Alaska Cruiser Trek 2006

[redcorn]

Consoder me in

Live and work in Portland, Or.
Have a period of time off contract at same time as ACT.

Have family in Wasilla, AK and this is the best time for me to do this.

Locked FJ60. SO on 37" MTR's.

All I need is application link.

Can't wait.

John

 

[ODDBALL]

ohh yes!

Mark, this is going together well! I have things being put in order to make this trip & will be ready if you need a hand with seting things up. You know how to find me.

 

[Behemoth60]

I'm saving my money for some new tires for this trip. CAD$250 each for the 12.4-16. A bargain for a decent mud tire. A bunch of guys are wheeling on the 11.2-16's and nothing, and I do mean nothing, works as good as these in the mud.

Peter Straub

 

[Mark W]

Yep. When mud is the question, chevrons are the answer.


Mark...

 

[i4c4lo]

A bit hard to drive with those from California to AK. hehehe

Mark or Peter or anyone, any other tire you guys recommend for this trip?

Amando

 

[lavarunner]

OK question..I am from achorage and am moveing off the big island (HI) back to alaska.. (lets just say all the "water" sports I do involve the water being 32 degrees) so what I have planed is to get to cali, cruise rubicon and moab ( life long dreams!!) and the drive home to alaska.. you guys gonna do this in 07? cuase thats more of how my planing is going..

 

[lowenbrau]

A bit hard to drive with those from California to AK. hehehe

Mark or Peter or anyone, any other tire you guys recommend for this trip?

Amando

Before Peter answers, I know he'll say XM27 high speed. Trouble is, you Californians will have a problem with calling 55MPH "high speed"

MTRs or BFG MTs will do the job in the mud, Swampers will do it better. I ran SSRs last time but the weak sidewalls let me down. They are a great tradeoff of highway/off highway performance though. I've been looking at the Toyo Open Country MTs for expedition. They won't be killer in the mud but they make up for it in very high build quality, good sidewalls, and long life. If I drove a 100 series, that's where I'd be looking.

Personally, I'm with Peter on this. I'm gonna run a smoothy on the highway and haul a set of those tractor tires in my trailer for the trail. I've seen em work around here and they make boggers look sick. IMO they are easier on the trail too.

 

[Mark W]

A bit hard to drive with those from California to AK. hehehe

Mark or Peter or anyone, any other tire you guys recommend for this trip?

Amando

Most of the distance over the trail during the ACT will be pretty easy stuff. As much as I would like this to be a pure hardcore outing, it won't be. I *may* put together a gathering that will be in the next couple of years. But that will be by invitation only and limited to about 8 rigs or so.

Anyway, most of the distance will be easy stuff. But if only 10% of the trail is difficult, that still looks to be about 20 miles of nasty gnarly conditions.

The minimum tire that meets the requirements is a 35x12.50 mud tire.

My personal recommendation for decent abilities in the soft stuff is a 36x12.50 TSL. The difference in the ability to get through mud when comparing a 35x12.50 "mud terrain" and a 36x12.50 TSL is hard to overstate if you have not driven the same rig with the two styles of tires on it. Larger and more aggressive is always a good thing.

But realizing that a lot of people will want to drive their rigs up not trailer them we are not setting minimums that will preclude this.

We expect to tailor the trail selection to match the capabilities of the group. The more capable the group as a whole is, the more difficult route we will pick. There's a couple of areas/trails I am hoping to run with whatever highly capable rigs and adventurous guys make it up, while sending the less capable rigs via another route to rondevous with us at the next camp.


Mark...

 

[Mark W]

OK question..I am from achorage and am moveing off the big island (HI) back to alaska.. (lets just say all the "water" sports I do involve the water being 32 degrees) so what I have planed is to get to cali, cruise rubicon and moab ( life long dreams!!) and the drive home to alaska.. you guys gonna do this in 07? cuase thats more of how my planing is going..

Nope. Like I mentioned to Overlord, even if all goes well the Trek will be an every other year operation from here on out.


Mark...

 

[Tigerstripe40]

Man

I would SO love to go and run ACT.
Time constraints won't allow me to do that.
I'd want to take at least 4 weeks to do the trip. With 2-3 days down time before and after the ACT for maintanence...

Not to mention that driving a soft top FJ40 16-18 hrs per day at freeway speeds is just brutal...

I wonder how much it would cost to ship my FJ40 to/from Alaska....

 

[lavarunner]

Yeah I went trough and read the whole threads, sorry. What my plans are. I am going to move back home and with me being in my mid 20's I look at this as a chance in a lifetime... after finishing my rig. (Ol lady says I can spend a car payment a month (hers is 275) on it plus any side jobs I do! I make about 4k a year in side jobs) I want to ship it to Cali and hit all those trails, the ones we all dream about! And continue up through BC and Yukon. I want to hook up with people on the way. Think about the "world tour" this could be. Wheel Here the Big Island, then Oahu for a couple of days. Ship it to Cali. Hit all those wonderful trails there. Then Moab... Cool factor here is that I have a friend that is willing to do this with me. (30y/o House PAID OFF. CARS paid off. BUILDING A MAIL ORDER CJ7 and make 18.50 an hour RETAIL no managing responsibilities. and no kids.. VERY understanding wifey.. lets just say .. the perfect life...) BUT in order for this to work.. I promise him wheel in Alaska.. I guess I can do it without the adventure.. But two rigs running all those mainland/Canada/Alaska trails with HAWAII PLATES would get us a couple of looks....

