"high mileage" maintenance/ road trip

Care to share the best way to service the drive shaft and grease other parts? Im sure I've neglected that on my truck.

 

Grease the grease fittings with a grease gun.

The fittings are located at the U-Joints. You have them on the main driveshaft and your front driveshaft if 4x4. Should only be a couple pumps. Or until grease starts coming out of joints. While there see if any play in the U-Joints. If so, replace them.

Then grab the shaft....well drive shaft.... and give it a good stroke....I mean wiggle....and see if there is any play in your driveshaft carrier bearing. If so, replace it.

 

^ TY! I'll do that now. I have mobil synthetic grease and will use that.

 

Not to hijack the thread... I'll be making a (almost) cross country round trip in a lil over a month from now, little over 2400 miles one way from PA to Idaho for a bear & wolf hunt. My '13 has all but 97K on it, as some have probably seen I recently did water pump, hoses, new coolant, thermostat, idlers, tensioner & belt (kept my old one). I've also done plugs, P/S fluid, oil change, both diffs & transfer case oil change, tire rotation & greased u-joints (at every oil change), cleaned MAF, air filter & cabin filter all about 1K miles ago. Changed my spare last Sunday so I have a new full size that matches what I run. Getting my state inspection done on the 30th and having an alignment done & tires balanced while its there. I checked wheel bearings/tie rods when I replaced front struts a few weeks ago.

The one thing I still want to do is an ATF change since I haven't done that since 45K-ish, Debating on dropping the pan & changing the filter...

I'm taking spare fluids for everything, I plan on an oil change before I leave. Spare lug nuts & the tools for my TRD beadlocks are on order (taking my torque wrench along to keep an eye on them). Other than that I plan on taking tools, my hunting gear, rifle & coolers. I do have an AC line that is leaking at the rubber hose crimp so I'll replace that & have it checked/recharged. Other than cleaning the truck up a little bit I think its ready to go. I might pick up a couple front hub bearings and take them along just incase.

I'm a bit of a Maintenance whore & my list is kind of extreme but that should give you an idea of what to look over before a long trip.

 

^ Nice. Speaking from experience I would suggest completing big PM like this a week or two before departing on the big trip to make sure everything is sorted and have time for any corrections if needed. (Imagine if you will trying to get a new $0.50 o ring from the dealer on the morning you were supposed to leave. Wife fuming. All because you decided to flush the coolant the night before )

 

I made sure to change that coolant pipe O-ring as well when I did the water pump, I kept it since it was still in good shape but its stuff like that that can bite you in the ass real quick.

 

all solid advice/recommendations.
I have off road driving pass here in RI for beach access and do have all the necessary items. Driving on the beach in the OBX is one of my big hang ups. I want to, but i haven't done any real research yet.
We are fortunate to be staying at a family home footsteps to the beach so im not too concerned with lugging beach gear around. The driving around down there will be primarily in Nags head, to local restaurants, etc.

Im leaning towards truck for many reasons but i may pick up a roof rack for the GTI if i see one second hand anyhow.
Ive been down in june-Aug in the past and there hasn't been much surf. So i am wondering if its worth it or not to even bring boards. But i know if i don't, with my luck, there will be a week long swell.