• Wouldn't be a bad idea to bring a spare fuel filter housing too. You can buy the filter and housing in one kit that's in one box.
• A spare tire is good, but unlikely that you'll need 2. I did the same thing and brought two on my last trip, but I didn't use even one. And I traveled in late April when the Northern roads are badly frost heaved and busted up. Just take your time when the roads dictate, and it's best to travel after some warmer weather settles the heaves down and allows road crews to do repairs.
• DEF is readily available along the way. One box wouldn't be bad, but two is more than you'll need.
• Your tire and suspension prep is good.
• Take your time and be watchful in the Yukon. Many sightings with bison will get your attention, but you dang sure don't want to hit one!
• Plan your stops if you can so you don't get caught looking too hard for a place to park.
• Enjoy!

 

You wouldn’t recognize Elmendorf now. The Px is like a modern big city mall and it’s own up to date elementary school. The housing is amazing. I couldn’t believe how big it was. But I guess it’s our first line of defense to North Korea, China et all. Home of the F22’s and F35’s.

 

Well, I've been on the road for many weeks now. I'm currently in North Pole, AK and heading (back) to Tok tomorrow. I didn't end up bringing my spare spare, and haven't even used either the truck or trailer spare. However, one guy hit some metal near Hinton, AB and blew out a trailer tire. A few others I'm traveling with have independent suspensions on their fifth wheels and have been having wear issues due to alignment problems.

I broke a rear fifth wheel window somehow on the trip from Fort Nelson to Liard Hot Springs. Many of the others have chipped or completely broken windshields, but (knock on wood) I've had zero issues. I put on a DIY bug screen in Idaho. We made it out of fiberglass screening, but I noticed in Banff/Canadian Rockies that my transmission really smelled overheated. I was getting temps up to 227F, though typically it was in the 210's on climbs. However, it concerned me, so I took the screen off and have really not had that burning transmission smell anymore, except on really long climbs. Mostly in the 200's now.

The roads aren't bad. Top of the World was horrible, but it was raining that day AND the cloud deck had descended well down the slopes to the point that you could barely see past the hood of the truck. It took me 7 hours to go 105 miles, and it was freaking scary with no guardrails and 1000 foot drops to either and both sides. I had several adult beverages that night in Chicken.
Unfortunately, I did break 2 leaf spring hangers on the rear of the fifth. I have a Lippert frame with their Correct Track system, and I have read and heard there are tons of issues with these hangers breaking. I was very fortunate that they didn't break completely and affect the tires. I was also in North Pole, AK when we discovered the issue. Found an amazing welder here who came out and fixed it far better than new yesterday.

I also discovered a broken brake line on the trailer disc brakes. I had had Morryde install them in Elkhart last year. They used metal brake lines off of a rubber tubing for the last 12 or so inches to the calipers on all 4 brakes. They were clamped in such a way that just activating the calipers put a real strain on the metal lines, with no give for travel. I wasn't out of brake fluid in the reservoir, but I'm pretty sure the truck was doing all the work for a few days. However, I will say that I rarely have to use my brakes. The exhaust brake, both in the manual and auto setting, has been really impressive. There are several steep downgrades where I never touched my brake at all. I was watching others ahead of me and saw them stomping on theirs many times. I love the auto setting.

There is an issue with the truck: the tailgate has been randomly dropping while towing. I know I close it and even check it's held fast. I thought the key fob was an issue, so started putting it in a compartment where nothing could contact it, then put it in a Faraday pouch so the truck doesn't even sense it. Still dropping, and it really bit me in the *** in Wasilla as I made a sharp turn and f'ed up the front fifth compartment door and scraped the hell out of the top of the tailgate. I've now been strapping the damn tailgate closed, but it's a pain in the ***.

I've also gone through DEF way more than I thought I would. I've probably added 8 2.5 gallon boxes to the tank so far, plus 3 gallons from a DEF pump in Montana. I am well over 7,000 miles, most all towing, and through a lot of mountain ranges. I'm sure that has been a big influence. Walmarts in Canada don't seem to sell DEF at all, but there are plenty of auto parts stores that do. I sure wish more truck stops had it at pumps like in the lower 48; so much cheaper.

Overall, it's been an amazing trip. I wouldn't hesitate to come up here. The scenery along the way is breathtaking. There are tons of wildlife. My favorite stop in the whole trip is probably Valdez. I loved that place. But we've had just great times at nearly every stop. Camped on the beach on the Homer spit. Bald eagles literally everywhere. More moose than you can shake a stick at. And so much more. Even briefly got to see Denali before the clouds covered it again.

I was worried I should have bought a dually for this big of a trip instead of an SRW. My trailer has a GVWR of over 14k, but its CCC is over 4500 pounds and I'm nowhere near that. I'm around 12,000. It's truly not been an issue anywhere with the exception of a strong cross wind in North Dakota on I-94 that blew the truck and fifth wheel sideways into the next lane. Luckily no one there and I slowed down from 60 to 50 mph until I got out of it. That was a wake up call though. However, I have had no issues whatsoever climbing grades or coming down. In fact, I often drive behind a guy with a 2 year old 3500 Duramax towing a fifth about the same weight as mine. I have to consciously slow down to keep from driving up his rear end on ascents. One of the other guys with a new Ford whispered to me: "those Rams and Chevy's sure do good going downhill." LOL. All of the Ford drivers have noticed we just seem to be able to climb better than the other guys. Not to say that maybe they all have heavier trailers or very conservative drivers, I don't know. Just an interesting observation.

To summarize, if you have the time and inclination, definitely don't hesitate to go to Alaska. It's been an amazing trip, well worth the little headaches along the way. Sure beats working!

 

Great report, but what did you forget the camera in the lower 48?

 

I just returned from AK about 10 days ago from a 20 day trip. Not an RV trip ( I wish) but we had a great time. We also enjoyed 2.5 days at Homer as well.

 

Lol, I'm shooting mostly with my Canon, all RAW, which means processing. I'm not even keeping up with my blog all that well, but anyone is welcome to look at it. It's just a place for my pics and for people to follow me. Not monetized in any way.
Adventures With Rory

 

Thanks for the link! I read your July 4th post. Great pictures and commentary.

 

Sounds like a pretty nice trip overall. How was the fire situation?

 

832000 acres were on fire. Lots of smoke which affected the viewing depending on the wind each day.