 

[wussyPup]

For fuel;


We are requiring everyone to have at least 36.5 gallons on board (That is based on the smallest Cruiser tank being 16.5 and another 20 in 4 jerry cans being easily managable). This will not be enough for the run. We will be prepositioning a cache, and/or pulling a trailer with another 150 gallons with a "support vehicle". My experience leaves me to assume an average of 5mpg for gasser Cruisers on the trail. Maybe 8 or so for 4 cylinder minis. If we wind up with a total of 20 rigs on this run a trailer load will only provide 7.5 gallons each. In thepory, by the numbers I mention, we could do a 200 mile run and make it back to the trailhead with the fuel on baord the rigs and the trailer. But there woud be little (if any) reserve left. Besides chances are we will cover more distance than this.
The most likely plan will be to tow the fuel trailer AND preposition about 200 gallons.


Mark...

Hmm, so 36.5 gallons on board, plus 7.5 towed, plus 10 cached = 55 US gallons each.

I wonder how that translates to diesel? I assume that diesel is BYO?

Sounds like an awesome trip. I'm selling the idea to the Mrs. now.

-Steve

 

[Mark W]

We'll haul a bit of fuel for the oil burners too. But less obviously 'cause fuel economy on the trail is the biggest strength of the diesels.


Mark...

 

[Fromage]

I'm in, but making plans this far ahead is impossible. It would mean a month off for me which is doable. How do you guys feel about a 5.9CTD powered Land-Rover long wheel base, 1 ton axles, 325/85 XMLs, pickup showing up? Between the three tanks and six jerry cans I won't need a fuel drop. This sounds like the adventure of a lifetime.

 

[Mark W]

We don't really care about the brand of the rg you drive. SInce we're primarily Cruiser enthusiasts and we've only aired this in Cruiser forums, that will be the primary vehicle on the Trek. But so long as the rig can keep up we don't care what it is.

I hope to have a web page up with application forms and more complete info that what I toeesed out here in just a few more days.


Mark...

 

[CRUNCHY]

Im in!

Hey Mark If you would like to stash 55 gallon drums of fuel i can probley get a few for free from work if i start pre planning.

(Canadians) Halfway through the trip with their diesles! So ehe! As they are looking over you shoulder as your arms are getting tired from holding up the jerry can's refueling your rig. How much fuel have you used so far ehe! (cruiser crew) About 15 gallons! (Canadians) Yea the needle on my gauge is just now starting to come off the full mark ehe! LOL! Diesles

Last night i couldn't hardley sleep dreaming of how to make the cruiser better for this summer! Redue the rear bumper, Marlins new 6 stud high steer arms and knuckles, 30 spline sweet a$$ birfeilds, Intall the 4-runner buckets that have been sitting in my shed for over a year! New starter! More (better recovery gear), new gel battery, The list goes on!

Also Mark and any one else, pre runs to scout trail and cashe fuel fridays, sat, sun always works for me. Maybe also moving up to having 4 days off a week! Yea ruff ehe July 7-16 OFF and set in stone!

On another note! Drinking is tollerated at the campfire. If the guy or gal can't handel their acohol and gets very out of hand, they just might find themselves zipcuffed and sleeping with the bears!
Happy planning John

 

[Mark W]

I expect that the usual source of barrels (AK Mining and Diving) will still be working out okay. I'll let you know if I need any though.

We'll have to verify how many diesels we have on the run and adjust fuel accordingly.

Don't get to focused on upgrades (your rig is pretty much ready to kick butt already...)


I'm hoping to do three or even four runs out there before the Trek. I'd like to cover every trail at least once this season before we all go. And get the guys who will be potentially tasked as trail leaders/sweepers over them too. I'd prefer it if others besides me knew all of the trails we will be looking at.

Don't forget John... a little cold water after the zip ties are applied really get's the point across.


Mark...

 

[semlin]

wow, this looks very very fun. Not sure I could get the time off to do it but I am going to think about it hard. I'm in vancouver . I was just listening to an album a couple of days ago on a long drive that brought back listening to the same album somewhere between anchorage and glenallen many years ago.

just a couple of questions about your vehicle requirements. i have a locked 80 on a 2.5 inch lift with an arb/winchup front currently on 33 bfg ATs. I can find some MTRs and a snorkle, but I doubt I can easily raise the recovery points above the OEM frame loops front or rear. a rear bumper is not in the budget and the ARB on the front has no decent place to tug. Also, between post # 92 and 128 you seem to have upped the tire requirement from 33's to 35's. is that a typo? I have stock gears so I think I'd be a lot happier driving all that way on 305 MTRs than 315s

 

[Mark W]

While I would like to bump the tires size requirements to 35, we are staying with 33. Just a typo.

Recovery points NOT on the bottom of the frame are STRONGLY suggested, but not required. If they're buried under the peat, or an arms reach below the water, you'll probably be the person attaching the strap anyway.

Along those lines (not mentioned in the draft that I clipped and pasted to this thread), you will want to make sure that your recovery points are suitable for snatching, not just the steady (and less powerful) pull of a winch.


Mark...

 

[fuelnjktr]

Mark, I am thinking about trailering my rig from San Diego to Seattle, leaving my truck there and then catching the ferry in Bellingham for the trip to Alaska. Which city would be the best to disembark from in Alaska? Jim