4200 mile road trip in my Vista, came home on a trailer
October 14th, 2018, 01:22 PM
#1
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4200 mile road trip in my Vista, came home on a trailer
I just got back from my big road trip that I have been prepping my Vista Cruiser for. 4200 miles total along Route 66, 3 weeks on the road, 22 nights in hotels. From Nashville TN to Santa Monica CA with a lot of stops in between, all the "touristy" things to do and see along the way. The car was very comfortable driving long distances day after day. We averaged about 13 miles per gallon using the cruise control and a/c most of the time. The car has the original 330 "Ultra High Compression" 4 barrel engine. In most of Arizona and California all I could find was 90 octane gas, the car did not like this gas, it rattled like crazy a lot of the time even after I turned the timing back to 4*btc. As we were getting close to the west coast I noticed a low hum from under the car, we kept driving and did our stuff but after we headed east again we noticed the hum getting louder. In Kingman Arizona the noise got really loud, I took it to a local shop where they said it sounded like wheel bearings so they replaced the inner and outer wheel bearings. I picked it up right at closing on Friday evening and hit the road, it sounded exactly the same as it did when I dropped it off. Naturally the shop was closed now so we thought we could make it home. We took off and the hum was getting to be a roar now along with occasional banging from underneath the car. We made it about 80 miles before it started shaking and banging from underneath, it sounded like something was banging on the floor. we had the car towed to our hotel and pulled the driveshaft, the u joints and driveshaft were all good, we couldn't find anything wrong but it was banging like crazy when driving. We jacked it up and had it running on jack stands but it wouldn't bang on the stands. We couldn't drive it so I rented a Uhaul box truck and trailer and towed it 1600 miles home. On the way home we ran into rain, 60 mph wind, snow and just missed a tornado.
After I got home I towed it to a transmission shop since we thought it sounded like a trans or torque converter issue. The trans guy agreed with us so that is where it is now, we will see next week.
After I got home I towed it to a transmission shop since we thought it sounded like a trans or torque converter issue. The trans guy agreed with us so that is where it is now, we will see next week.
October 14th, 2018, 01:47 PM
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Posts: 19
I just got back from my big road trip that I have been prepping my Vista Cruiser for. 4200 miles total along Route 66, 3 weeks on the road, 22 nights in hotels. From Nashville TN to Santa Monica CA with a lot of stops in between, all the "touristy" things to do and see along the way. The car was very comfortable driving long distances day after day. We averaged about 13 miles per gallon using the cruise control and a/c most of the time. The car has the original 330 "Ultra High Compression" 4 barrel engine. In most of Arizona and California all I could find was 90 octane gas, the car did not like this gas, it rattled like crazy a lot of the time even after I turned the timing back to 4*btc. As we were getting close to the west coast I noticed a low hum from under the car, we kept driving and did our stuff but after we headed east again we noticed the hum getting louder. In Kingman Arizona the noise got really loud, I took it to a local shop where they said it sounded like wheel bearings so they replaced the inner and outer wheel bearings. I picked it up right at closing on Friday evening and hit the road, it sounded exactly the same as it did when I dropped it off. Naturally the shop was closed now so we thought we could make it home. We took off and the hum was getting to be a roar now along with occasional banging from underneath the car. We made it about 80 miles before it started shaking and banging from underneath, it sounded like something was banging on the floor. we had the car towed to our hotel and pulled the driveshaft, the u joints and driveshaft were all good, we couldn't find anything wrong but it was banging like crazy when driving. We jacked it up and had it running on jack stands but it wouldn't bang on the stands. We couldn't drive it so I rented a Uhaul box truck and trailer and towed it 1600 miles home. On the way home we ran into rain, 60 mph wind, snow and just missed a tornado.
After I got home I towed it to a transmission shop since we thought it sounded like a trans or torque converter issue. The trans guy agreed with us so that is where it is now, we will see next week.
After I got home I towed it to a transmission shop since we thought it sounded like a trans or torque converter issue. The trans guy agreed with us so that is where it is now, we will see next week.
October 14th, 2018, 03:17 PM
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October 14th, 2018, 04:55 PM
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October 14th, 2018, 04:56 PM
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October 14th, 2018, 06:53 PM
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October 15th, 2018, 08:06 AM
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No, it was on our list but we hit LA at rush hour, traffic was terrible. 50 miles of bumper to bumper traffic .
When we first got the truck and trailer we hit the highway, as soon as I got to 50mph the trailer started swaying back and forth, I finally got control of it and chalked it up to the wind. I speeded back up to 50 again and it started swaying really bad, this time I almost didn't get control of it, scared the crap out of me. I stopped at a rest area that just came up and took everything out of the back of my car and put it in the truck. We had luggage, tools, jack, jack stands and a bunch of misc stuff. we hit the road again and no more swaying, what a relief.
When we first got the truck and trailer we hit the highway, as soon as I got to 50mph the trailer started swaying back and forth, I finally got control of it and chalked it up to the wind. I speeded back up to 50 again and it started swaying really bad, this time I almost didn't get control of it, scared the crap out of me. I stopped at a rest area that just came up and took everything out of the back of my car and put it in the truck. We had luggage, tools, jack, jack stands and a bunch of misc stuff. we hit the road again and no more swaying, what a relief.
Last edited by Toocool; October 15th, 2018 at 08:14 AM.
October 15th, 2018, 12:44 PM
#13
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Join Date: Oct 2016
Location: Piedmont Triad NC
Posts: 331
We had a '66 Vista Cruiser like that back in the '70s. The original 2-speed transmission went out and it was replaced with a 3-speed of some sort. Sorry, I wasn't all that technically savvy when I was 12. Hope you get her up and running quickly and easily.
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