Pre-College Front end work and Pre-Trip Inspection
 

Hey guys.

I am going off to college in the end of August to Utica, NY, a good 3.5 hour drive from the Mid-Hudson Valley with one stop. The Jimmy is in good shape, but needs some new front end parts due to normal wear and tear. Our family friend who is a mechanic tells me that the pitman and idler arm are worn and should be replaced soon, but are no imminent threat (~76000 miles the right number on wear?) . I concur with that because I have like 2" or more of play in the wheel. I am probably going to have him replace both tie rod ends as well because both grease boots are torn at the wheel end of both of them and also for safety reasons because a friend of mine snapped a tie rod on his car a couple weeks ago and it was the original one as well (it was a Ford sedan with twice the mileage but similar age, but same basic idea).

Also the oil cooler lines between the radiator and the oil filter have a slow leak that leaves spots on the driveway and makes the car lose just enough oil to go from full on the dipstick to 1/3 or 1/4 full on the dipstick every 3,000 miles (already replaced the others that go to the engine last summer that were leaking. Common Blazer thing with these hoses leaking?). Shouldn't be too hard for anyone to fix, so I might get that fixed as well because I don't want to take a risk because of the distance and I might be coming home twice a month at minimum on weekends and work as well, so plenty of miles put on the clock during the year. Coincidentally, by the time we schedule this appointment in a couple weeks it will need an oil change, filter and lube as well, but I will probably schedule that another time.


Also, here is a dumb question: What stuff should I have checked out that I probably can't do myself (like under the car stuff or complex stuff (NOT oil, coolant, brake fluid, power steering or ATF levels or tire pressure. I check those anyway often, at least once a refuel)) before I go to college to ensure safe, trouble free traveling? I know that Utica gets alot of snow in the winter, so that might be an important thing to keep in mind on my part when it comes to keeping it maintained.

(Just FYI on other stuff I had done already: The air filter is new and I had platinum spark plugs put in last year before I went to summer camp. The rear diff and transfer case fluid was changed 2,000 miles ago along with a new fuel filter as per the oil change place's recommendation. The front diff was changed a few months ago when they replaced the driver side CV axle.)

Thanks for any advice you guys might have and sorry for repeating certain stuff.

ComputernerdBD