Overall pre, mid and post trip inspections

[Michael_Exploder]

As a member with an older rig, I always do a pre, mid and post trip inspection of my ride from top to bottom. I start from the roof rack and work my way down until I’ve put eyes and hands on anything that may loosen, leak, be chafing, cracking or looks worn, paying close attention to wear parts like ball and CV joints, knuckles,shock mounts and U joints…Post trip inspections are a great time to find the beginnings of a leak, whereas dust accumulating around a loose fitting, leaking hose, seal or gasket surface is a great tattle tale.
In a recent inspection I found a lower ball joint had a torn rubber boot, I’ll be replacing the right and left sides this week, keeping one of the used ones as a trail spare.

Safety Note: Be sure to make sure Your vehicle is in park with the parking brake set and a wheel chock placed behind a wheel before getting under Your rig.
Most importantly, be sure to pick a safe spot to do Your under vehicle inspection taking care not to have Your legs , arms etc. sticking out beyond the overall footprint of the vehicle in order to avoid getting hit by another vehicle pulling into Your driveway or passing by on the street.

 

[danwyandt]

Pre trip i always do about a week or so out, in case i need parts. The mid trip inspection is something I do every morning before hitting the trails. Found a CV going away just before leaving camp (2 weeks ago in Uhwarri) to hit some difficult rated trails. Would have been bad.

 

[Jason Shelby]

As a CDL truck driver, A pre-trip is done daily before using the vehicle, and post trip is conducted at the end of the day, so nothing is a surprise the next morning.

 

[grubworm]

As a member with an older rig, I always do a pre, mid and post trip inspection of my ride from top to bottom. I start from the roof rack and work my way down until I’ve put eyes and hands on anything that may loosen, leak, be chafing, cracking or looks worn, paying close attention to wear parts like ball and CV joints, knuckles,shock mounts and U joints…Post trip inspections are a great time to find the beginnings of a leak, whereas dust accumulating around a loose fitting, leaking hose, seal or gasket surface is a great tattle tale.
In a recent inspection I found a lower ball joint had a torn rubber boot, I’ll be replacing the right and left sides this week, keeping one of the used ones as a trail spare.

Safety Note: Be sure to make sure Your vehicle is in park with the parking brake set and a wheel chock placed behind a wheel before getting under Your rig.
Most importantly, be sure to pick a safe spot to do Your under vehicle inspection taking care not to have Your legs , arms etc. sticking out beyond the overall footprint of the vehicle in order to avoid getting hit by another vehicle pulling into Your driveway or passing by on the street.

excellent points
not to throw shade on the younger generations...BUT i do see where people will use a bottle jack to lift a vehicle and then crawl under it like nothing bad can happen. man...use some jack stands with that jack and and chock those wheels. i drove that into my kids heads and they still refuse to do it...

 

[Jason Shelby]

As a member with an older rig, I always do a pre, mid and post trip inspection of my ride from top to bottom. I start from the roof rack and work my way down until I’ve put eyes and hands on anything that may loosen, leak, be chafing, cracking or looks worn, paying close attention to wear parts like ball and CV joints, knuckles,shock mounts and U joints…Post trip inspections are a great time to find the beginnings of a leak, whereas dust accumulating around a loose fitting, leaking hose, seal or gasket surface is a great tattle tale.
In a recent inspection I found a lower ball joint had a torn rubber boot, I’ll be replacing the right and left sides this week, keeping one of the used ones as a trail spare.

Safety Note: Be sure to make sure Your vehicle is in park with the parking brake set and a wheel chock placed behind a wheel before getting under Your rig.
Most importantly, be sure to pick a safe spot to do Your under vehicle inspection taking care not to have Your legs , arms etc. sticking out beyond the overall footprint of the vehicle in order to avoid getting hit by another vehicle pulling into Your driveway or passing by on the street.

excellent points
not to throw shade on the younger generations...BUT i do see where people will use a bottle jack to lift a vehicle and then crawl under it like nothing bad can happen. man...use some jack stands with that jack and and chock those wheels. i drove that into my kids heads and they still refuse to do it...

I totally agree. Always use jack stands!! If you have ever pulled a dead body out from under a collapsed floor jack it’ll stick with you.

Also, so many of this younger generation are so scared of a bumper jack (aka HiLift, etc) back in the day every car came with them.

Just got to learn to respect the tools.

 

[Michael_Exploder]

As a CDL truck driver, A pre-trip is done daily before using the vehicle, and post trip is conducted at the end of the day, so nothing is a surprise the next morning.

Agreed, had someone pull my fifth wheel pin release in Phoenix years ago (with two 20k lb. Sheet metal coils on board) when I went in to get something to eat. I always did and still do to this day, a walk around when I leave my vehicle out of site even for a few minutes.

 

[Jason Shelby]

As a CDL truck driver, A pre-trip is done daily before using the vehicle, and post trip is conducted at the end of the day, so nothing is a surprise the next morning.

Agreed, had someone pull my fifth wheel pin release in Phoenix years ago (with two 20k lb. Sheet metal coils on board) when I went in to get something to eat. I always did and still do to this day, a walk around when I leave my vehicle out of site even for a few minutes.

Some people are just scumbags!!