as spares. Also take a spare light bulbs, a brake switch, maybe an ignition coil. Get yourself an IIDTool and you should be good to go. Make sure you have a good spare, too.

Have fun! I drove mine from Whitehorse, Yukon to the Seattle area last March and saw just about every kind of weather you can imagine. It was awesome.

 

Thanks, fluids are all good and I plan on changing the oil before we leave. Are the spark plugs simple to change? I haven't looked but when I did my charger last month I was told they were easy and ended up taking nearly 6 hours and a couple trips to the parts store to get different seals as the whole upper intake manifold had to come off.

I was just going to pick up an obd2 scan tool. What is the difference between that and one of those iidtool?

 

Spark plugs are simple to change unless you run into a problem like I did where the coil-pack boot decided to stay on the spark plug instead of coming out with the coil pack. :P The one exception is the driver's side bank, cylinder closest to the firewall. There is very little room to get that plug out, but if you have a variety of extensions, you should be able to do it without too much effort.

My only suggestion before the trip would be to change your coolant hose bleeder valve. This is the small plastic tee underneath the engine acoustic cover. As they age and go through many heating and cooling cycles, they tend to get brittle and crack. I had a catastrophic failure of mine while I was driving around town. You certainly wouldn't want this to happen in the middle of your trip. I would also check the condition of your battery if it's getting on in age. We're getting into the hot months and heat is the primary killer of batteries.

I'm not sure I'd bother with a generic OBD2 scan tool. They really don't tell you much about what's going on with the car. Besides, you could always stop by an auto parts store and just buy one if you need to. The IID tool (or Faultmate or whatever) will provide you with much much more detailed information, allow you to actually troubleshoot some problems, and could allow you to temporarily fix your car for long enough to get it to the dealer (e.g. if you get an EAS error). It's MUCH more beneficial, albeit much more expensive.

 

Will the 285s fit without having a lift or the Johnson rods?

 

yes...