Well, we all made it home safe. Gotta love these old Toyotas. The drive from Riverside (So Cal) to Gilbert (Phoenix area) was fine. The ride was really rough (think old washboard dirt road) and with those 33s went through more gas then I thought.

We left from Gilbert to Loveland at 4am and that was the real adventure. About 950mi in a day. The "rough" ride was progressively getting worse. Just west of Gallop NM I pulled over and noticed there was about 13x6in space of metal showing on my front right tire. All of the tires are bald but the front left. That had about 20% tread left. I knew they were in bad shape, and bought an extra spare if 2 went out. So I took the front right off and put the spare on. It leaned a little, but 95% of the rough ride was gone. It just needs new tires.

From there it was smooth sailing to about Santa Fe. That's when my new Cali truck met snow and ice for the first time. Minor slips and slides but I took it slow and was fine. In northern NM (50mi from the CO border) all the way to Pueblo CO was where we hit big time winter driving.

For most of that leg it was dumping snow, and I-25 was completely covered. For much of this part I followed a trucker at about 15-20mph. I was slipping and sliding so much I might as well of had ice skates on. At on point I fish tailed, slid off the highway and went into a ditch. In 2wd I was able to get myself parallel with the ditch. I had to put it in 4wd high to get out though. There was about 12-16in of snow. After I was out I was gonna keep in in 4wd high, but I had a much smaller tire on the front right. Not sure how that could affect the diff/transfer case etc. I put it back in 2wd. Once we got to Pueblo the roads were much better.

In Castle Rock I locked the keys in the truck when getting gas. With only 2-3 hrs left and it being 1am, and about 10deg out I was really wishing I took the advice in this thread to have made a spare. I was able to jam a flathead in the passenger door lock and got it open.

We got home at about 3:30am. Spent about 23 hours on the road. Here is a list of what I did to the new rig to get ready for our 1200mi adventure:

Removed front 4 Offroad lights (didn't want them to get broken from flying rocks)
Replaced radiator cap
Cleaned and recharged the KnN air filter
Flushed the radiator, brake system, and rear diff.
Topped off the transmission, transfer case, and power steering.
Replaced rear brake shoes, and wheel cylinders
Added some Techron to the tank on the first leg.
Removed, and rewired the rear lights (this was a huge mess)

I also had a guy from Yota Masters in Corona CA give it a look over. He fixed the front left hub and a few minor things. His big recommendation was to get new tires. If I had $4-800 I would have. I didn't so I found a guy on CL that had a spare (forget the size, but it is the stock size for the 86s) for $35. I also brought the same size tire from CO so I had two spares.

Here is what I wished I has done:
Made a spare key
Given myself more time
Had budgeted for more $$$

All in all it was a great trip, and I'm glad the truck made it. With the purchase of the truck ($2340) it cost about 3k to get it here. Not too bad in my book. Now to really start on the build...

 

Your Toyota was testing you out in the snow, making sure you were a fit driver for her.

Glad you made it....see...now you have an epic adventure story to tell, rather than bitching out and trailering it.

Woot!

 

Hahaha. Thanks man. Especially for the HighLux Mojo.

 

Good Job.

 

Glad you made it home safe. Now that you are home, post up some pics of the truck...

 

sorry to hear about the lockout, I mentioned it cause I'd just done it like the day before that or something. Both of my key rings fell out of my winter coat pockets when I leaned over to lock the passenger door, "Has anyone seen my keys... Oh never mind I see them on the tranny hump. Er both of em CRAP!"

 

Here us a pic of the old truck with the new.