What was your longest trip in your pinz?

[wanderer]

It looks like i'm going to have to drive my pinz from florida to california, about 2500 miles. shipping companies are saying they cant ship it or want to charge me $4000, so this seems to be a cheaper alternative.

so i'm curious, what was your longest trip? and what were some troubles you ran into?

[audiocontr]

Several posts here on long road trips. It's a slow and loud experience. Fantastic for the patient and mind numbing for others. I personally thought of doing the same with my 712 (from Arizona to dc) but decided against it.

There are several things that can go wrong with a vehicle just purchased. Until you know all of the maintenace status (by you doing them) I'd be nervous of such a trip.

I'd look into a uhaul truck and trailer type of scenario. Tow the thing back. Faster and safer.

[wanderer]

only drawback with that situation is again the price. renting a uhaul and trailer would probably cost just as much as the shipping companies are quoting me.

[ScottishPinz]

I went all around Europe can't remember total milage but it was a couple of hundred miles each day for a week. Only thing was checking oil level each day as it used a fair bit of oil running at 50 - 55mph if anything the truck liked a good long run each day. On the one hand I would not worry about the distance but I would want to have a set of spares and plenty of time for the trip.

[Profpinz]

The most I've done on one trip was about 3000 km, but a number of Pinzgauer owners have over the years shipped vehicles to Australia and done extended trips over periods of months......... so I daresay they have clocked up much higher milage.

[pinzwheeling]

roughly 3000 miles will be a LONG trip in a Pinz at 60 MPH. Make sure you bring an IPOD, Motrin and earplugs.

[totaljoint]

....and lots of oil.

[Jimm391730]

I did 2000 miles from Indiana to California in 4, ten hour days in my 712W, loaded to the hilt, and towing an electric car (about 13,000 lbs total). Averaged 50mph by gps. Only issue was that I had NOT inspected the alterntor Molex connector, killed the alternator on the way. Limped in to Thilos in Prescott, AZ who replaced it. Then had the speedo die between there and California. Nothing major, but then I'd had the truck for a couple of years to work through the maintenance.

I REALLY recommend comfortable seats and noise canceling headphones before attempting a long trip; then it becomes fun to drive instead of agony.

[Jorgo]

If you haven't driven a pinz before, it will be a stressful ordeal. When i first bought my 712 in scottsdale AZ, the owner let me drive it to Tony ( pinz doctor) in phoenix ( 20 mi?) for an inspection and i was so uncomfortable with the whine of the gears at what i thought was top speed ( i was only going 50) that i kept thinking the thing was stuck in low and was going to blow up. I flew home to so cal and the lowest quote i got from auto transport was 1100.00 and the time was a three week window. Gt lucky there as the seller offered to flatbed it out for 300.00. After a couple weeks of weekend driving i was still not comfortable or confident enough to even take it on the freeway for a twenty mile trip, so i had it flat bedded up to Goatwerks 120 miles north for a thorough shake down. The roundtrip cost 800.00! Would have been cheaper to have jim come to my house. Fast forward a few months and one great pinz meet and greet in san Diego with seven other owners to interrogate and the pinz is literally my daily driver. I make a 200 mi roundtrip a couple times a week with no worries other than making sure my iPad or pod is charged. Embarrassing metrically challenged noob item, it tuns out that the previous owner had put mph stickers outside the speedometer- but in the wrong places! I thought i was doing about 55-60 mph on th e freeway but i was only going 45-50. On so cal freeways no less... One of the guys at the meet and greet pointed it out. The pinz actually hits a sweet spot at about 90-95 kph. And im finally I check the oil every fill up, doesn't seem to be burning any, and the only thing that's been repaired was a valve cover gasket, which was leaking. Jim LaGuardia fixed it in about 20 minutes in my front yard and attributed its failure to poor installation previously.... Please excuse the ramble....
Cheers

[ExpeditionImports]

4K from Florida to CA is high. With a little legwork you should be able to drop that into the 2500-3000 range. One of the problems with transporters not familiar with the pinz is in pictures it looks larger than it really is. Give them dimensions.

We recently had a transporter argue to the fact that $7000 from the midwest to CA was reasonable. Based upon the pictures they were sure it was on par with a Deuce. We didn't go with them, and ended up moving trucks at $1250 each.

Right now fuel surcharge is running about 15%.

Calculate the cost of a breakdown into your equation. Quite often those costs of a tow in the middle of nowhere, airfare home if major breakdown, etc., etc., can all add up. At a minimum, stop and have an independent shop drain/replace your fluids and do a solid checkup. A truck that has been "running great" around town or on the farm, can be a far cry from being ready for an extended high speed transit.

Cheers,

Scott

[michaelh712]

I've run to Moab on occasion, about 400 miles without incident (save for a little rock damage...). However, my LONGEST trip was to only be 20 miles but turned into a 6 hour trip. The engine sputtered to a halt and would not pull the hills to get me home. The LONG part was trying to fix the problem with limited tools, then eventually waiting for a suitable tow home. Problem turned out to be micro cracks in the fuel hose that sucked air into the carbs. If you have towing service with your insurance, make sure that they do not exclude "military" vehicles as does my AAA here. They would two a non-military Hummer or larger Tahoe and such, but not my 712. Towing is EXPENSIVE!

[Erik712m]

I've done Several of 2100 mile trips in mine. Wouldn't do it in a new to me pinzgauer. Also 50MPH should be the top speed in a 712. Better plan a month to get it back home. Even if the Former owner was a mechanic.

[Erik712m]

Michael, I had fuel pump fail on me in Arches national park. Three hour walk and a bunch of pist of friends is how i like to speed the day in the desert.

[roadrash]

After adding some $$$ to get the truck quicker, I was at $1800.00 Southern CA to NH, came on a standard car carrier. The quote was cheaper but in order to get a driver to really want to go get the truck asap, I added a couple hundred to arrive at that figure. Longest trip (in arguably a VERY comfortable pinz) was two hours and i was ready to be out of it. 55mph was about what seemed right so it was painful if your use to doing 70mph in a normal vehicle. Magic carpet was the moving company btw.

[yaknowthatguy]

4 grand? somebody's on acid.

I have moved two vehicles through Angels Moving Autos. a Jetta from Ohio to Colorado for $800, and a 710 with an M101-like trailer for $1100, from North Carolina to Colorado. When dozens of other companies online wouldn't even respond to an email query, they called me back in a couple of hours and all the arrangements were made in about a day.

If someone is really giving you a bid of $4k they are robbing you blind. Give Angels a call, they will take care of you. I was very pleased with their service, response time, and transit time - and they delivered right to my door with no extra charge.