Date: Tue, 31 May 2005 20:41:40 -0700
Reply-To: Robert Fisher <refisher@MCHSI.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Robert Fisher <refisher@MCHSI.COM>
Subject: The Official Must-Carry List ; was Zoltan: Re: Halifax to
Vancouver & back
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
reply-type=response
Oddly enough I was just doing this very thing last week- combing through the
archives looking for lists and suggestions to cobble together. I basically
included everything I found mentioned to start with along with a few things
of my own; I haven't had time to fiddle with it or think about it much
since. Feel free to comment, add to, criticize etc. Part numbers and
quantities would help for a start.
Supplies:
AAA+ (or preferable roadside service)
Atlas
Baggies
Battery pack/charger (jump type)
Bentley
Cash
Cell phone
Ceramic block sealer, Moroso
Duct tape
DVD player
Emergency food
Fire extinguisher(s)
First aid kit
Flashlight(s), spare batteries
Fluids: oil, tranny/ps, brake, antifreeze (mixed), liquid wrench or ?
Form-a-gasket/sealer
Foul weather clothes
Gas can
Gasket material
Glue: Gorilla, super, epoxy
Gojo/paper shop towels
Jack(s)
Jumper cables
Lists- VW dealers along route, Larry's shops, Rescue folks, etc.
Lug wrench
Matches/lighter
Rope
Shovel, camp type
Spare tire
Stop leak, various
Sunglasses, spare
Tarp
Tools: (What makes a basic all-purpose Vanagon tool kit?)
Tow strap/lights
TP/wipes
Water jug(s)
Wire, electrical
Work clothes
Zip ties
Spare parts:
Alternator/Alt. rebuild kit?
Asst. metric bolts, screws, washers
Belts
Bulbs/fuses/connectors
Circlips
Clamps/hoses/adapters
Coil
Distributor cap/rotor
Distributor O-Ring
Fuel filter(s)
Exhaust System Gaskets
Fuel pump
Fuel/vacuum lines (kit?)
Alternator Bracket, lower
Oil filter
O-rings, asst.
PVC (hose sizes)
Sensors?
Spark Plugs-1 set
Spark plug wires
Starter
T-stat
Water pump?
I note that those of you that have Westys already have the kitchen sink.
Cya,
Robert
----- Original Message -----
From: "Zoltan" <zolo@FOXINTERNET.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Tuesday, May 31, 2005 5:25 PM
Subject: Zoltan: Re: Halifax to Vancouver & back
> In my opinion, one keeps an eye on all things at all time. For a very
> long
> trip one should take small items that if they go would immobilise the van.
> Mostly electrical, but I would include some hydraulic items too. Even a
> water pump is not large and heavy. You would have to go through in
> thought
> what those items are. Here on the list I don't know if we have an
> accepted
> list that one should take for a long trip. I think, we don't have a
> finally
> accepted list after all the lamentations and suggestions from all the
> members.
> Sometimes, I would like if there was a place in our website where we would
> have the best of all the suggestions on all the problems written down
> other
> than reading through all the postings through the ages. This way we would
> know what the result of all the input was cristallising in the best
> answers.
> Finding the best solutions for the problems immediately without wasting
> all
> the time reading so many postings through years.
> In this case now we would have a small and a long list of items for
> constant
> keeping in the car and for the occasional long trips. Mechanics all over
> the US are looking at a car they never seen before without admitting it
> and
> accepting your keys with all the confidence in the world without telling
> you
> that they don't have a clue to the problem.
> But they like the challenges and they will take the job on and they will
> charge you big time for all the time they spend learning your car. In the
> process they can do great damage that can not be repared and they will not
> admit and blame you or VW.
> So, the best is to take some parts that will keep the car going and take
> all
> the tools you would need for all those jobs. The tools should be in the
> car
> always anyway, I think.
> Together with some of those items that can give you a hard time anytime on
> the road and instead calling around and towing a the likes, you should fix
> it right there.
> That's all for today on this.
> Zoltan
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "John Rodgers" <inua@CHARTER.NET>
> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
> Sent: Tuesday, May 31, 2005 3:29 PM
> Subject: Re: Halifax to Vancouver & back
>
>
>> Good luck on your journey.
>>
>> Zoltan is right. Though there are plenty of mechanics and shops around,
>> nobody is going gong to know your van like you do. So you are in a
>> sense, all alone. If you tended to every thing befor departurpe, chances
>> you will have a trouble free trip. Just do your routine maintenance as
>> you go and you should be ok.
>>
>> Longest trip for me so far was the leg from Anchorage to Birmingham in
>> my old '85 GL - 4500 miles. NO problems at all on the journey until 60
>> miles out of Birmingham, and the water pump went out. Had to be towed
>> that last 60 miles. Frustrating.
>>
>> But that pump had 200,000 miles on it so it all was forgiven.
>>
>> Good journey and fair weather to you.
>>
>> John Rodgers
>> 88 GL Driver
>>
>> Malcolm Stebbins wrote:
>>
>>>We leave tomorrow for an 9,000 or 10,000 mile trip across Canada and back
>>>through the northern US
>>>in our 91 Westy. I've never made a trip of this length without some
>>>mechanical failure. So what
>>>will it be this time???? May the Vanagon gods watch over the van.
>>>Malcolm
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>>
>>
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