It's easy to let a lot of time pass, and to lose sight of how much things change. In looking back at my last entry, it occurs to me a certain amount of my 'insights' were a lot more about learning how to drive (and let me tell you: Montana terrain is a quick and sometimes abrupt teacher), and not so much to do with the Sienna specifically.
A fair amount has changed over the last two years. The Sienna now has close to 127,000 miles on it, almost 48,000 miles accumulated since I purchased it two years ago March. Has it really only been two years and change?
Damage-wise over that time, I've:
Given the mileage and somewhat rough use the Sienna gets (SUV stands for Sport Utility Van, in this case), I suppose I've gotten off pretty good overall. Right now, it's up for about $2500 of auto body work, and that doesn't cover fixing the dents in the rear gate or the rear bumper. If I wanted everything fixed, it would come out pretty close to the van's bluebook value. On the other hand, this is just the reality of owning a vehicle that's 18 years old and only about 25% 'used up' in terms of Toyota quality. Cost of ownership and upkeep on a well-used tool is just a reality. I'm glad I have the means to do so.
Speaking of Sport Utility Van (or #techmountainvan, to match the similar #techmountainman moniker I've used for a while), I've realized some nice improvements during this third summer of adventuring around southwest Montana:
A fair amount has changed over the last two years. The Sienna now has close to 127,000 miles on it, almost 48,000 miles accumulated since I purchased it two years ago March. Has it really only been two years and change?
Damage-wise over that time, I've:
- put another dent in the tailgate through incautious backing while hitching
- hit a deer at 20mph while towing the Escape
- rear-ended an SUV in East Helena at about 5mph, also while towing
- backed into some idiot's overlong pickup with extended hitch connector (left a nice square-punch in the right side of the rear bumper)
Given the mileage and somewhat rough use the Sienna gets (SUV stands for Sport Utility Van, in this case), I suppose I've gotten off pretty good overall. Right now, it's up for about $2500 of auto body work, and that doesn't cover fixing the dents in the rear gate or the rear bumper. If I wanted everything fixed, it would come out pretty close to the van's bluebook value. On the other hand, this is just the reality of owning a vehicle that's 18 years old and only about 25% 'used up' in terms of Toyota quality. Cost of ownership and upkeep on a well-used tool is just a reality. I'm glad I have the means to do so.
Speaking of Sport Utility Van (or #techmountainvan, to match the similar #techmountainman moniker I've used for a while), I've realized some nice improvements during this third summer of adventuring around southwest Montana:
- after considerable research, I decided to swap the tires from the Nokian Entyre to the Yokohama Geolandar A/T G015
- while the Entyre is an excellent, long-wearing, and quiet tire, it doesn't have the sidewall rigidity to do well on gravel and other medium-intensity offroad activities, and it definitely does not have the tread for decent traction on loose terrain
- I had to run the Entyre at 40psi to for it to stand up under the Sienna's weight, whereas the Geolandar is right on at rated 35psi (and even then, seems a little too lively sometimes)
- it bears mentioning that I had one flat with the Entyre tires, and that was due to running over a large and pointy rock out at Bear Trap Canyon; this was probably made more likely by having to run them at a higher pressure
- surprisingly, the Geolandar is not appreciably louder than the Entyre - it 'sings' pleasantly on very smooth pavement, but is otherwise acoustically indistinguishable from the Entyre - and my gas mileage has been roughly the same, so it's a win all the way around - the Geolandar is a little less comfy, but vastly superior for 'pavement-free' conditions
- I added a weight-distributing hitch, the Fastway E2-600 roundbar
- this was a long time coming, and pretty much any towing situation with a soft-suspension passenger vehicle will benefit from it (those sensible Canadians at Escape Trailer Industries require one if you buy an Escape from them directly)
- air bags are certainly helpful by themselves, reducing the total range of rear-end suspension travel; but they do nothing in terms of taking weight off the rear-end, which dramatically improves handling and braking
- it's hard to exaggerate how much the handling and solidity - the feel that the van and trailer are a single unit - is improved with the E2
- I got the E2 over cheaper options because of the ease of hitching, and because one can back up or do particularly sharp turns without having to disengage the bars
- I had Rising Sun replace the front brake rotors and shoes with Toyota OEM equipment
- this was an expensive repair, but the warped rotors that were on the van from the start were causing truly unsafe levels of vibration, especially when coming down passes with the trailer
- I had the rotors machined down two years ago to reduce the warp, but over time, this just left less metal in some areas, and thus sped up the re-warping
- the new rotors and shoes are amazing, and even under prolonged braking, there's not the slightest shimmy or imbalance
