Greetings all, I've been lurking on this site for a couple years while daydreaming about buying a Pinz.
I'm flying into San Antonio this Friday (24-Oct) to buy a 1974 Pinzgauer 710M and plan on driving it back to Kansas City over the weekend. I know it sounds crazy, but throwing caution to the wind. This is one of those bucket list adventures, health issues have motivated me to start checking things off while I still can.
The route has me leaving San Antonio on Friday morning, driving through Austin, Waco, Fort Worth, Oklahoma City, and Wichita. I'm curious if anyone can recommend shops on this route in case anything goes wrong; or if anyone on that route wants to meet up and chat.
Any recommendations for "must have" items/tools I should have with me? I plan on buying a few things in San Antonio before heading out, like tools and probably 2 new batteries.
Lastly, any advice you want to share will be immensely appreciated!
Wish me luck!
Road trip from San Antonio to Kansas City
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Grey_Grendel
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Tue Oct 21, 2025 2:13 pm
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ChickenPinz
- Posts: 425
- Joined: Tue Feb 11, 2020 7:16 pm
Re: Road trip from San Antonio to Kansas City
My recommendations:
Before the drive:
- Check all your fluids! Me? I'd do a fluid change first (there are a lot!) unless you wanna roll the dice and trust the last person's work.
- If you got the factory toolkit, you'll have much of what you need.
- Keep this forum handy for on-the-road panic questions that might come up on your drive.
On the drive:
- Wear ear protection! The Pinz is loud and your hearing is valuable. Airpods do a decent job of ANC.
- If it's running the OEM Maloya tires, expect it to be a bit wandery on the road
- If you get a low-frequency rumble you can feel in your feel that comes and goes every couple seconds, Andre would suggest to drive in 4WD (front axle engaged)
- You *can* drive >60MPH, but for me, I try to keep it around there or less. The truck will talk to you about how fast is too fast.
- Expect semis to pass you going up hills.
- If it's raining, don't have high expectations of how good the wipers will do.
- If you run into issues, a shop that works on air-cooled VWs or older Porsche's might be your best bet for help.
- If your route takes you through Junction City, KS, you MUST seek out Anderson's BBQ sauce, and maybe his kid's food truck. Positively the best sauce on the planet.
Before the drive:
- Check all your fluids! Me? I'd do a fluid change first (there are a lot!) unless you wanna roll the dice and trust the last person's work.
- If you got the factory toolkit, you'll have much of what you need.
- Keep this forum handy for on-the-road panic questions that might come up on your drive.
On the drive:
- Wear ear protection! The Pinz is loud and your hearing is valuable. Airpods do a decent job of ANC.
- If it's running the OEM Maloya tires, expect it to be a bit wandery on the road
- If you get a low-frequency rumble you can feel in your feel that comes and goes every couple seconds, Andre would suggest to drive in 4WD (front axle engaged)
- You *can* drive >60MPH, but for me, I try to keep it around there or less. The truck will talk to you about how fast is too fast.
- Expect semis to pass you going up hills.
- If it's raining, don't have high expectations of how good the wipers will do.
- If you run into issues, a shop that works on air-cooled VWs or older Porsche's might be your best bet for help.
- If your route takes you through Junction City, KS, you MUST seek out Anderson's BBQ sauce, and maybe his kid's food truck. Positively the best sauce on the planet.
710K
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Grey_Grendel
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Tue Oct 21, 2025 2:13 pm
Re: Road trip from San Antonio to Kansas City
Many thanks for the advice!
I've been looking for a good spec sheet that details fluid and grease locations. If I have it right, there is oil at different viscosity for engine, gear box, differential and portal axle.
Unfortunately there isn't an original toolkit. I plan on buying the basics before we start the trek, since I can't take any tools in my carry-on.
I've called several shops on the route trying to find anyone who is familiar with Pinzgauers to give it a look, but no dice. I thought the same thing about VW or Porsche shops, even called a couple vintage Land Rover shops and only 1 knew what a Pinzgauer looks like, but that was it.
Not going through Junction City, but will add to my list of places to try!
I've been looking for a good spec sheet that details fluid and grease locations. If I have it right, there is oil at different viscosity for engine, gear box, differential and portal axle.
Unfortunately there isn't an original toolkit. I plan on buying the basics before we start the trek, since I can't take any tools in my carry-on.
I've called several shops on the route trying to find anyone who is familiar with Pinzgauers to give it a look, but no dice. I thought the same thing about VW or Porsche shops, even called a couple vintage Land Rover shops and only 1 knew what a Pinzgauer looks like, but that was it.
Not going through Junction City, but will add to my list of places to try!