I am working on a draft checklist with
@Rok_Dr when traveling remote or overlanding. Anyone think of more points? Feel free to suggest some.
Some suggested checks to help with preventive maintenance when travelling remote.
- If you are going on a long trip, a pre-trip inspection by your mechanic is helpful, especially if the mechanic services off-road vehicles. Get the car serviced if needed;
- Monitor the TEMPERATURE Menu when driving. Keep an eye on oil temps, water temps, and tyre pressures and temps;
- Manually check the tyre pressure on your spare tyre;
- Take a close look at any alarms raised by the Grenadier’s warning system;
- Check wheel nuts, tighten nuts to the correct torque setting (160 NM). Check weekly or after severe corrugations (washboard);
- Set tyre pressures for the road surface being driven. Pressures should be varied between bitumen, gravel, sand, mud, corrugations and towing (XREF pressures);
- Each day look for tyre damage like nicks, cuts, screws, spikes, and check for slow air leaks (the Grenadier’s TPMS should show slow leaks);
- Check your roof-rack/bars are secure (I check during each stop);
- Check your restraining straps, loads and awnings are secure;
- Look for oil or water leaks under the car;
- Check for spinifex/grass build up under the car, remove the buildup;
- Every morning check under the car for loose nuts, missing bolts, broken gear, leaking hoses, etc A ground mat, safety glasses and a torch come in handy.
- Check your drinking water containers are not leaking. Take more than one drinking water container.
- Take a Personal locator beacon (PLB), satellite phone or Starlink for really remote travel. Test your equipment before leaving home. As I often travel alone I take a Spot On tracker (set to leave breadcrumbs) and a PBL.
Do you need extra spares for the trip like fuses, filters (oil, fuel, air), extra oil, coolant, clamps or belts? On long remote trips a spare front and rear shock absorber maybe needed (like in Central Australia or remote Africa). I needed a shock when crossing Australia. I asked for the shocks to be inspected in a service before my return trip, they found a problem and the shock was replaced with the spare I had with me (Nissan Patrol days). That damaged shock would not have survived the return trip through the centre of Australia, disaster avoided. The shocks thread, near the top attachment point, was being stripped by the severe corrugations.
@globalgregors @Logsplitter
