Would you drive 2300 miles based on these conditions -

[1ton-o-fun]

Well, if it leaves you stranded like #4 again, mail me the keys and its location. I'll fly out from Kentucky, fix it, stop by @HotWheelsBurban house there in Texas, load up my engine and be on my way! Lol!

 

[victor II]

I’d daily drive it for awhile. The constant day to day grind will uncover things like cooling system, alternator, starter, ignition, etc. Brake pads, shoes, wheel bearing attention, tires, and the like should be looked at before daily driving in my opinion. The only time my ‘88 Silverado let me down was a catastrophic water pump failure.

I think you’ll be fine. As was said above, drive it and get used to its sounds and its feel. Also, take a new belt, that you have test fitted, and a breaker bar with the correct socket so you can swap it on the side of the road if necessary.

 

[1989GMCSIERRA]

Sounds like you are getting the truck right at about it’s break down stage. There is usually a time where a vehicle starts requiring a lot of work. It used to be at around 100,000 mile but IMO that’s moved up to 200,000 miles these days.

If you haven’t done it on such old truck I would take the time and go through all the systems change all the fluids and check every component of the truck. Check suspension, electrical, brakes, cooling, fuel, transmission, axles, etc. You’ll find what is worn out or on its way out.
Unfortunately when vehicles get this old they require work. But once you do it you really don’t need to worry about that happening again. Unless I’m just in a emergency repair I usually use factory or high quality aftermarket parts. I tend to stay away from bargain bin parts.

 

[Mr Eric]

I’d daily drive it for awhile. The constant day to day grind will uncover things like cooling system, alternator, starter, ignition, etc. Brake pads, shoes, wheel bearing attention, tires, and the like should be looked at before daily driving in my opinion. The only time my ‘88 Silverado let me down was a catastrophic water pump failure.

I think you’ll be fine. As was said above, drive it and get used to its sounds and its feel. Also, take a new belt, that you have test fitted, and a breaker bar with the correct socket so you can swap it on the side of the road if necessary.

Victor, I completely agree. Truck that gets driven gets attention.
My daily driver has over 370,000. Did that scare me? No. Why? Because just about everything on my Burb has been replaced. I just completed the ENTIRE front end rebuild. Everything except the steering box and steering shaft were replaced. Do I have anything to fear from this? No, it's 0 miles now. Same thing for other components, starter, alternator, etc.
Things such as brakes, wheel rotors, spark plugs, cap, rotor & wires I consider consumables, they get replaced on a regular basis just like the fluids, and I even carry a set for spares.
Treating this Burb like this made it possible for me to drive it across the country 3 times this year. I travel regularly for work and I'm ready to drive this thing anywhere, right now.

Bottom line, confidence comes because of maintenence.

 

[thinger2]

Just thought of another road trip tip...
Find a way to disable that truck every night. A well hidden kill switch is best but there are other ways to at least slow the tweakers down.
Nothing will ruin a road trip faster than a stolen truck in some podunk little town

 

[1989GMCSIERRA]

Just thought of another road trip tip...
Find a way to disable that truck every night. A well hidden kill switch is best but there are other ways to at least slow the tweakers down.
Nothing will ruin a road trip faster than a stolen truck in some podunk little town

my kill switch was a camaro with t tops rear view mirror. It has build in map lights with switches. I used one switch to control a relay that killed the power to the fuel pump relay.

later I started using a switch with a plunger. Mounted it behind a drink cup holder or slide out ashtray. Depending on how I wired it the cup holder or ashtray had to be open or closed. In cime cases I wired some cars where one had to be open the other closed. Or a certain piece of trim had to be in the right position to start the vehicle. I’m one of those electricians who likes to mess around d with relays and controllers.

 

[Gary Mettus]

If you haven’t done it on such old truck I would take the time and go through all the systems change all the fluids and check every component of the truck. Check suspension, electrical, brakes, cooling, fuel, transmission, axles, etc. You’ll find what is worn out or on its way out.
Unfortunately when vehicles get this old they require work. But once you do it you really don’t need to worry about that happening again. Unless I’m just in a emergency repair I usually use factory or high quality aftermarket parts. I tend to stay away from bargain bin parts.

I was lucky; I got the truck for free, I spent the money to do everything that could possibly be needed due to age or mileage (low miles but not sure what my dad had done other than change oil), and things that actually failed. It is better than new now.

 

[Frank Enstein]

Put the new belt on and put the old one (in the sleeve from the new one) under the seat. Then fill the tank and drive it to Mars.

 

[thinger2]

my kill switch was a camaro with t tops rear view mirror. It has build in map lights with switches. I used one switch to control a relay that killed the power to the fuel pump relay.

later I started using a switch with a plunger. Mounted it behind a drink cup holder or slide out ashtray. Depending on how I wired it the cup holder or ashtray had to be open or closed. In cime cases I wired some cars where one had to be open the other closed. Or a certain piece of trim had to be in the right position to start the vehicle. I’m one of those electricians who likes to mess around d with relays and controllers.

I had a couple of kills on my K5 because the **** heads broke the back window out twice trying to steal it.
The third time they tried it didnt even have a back window so the genious just hopped in the bed.
What he didnt know was I had spent the day helping clean up a garbage dump shooting range out in the Superstitions and had about 15 trash bags of broken glass in the back.
Seeing the massive blood trail from my tailgate to the parking spot next to the truck still makes me laugh like hell

 

[DavidAlan]

if you afraid of driving it ,go buy a ford,cause your not old enough to drive a Chevy.