Pop-Pop

My 18 year-old grandson and I will take a new camper trailer on a trip to Alaska this summer, loop thru the western states and then back to Virginia. The trailer has two foot high aluminum checker plate across the front plus about a one foot high piece along each side.I see where some people use the big wide bumper-mounted flaps to deflect gravel from hitting the front of the trailer. Do these things really work? Should I consider some other type of protection?

kandgo

I would recommend you use one and I also recommend that you use a piece of ply wood on the front of your trailer for protection, and take a couple of extra spares for the two vehicle and trailer, cheap insurance. Have fun !! Goodluck,Rick

FiverBob

If you put something on the bumper, make sure it is the type that does not raise with the wind. And, the ones that look like ropes hanging down are useless. I made a vinyl bra for the front of my fiver - - worked good and looked nice. Make it black and the tar spots don't show. The only areas you have to worry about are where they are working on the road if you stay on the Alaska Highway. Just slow down in those areas and make sure the truck and trailer have a good wax coating on before leaving - - it will help in getting the tar off when you get home. And slow down when you see a plastic barrel on the side of the road with a flag on a stick in it. If it has two sticks, go really slow. If it has three flags, take a detour.

neveragain

Well mine are 24x32" on the front tires and 24x36" or the rear and with 14" running boards. It reduces the amount or stones that tires pick up. Don't know about Alaska but up here. The worst time of the years is the winter when they put 3" minus on the road as sand.

Something else to consider are the type of tires on the vehicle. Even the M/S Michelin tires kick up stones. A rubber hung below the reat bumper will deflect alot of stones. A cover for the trailer front window is a good idea. Lucky guy to be able to do that.

DodgeCowboy

as for the flaps that move with the wind all you need to do to cure that is go get a piece of steal or somehting heavy and bolt it to the bottom of your flaps. most places that saild a anti sail deal that has the whole happy meal in the package including rubber caps for the bolts

Brock

I think Geno's has one that hooks into your 2" receiver taht my buddy just bought for his trip to oklahoma. looked pretty sturdy but if not I would do like some mentioned and get two pieces of heavy stainless or other material and bolt it to the flap for additional bracing.

Stormin_Norman

I do a fair amount of driving on gravel roads. You will want both front a rear mudflaps to protect the paint. I put the solid plastic ones on both the front and rear. The first trip I took without them it really chipped up the paint on the lower rockers. IMO it's pretty cheap insurance compaired to new paint.

Patrick Campbell

I agree I would get molded mud flaps - the ones that go directly behind the wheels and then maybe something that goes across the back of the vehicle. My rockers were also stone chiped completely.

You could weld a piece of angle iron to the bottom of the draw bar and then bolt whatever mud flaps onto there. The ones that will not "sail" as much have ribs on the back.

Ph4tty

Back in the late 80's early 90's I used to see trucks with shattered windsheilds and all sorts of crazy damage from the Alcan highway. Maybe its improved since then, but I'd recommend taking that step towards damage prevention.

Festus

While still driving truck, the only place I worried about a windshield is on the bypass at Dawson Creek, BC. If someone is going to throw a boulder into your windshield, that's where it'll be. Go through town with an RV, take the 3/4 turn on the circle and head North from there. It's faster than the bypass too.

Moose10

Good advice from everybody Pop-Pop. AK is an awesome place....if you like the outdoors, you probably won't want to leave.
One thing I did on the way down was put bubble wrap over my headlights and fogs held on with clear packing tape. It'll protect the lenses somewhat, but still allow the light through. We didn't do much night driving, but it would be easy to remove if the light was distorted too much. Also, if you're in a gravel area and you see a big rig coming slow down and give him as much room as possible.
On a side note, we lost the front window of our slide in camper near Billings, MT from a big rig thrown rock.
Enjoy your trip !
ooops, one more...bring a couple extra fuel filters with you. Ya never know what you're gonna get in some places. I've also come across some fill nozzles that looked like they were dipped in gravel before being put back to the pump.

jefe4x4

We did a 9000 mile round trip to AK a couple years ago. After reading the guide books, I installed wide molded mud guards, screening in front of the lower radiator and rocker guards (actually long steps) and had no problem with dinged paint from the gravel spray or radiator dings.
We travelled at least 2500 miles on gravel or dirt roads up there (the road less travelled). Like a fool, I didn't take a 2nd spare tire, and of course got some bad flats and had to limp into Whitehorse to get another tire(16 tire plugs in one hole didn't fix it). I have an extra tire, not on wheel, to take for our next trip.
No guards for the lights= no problem. Maybe I was lucky.
The only woe was that, as advertised, the windshield was trashed. You just cannot travel the gravel roads in AK without that exposure.
"You see it in the distance ...... a large dust cloud coming toward you down the center of the 2 lane road , churned up by 9 or 10 axles of logging truck-train bearing down on you at breakneck speed. 30 meters of meteor. A spray of gravel that arcs all the way across the road. You move WAY over to the right, as far as you can, off the road, leaning at an extreme angle, and in a interminable span of seconds the behemoth roars passed like an out of control freight train, every axle contributing to the gravel wave.
Then it's over, just lingering dust and you cowering in the weeds, and a couple more divots in your windshield."
regards, as always, jefe

Scotty

If your camper is a bumper pull, you might want to protect the back of the truck as well. Stones can bounce off the trailer and really make a mess of the back of your truck. I had firsthand experience with this. It looked like the back of the truck had been bead blasted in a few areas. Plywood bounces the rocks more then checker plate.

Scotty

FMB

I pulled an Arctic Fox 24-5N 5th up to AK last May. The Fox has the diamond plate front part, just opposite the tail gate and a fully covered underside. I put mud flaps all around the 2500 from Geno's and I also have Westin Platinum Series nerf bars.

My trip was planned such that I went up the West side of BC, across the lower Yukon, up to Fairbanks then up further to Coldfoot. Then double backed to Fairbanks, down to Denali, Anchorage, Ninilchik, Homer, back to Tok, up to Chicken and across to Dawson City, down to Watson Lake, Dawson Creek, Edmonton, back to Jasper, down to Banff, Montana, Idaho, Peppermill (Reno) and back to CA. About 9500 miles. A lot of that is dirt, gravel or poor asphalt.

I have no rocker damage from the trip. I did not cover my headlights or fog lights - no damage. I didn't notice till I got back home, but all the rocks and gravel that hit the diamond plate didn't just drop to the ground or pulverize into dust. Some bounced into the tail gate. The nice green tailgate is now speckeled as the undercoat shows through in a few hundred spots.

If that wasn't enough, I noticed less than 50 spots on the top portion of the rear fender where if you use your imagination and followed the gravel from the tire, up to the diamond plate, bouncing foward and up to the underside of the portion of the 5th that overhangs the rear of the truck, then down onto the fender. Ouch.

Tires? Yes, bring two spares for the trailer. I had one slow leak repaired and one reallly flat tire repaired. Peace of mind would have been a lot better had I had a second spare (plenty of room on top of the Fox).

I have an infrared thermometer ($50 at RS, 30 on sale) to take the temp of the tires every time we pulled over. I was more interested in temperature differences than taking the pressure guage to each tire every stop and besides, it keeps your hands clean. When you found a hotter tire with no reason, it is probably low.

After I got home, I replaced all 4 trailer tires. That kind of trip really takes its toll on tires. I also replaced all 4 trailer shocks, as they were pretty much beat to heck from the rocks. One even bled to death.

Hmmm...... Lessons Learned

I can't wait to go back.