Made it to Alaska and back!!

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Made it to Alaska and back!!

Postby TD Dave » Wed Oct 21, 2015 3:36 pm

My son and I drove to Alaska this summer and pulled my home built teardrop trailer, "The Alcan Traveler". It is a 60"x120" modified Cub that I built over the last year. We drove up by way of The Harley Davidson Museum,The Badlands,Devils Tower, Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Little Bighorn, Yellowstone, The Grand Tetons and Jackson Wyoming, Glacier National Park, Baniff, Lake Louise, Jasper, up to Dawson Creek, The Alcan up to Fairbanks. Traveled in Alaska to the Arctic circle, Anchourage,Valdez, Mcarthy and Kennicott and about everywhere in between. LOTS of driving!!! 14881 miles round trip and a week shy of 4 months. No flats, no cracked windshields, no nothing other than the right trailer brake gave out pulling up to the border at the Port of Pigeon on the way up and the left gave out leaving Fairbanks going to Denali. We replaced the brakes with a loaded backing plate in Calgiry on the way up and repaired the left before starting home. Drove all over Alaska with brakes on one side with no problems. My Teardrop weighed in at 1640# and the Durango stopped it fine. We did a lot of salmon fishing and I moose hunted the month of September with no luck. We did get 3 bull moose out of the party of 6 I hunted with. The gas prices were not too bad and the most I paid was $1.80 a liter in Jasper. Alberta and Youkon prices were the cheapest as they have lower taxes than B.C. We got gas in Souix Falls for a bargain of $2.25 a gallon but our mileage lost 7MPG on that tank so I guess it wasn't such a bargain after all.
We saw about all you would want or expect to see and did all that we planed!
Two suggestions are, the Mcarthy road to Mcarthy and Kennicot is terrible and about beat the teardrop apart and the Denali Road is about the same and 3 times longer. So if you want to travel them I would recommend dropping your trailer and going in by car or truck only unless you plan an extended stay on those roads. But be prepared! It's rough!!! DO take extra gas after September 15th travel, as many places that were open in the summer close Sept. 15 till sometimes May.
The brake issue on my Dexter axle was that they were probably too small for a trip like that. Everyone you talk to while looking for parts tells you that Dexter 7 1/4" electeric brakes are Junk and to get rid of them and up grade to 10" brakes and you will never have a problem. Everyone, to a man that we talked to while looking for parts or just traveling to trailer dealers and repair shops has that same opinion. I will say that after the third rebuild that I did before starting home lasted all 4400 miles home without a problem. I kept the gain as low as I could and still had braking assist.
I will post some pictures, once I figure out how.
It WAS the trip of a lifetime and I wouldn't have changed a thing. I only hope my 16 year old son was inspired by it and has some great memories to pass on someday.
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Re: Made it to Alaska and back!!

Postby Kaz » Wed Oct 21, 2015 4:17 pm

What a lucky kid. I'm sure he will remember it as long as he lives. He will remember the bonding and quality time spent with you and I,m sure he learned a lot about this great country and many other life lessons that will stay with him. :D
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Re: Made it to Alaska and back!!

Postby Shadow Catcher » Wed Oct 21, 2015 7:37 pm

Dexter says you can not upgrade to 10" brakes. I do agree the the 7" are not enough.
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Re: Made it to Alaska and back!!

Postby felixx » Wed Oct 21, 2015 8:42 pm

WOW so many places on that list are on my bucket list
I will do it one day, and fish the Kenai. The moose hunt is a must!
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Re: Made it to Alaska and back!!

Postby Tucguy » Fri Oct 23, 2015 9:53 am

Love your pictures!
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Re: Made it to Alaska and back!!

Postby rockinrobin » Fri Oct 23, 2015 12:26 pm

Awesome trip, and with your son. Very special trip! :thumbsup:
" It's all good"
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Re: Made it to Alaska and back!!

Postby ukewarrior » Fri Oct 23, 2015 6:46 pm

Pictures?
Where is the link to the pictures ?!!?
Tucguy wrote:Love your pictures!
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Re: Made it to Alaska and back!!

Postby KennethW » Fri Oct 23, 2015 7:25 pm

I just have to ask. What do you do for a living that you can leave for 4 months? I will have to wait for retirement to do the Alaska trip.
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Re: Made it to Alaska and back!!

Postby TD Dave » Thu Oct 29, 2015 1:08 pm

I'm a retired Chrysler Master Tech. Worked hard for 45 years and now it's all about me, for a change.
BTY, I started working part time at a local trailer/ RV dealer near my home this week. I have to save up for the next adventure. I don't want to tap into any retirement funds so I still do side work on people's vehicles and now a part time gig too.
I plan to head west to the Grand Canyon and the SW of the country. That's the only part of the 50 states I haven't spent time in of any amount. So it's off to New Mexico, Nevada, California in the next 2 years, probably summer 2017.
I still have to get some pictures on here from this summer! :)
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Re: Made it to Alaska and back!!

Postby KennethW » Thu Oct 29, 2015 2:58 pm

Good for you! Enjoy retirement You have worked hard for it. I hope to do Alaska when I retire as a machinist with 4 decades in the same shop.
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Re: Made it to Alaska and back!!

Postby Vedette » Mon Nov 02, 2015 10:35 am

Sounds like a great trip!
Missed us by [] that much! :cry:
Would have loved for you to drop down into the Okanagan Valley (we have Moose & fish too!) :R
Will wait to see the pictures.
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