How about a beautiful woman for the long drive, that has always been my most important thing i have bought with me.

 

Take everything for a change of oil, a fuel filter, TWO full-size mounted spare tires and a roll of Gorilla tape. Then, if you are pulling a trailer, take two mounted spare tires. During my trip there about 18 months ago, I had to do a big re-wiring on my trailer brakes (new trailer). The roads are bad enough to ruin a tire and wheel. Cost of most repairs are unbelievably high and usually done by an incompetent mechanic.

 

All good suggestions for spare parts. If you have an unusual tire size or tread pattern, it would be a good idea to take a second spare. Once you are past Prince George tire selection will be smaller, and part costs can be higher. Are you pulling a trailer? If so be careful. Keep an eye on the road conditions. I live in Central BC about 600 miles from the Yukon border. There is still several feet of snow on the ground. In late March most of that should be gone, but from Ft. Nelson north you could still run into snow on the roads. More likely there could be water run off on the roads that may be frozen in the early day and late evening. So be careful on the corners. Also there is a danger of wildlife on the roads if you drive at dusk or latter. Best to keep you driving to daylight hours if you can. There are wildlife alarms that you can get at Walmart and Canadian Tire. Most people say they work. May be a good idea if driving at night.

 

Definatley want to bring your sirius sat radio!

 

I went up to Alaska in June last year, pulling a trailer.

All I took was a fuel filter. I already have 115 gallon aux tank.

No break downs, no problems.

You will see a great deal of frost heave, the last 150 miles or so of the Yukon. Some in Alaska.

 

And Sirius won't work in some locations in Alaska. If you are going to Anchorage, no Sirius, no XM. Also if you have a stock Nav system from Dodge, no GPS coverage in the Yukon and all of Alaska.

 

My xm worked whenever I turned it on in Yukon and Alaska. My GPS was Garmin and it worked fine.

 

If you go to Best Buy, Sears, etc in Alaska they cannot even sell you XM or Sirius in the store. Had a buddy order parts for his Sirius radio on line, and they would not even ship it to Alaska because of an agreement they had with Sirius. He had to have it shipped to his parents in the lower 48 and then sent to him. Around Homer and a few other locations it worked fine, but in surrounding areas around Anchorage could not get it to work because of the mountain obscuration. The Nuvi, Pioneer, etc, GPS systems work great and have good coverage. For some reason Mopar's Nav system is not supported, figure there isn't enough money in it for them to expand their database to cover Alaska and its 700,000 people...

 

You're kidding....right.....

There are few places from Edmonton to Dawson Creek where you wouldn't get run over if you did the speed limit or less. Give us a break.

 

Thanks Festus,

Your attitude certainly showed in the people who littered the ditches and center median along that stretch of road. While you're obviously comfortable and familiar with the roads, (being a local and all) most people only make this trip once in a lifetime. If you find no risk in overdriving your headlights while towing heavy on roads you've never driven before, power to you. I don't think many others will share your opinion. During my drive up, I didn't encounter a clear Canadian road until Haynes Junction. Everything else was either hard-packed snow at best, or covered in ice. Edmonton was by far the worst, with drivers running into stopped traffic at every other traffic light and acting like it was the other person's fault. Try to keep in mind the target audience when you smart-off in a post. I wouldn't expect you to make the trip from Fairbanks to Anchorage in 5hrs during your first run, even though it is certainly achievable. Why should you expect strangers to drive in your familiar territory the same way you do?

 

my parents lived there a long time, and I dont think they ever made it to fairbanks in less than 6 hours. of course they had me and my sister in tow, and my dad was not looking forward to the inlaws....maybe that had something to do with it.....

 

I have made this trip several times since 1998. First time was in a 1/2 ton Dodge 4X4 with a 4wheeler in the back. Lots of good responses. I have also made the trip with a Cummins pulling the wifes car on a trailer. Take your time the road conditions can vary greatly from one area to another. Have adequate cold weather gear and good boots. Speed limits are only a recommendation, you can always go slower. I usually try to hook up with another vehicle enroute and try to keep an eye on eachother.

Marc
US ARMY INFANTRY

 

Never been there but I would love to go.

I would think changing to a good synthetic 5W-40 would be good before your trip up and enough for a change while your there should you need it.

 

Think about checking with your insurance company about glass coverage. It may be worth lowering the deductable on glass replacement for the trip with all the gravel roads.

Jay

 

Hold on a freakin' minute! Normally, I am a fairly relaxed guy, but all your comments did was just pi$$ me off - and today, I'm in no mood for it.

Before you go spewing from the mouth about you perceive to be my attitude / opinion to be, or how I drive, keep in mind that sarcastic comments aren't readily displayed in the forums a type written format - sorry, I apologize for failing to toss in a smiley. So:

1) I don't disagree that some drive too fast for road conditions in the summer, nevermind the winter. To reiterate if you do the posted speed limit or less from here to points North, you will likely nearly get run over - not at your fault, but likely by the fault of someone probably driving too fast.

2) You'll find that the bottom picture below is a "little" set of trailers I pulled into Alaska - it's a seven axle at about 128,000 lbs - I normally pulled 8 axle trailers up into your world at 135, 000 lbs total weight - pic was taken in Alaska. So, don't tell me I've never driven before....towing "heavy". It's a good chance I've backed up more miles than you've driven in forward gears. (there's a smiley for you for your perception of my attitude.) So, in comparison, your pickup and a trailer at 19,000 lbs is a pi$$ in the ocean.



I don't drive OTR anymore, but if your interested in what most drivers have that would would directly relate to travel in a pickup, it is:

- a gallon of your regular oil (change it before leaving)...no need to go crazy....myself and my buddies run 15w40 in our pickups ('97 up to '08) year round and if we forget, or can't plug in (like in hunting camp), even down to -30*, cycle the grid heaters a couple times and it'll go
- a small set of tools
- 2 fuel filters (fuel filter seals seem to be the most susceptible to problems in cold weather more so than anything else)
- fuel conditioner (I used Kleen Flo when driving OTR (supplied by the company) and in my pickup currently year round - 1 bottle is good for 1000L - most of the time, I never remember to use it anyway - not an issue however - our winter fuel is a different blend than you'll find farther South)
- 1 oil filter in case you blow a seal
- a fan belt
- 1 good spare (no need for a whole set of replacements - any tire shop can fix a hole as long as it's not in the sidewall)
- a sleeping bag / blankets
- your standard vehicle emergency kit

I don't see a need to get too crazy. It will not be that cold here when you're going through. The snow has already started melting here for the past few days. Don't spend more money on "stuff" than what the trip will cost. Even if you do have an issue on the highway in between services, the Alaska highway is loaded with traffic and there still are a fair amount of good people here to lend a hand.

If your around Edmonton and need a hand with anything, just let me know. I either have knowledge or contacts where to find it, or I have it in my garage. There are a bunch of folks on the site from here, Grande Prairie, Fort St. John, Fort Nelson to name a few, and I doubt I'm going out on a limb to say that they'd likely be more than willing to lend a hand.