We do about 5 Thing Trips ranging from just a day or three or a 7- 9 day rallye. These trips can cover 500 -1,000 miles in length. Some of these are to distant National Parks like Mount Rushmore or Grand Canyon, or just rough Back-country By-Ways on the vast public lands of the BLM.
We do a lot of pavement…but the Things we drive are set up for minimal or no roads when needed. This is in addition to the numerous day trips (100-300 miles) or evening runs to out-of-the-way attractions like favorite restaurants to far flung towns outside of Boise. We do our share of sustained high speed driving on some interstate as well.
My web site is set up to show how this type of use is attainable with our Things. You DO have to be prepared to take care of breakdowns or items that may fail enroute. You need parts & tools to do this.
A few years ago we completed a 3-day trip across the Magruder Corridor of central Idaho. It covered almost 700 miles, of which the 117-mile segment of the Magruder is in a Primitive Area. It was a fantastic trip with virtually no mechanical problems – the only item that needed attention was Gary Weiskircher’s carb. He replaced it at the Red River Corrals because it wouldn’t ‘dial in’ so we just put on a spare we and were off.
This list is just a starting point. You may add or delete items according to your usage, especially TOOLS.
List of items you should have with you for Thing trips.
I break them down into 3 segments.
- Tools
- Parts– For short trips near home.
- Parts for rallies (and long distance /backcountry trips)
TOOLS
Get a decent set of tools! It doesn’t do any good to have the parts if you are trying to put them on with a hammer, a Bowie Knife, & a roll of duct tape. - Set of Metric box wrenches, heavy on the 10, 13, & 17mm. Same for the 3/8 drive metric socket set, but have more than one long & short extension.
- -Two long and two short screw drivers, both phillips & blade.
- -Needle nose, regular, and channel lock pliers.
- -Adjustable wrenches, large & small.
- -Visegrips
- -Hammers, large & small ball peen.
- -Wire cutters & wire strippers.
- -Timing light & dwell meter. I recommend part #FR 1001, Flaming River Timing Light, as it is self-powered and has one wire to hook up and/or dangle into the pulley. Keep fresh batteries in this unit.
- -Feeler Gauge for setting valves
- -Dwell meter.
- -JB Weld
- -Couple of tubes of sealers like Yamabond No 4, or Permatex 2 & 3
PARTS
Extra Parts such as:
- Distributor
- Coil
- Carb
- Fuel pump (Carquest Airtex 1109) Alternator equipped Things, (1072 for
generator equipped). - Oil Light sending unit (Carquest PS 121)
- 3 quarts of oil; I use Delo 15-40
- Brake fluid
- Spark Plugs
- Points, & Condenser
- Plug wires
- In line gas filters
- Fan Belt (905 mm for generator, 912 for alternator)
- Valve cover gaskets
- Fuses (red)
- Pulley (generator/alternator) Yes, I have seen more than one of these break!
- 6 feet of gas line, plus clamps
- Bag of assorted fasteners (nuts, bolts, clamps, electrical tape, duct tape, electrical connectors, and other such items that will bail you or your buddies’ butt out)
- Spare lug nuts
- Spare rocker arm shaft clips, for those of you running stock shafts
- Shift rod connector for the connector under the rear seat. Duke lost his one time.
- Wheel bearings for your Thing. Inners and outers. Don’t forget the seals as well.
- Wheel bearing grease
- Speedo cable
- Clutch cable
- Throttle cable
- Clutch hook
PARTS FOR LONG DISTANCE RALLIES OR REMOTE TRAVEL
Big Stuff
- Brake drum, 1 Rear
- Steering Box
- Master Cylinder
- Complete rear axle shaft with seals for flanges. Cover each CV with a zip lock bag & zip tie it around the shaft to keep it and its surroundings clean.
Put your previously timed and adjusted distributor and carb in Ziploc bags so they can just be taken out of the bag and installed. I carry everything in soft-sided zipper bags. One for the carb, distributor, coil, and fuel pump. Another for the fasteners. One more for the small items like cables, points, plugs, and wheel bearings.
As usual, you can add to the list according to your individual needs. Dale Mueller always had chocolate cake and beer. For me it’s pistachios and green tea.
– Mike Humeston
