Overall the truck is running really well. With all the work and upgrades that we had done, we had assumed that some issues might crop up early in our trip. We planned the beginning of our route to cross paths with several of our friends in case we needed a helping hand, but everything has been working nicely.
We have had a handful of maintenance items that we have done over the first few weeks.
- Tighten alternator belt (the tachometer had been periodically bouncing)
- Tighten fan belt (there was a periodic squeak at high RPM or rapid RPM change)
- Check clutch drain plug (no oil from rear engine seal)
- Fix transmission leak (improved seal on forward/reverse shaft linkage)
- Checked power steering filter
- Fuel additive (started adding lube + Cetane boost every few tanks)
We have also been carefully tracking our fuel consumption. There is a slight variability from fuel we burn using our habitat heater and engine pre-heater, but we are averaging 10.5 mpg regardless of what kind of driving we have been doing. We have done long highway stretches at 60 mph and quite a few long dirt tracks averaging 20-30 mph. Our fuel consumption seems surprisingly steady regardless of driving type.
Wabi-sabi Overland 