Getting my 80 series to Alaska (hopefully) (1 Viewer)

[fordoford]

Ok here it goes.

My goal for this Summer - drive my 97 LX450 out from NC to Alaska, work on a salmon boat for two months, drive the LX back to NC.

This is going to be my attempt at a real build thread outlining everything I do to get my cruiser ready for a ~9000 mile trip.

About the cruiser:
I bought it back in the fall of 2017 with 185xxx miles on it. I bought it fully built and have since not done a whole lot outside of drive it 50k miles. It has been a super reliable vehicle and has only ever let me down a couple times, but to drive 9000 miles there's a number of things I'll need to do to get her prepared.

What's already been done:
- Head Gasket was done ~75k miles ago
- All done in 2017 before I bought it: Slinky long travel suspension with icon shocks, caster correction plates, double Cardin front drive shaft, adjustable front and rear panhard bars, extended bumpstops in the rear, 11mm extended HD rear lower control arms
- Slee offroad HD tie rod and drag link along with Toyota tie rod and drag link ends
- Robinson steering dampener
- 4.88 Nitro gears, Eaton E-lockers F+R with factory switch
- 4x4 labs sliders and rear bumper
- Rear axle has been rebuilt
- Starter replaced and rebuilt
- New ignition switch and ignition coil
- Coolant flush recently with Toyota Red
- New Toyota rear DS U-joints
- AC system was completely replaced back in 2017
- New Toyota blue fan clutch
- New Toyota master cylinder

My current maintenance/PM plans in no real order:
- Rebuild front axle and replace all seals bearings and other components
- AC is currently not working, the idler pulley nut is stripped and I haven't gotten around to fixing it, but I have the parts. I need to chop it off and replace everything and AC should be ice cold
- Flush all fluids other than coolant
- All new belts and vacuum hoses, along with maybe all new radiator hoses if needed
- PHH
- New spark plugs and wires
- I have a couple of small oil leaks, going to knock out the oil pump seal, distributor O-ring, and the front engine seal all at once
- All new steering and suspension bushings
- Fuel filter
- All new fuses and relays
- None of my windows work except the front Driver's side. I need to figure that out and fix it

The only other thing I can currently think of that could knock me out is the fuel pump. Is it worth spending 500 on that as PM?

Now for the "overloading" mods to make the truck better equipped
- Take out all of the seats except the drivers seat and build a full bed setup to cover the rest of the vehicle (passenger seat must go because I'm 6'4")
- Full length sliding drawers underneath with one side for cooking and one side for storage
- Refrigerator/freezer
- Dual battery setup with solar charging
- On board air compressor
- New springs front and rear
- Jerry cans for extra gas
- Build some system that can hold 15-20 gallons of water
- Front bumper

That's everything I can thing of for now, I'll add things and cross things off as I go.
Any suggestions would be much appreciated. I'm going to spend significant time reading up on 80 builds but any advice on important things or just stuff to think about from people with experience would be awesome. I'm a college student working with a not crazy budget. My plan is to sell my 94 pickup to help fund the build, but overall I won't be able to spend more than 5-6k on this, which I think should be doable if I'm doing most of the work myself.

Here's how she sits now. I'm super excited to build it out and really use it for what it's built for!

 

[Devils Paw 80]

The only other thing I can currently think of that could knock me out is the fuel pump. Is it worth spending 500 on that as PM?

Wow, that's a long trip alright. Do you have employment lined up already for next summer?

Regarding the fuel pump, funny you should mention this because I just finished a 2400 mile road trip within my state of Alaska and upon returning home the fuel pump promptly crapped out. This would definitely be a major issue if it occurred in an isolated area of the state, which of course applies to the vast majority of it.
The pump is not $500 if you buy off Amazon. $135, but then it's slow coming. I'm still waiting for mine...

BTW, zero mods are really needed for 99.9% of any off roading/overlanding to be found in AK. After buying mine a couple years ago I did the belts, hoses, fuel filter, distributor, tune up stuff and PHH on your list. I temporarily took out the second row seats so I could sleep in the back (6'5").

 

[fordoford]

Wow, that's a long trip alright. Do you have employment lined up already for next summer?

Regarding the fuel pump, funny you should mention this because I just finished a 2400 mile road trip within my state of Alaska and upon returning home the fuel pump promptly crapped out. This would definitely be a major issue if it occurred in an isolated area of the state, which of course applies to the vast majority of it.
The pump is not $500 if you buy off Amazon. $135, but then it's slow coming. I'm still waiting for mine...

BTW, zero mods are really needed for 99.9% of any off roading/overlanding to be found in AK. After buying mine a couple years ago I did the belts, hoses, fuel filter, distributor, tune up stuff and PHH on your list. I temporarily took out the second row seats so I could sleep in the back (6'5").

I don't have employment lined up currently. I have a buddy who worked out in Bristol Bay the past two years, and he's told me I can easily get a job and he knows a couple boats that could be good for me, so I have no doubt I'll land one. However, until it's actually secured all of my work to the 80 will be strictly fixes and PM stuff that is good to do regardless, and I'll start on the more overloading stuff once I get the job secured.

That's funny about the fuel pump, and definitely convenient it waited until you were home to go out. I was looking on Wits end briefly and saw the kit was around 500, but that's good to know that if I look around I can do it for cheaper. I guess it's probably worth it to go ahead and replace just to be safe.

As for the mods needed for offroading, I'm not too concerned about that because my 80 basically already has all of that stuff done, I'll just be focusing more on the important stuff to keep me moving through all of the Canada/Alaska wilderness, but I will be stopping through Moab along the way as well as hopefully a few other cool spots that will require some gear.

 

[Mark W]

Replace your fuel pump... or toss a replacement in the rig to have handy if yours does ever quit on you. A pump is under a buck fifty. It is an easy replacement, at home or on the side of the road (done it both ways more than once).

Get an ARB bumper. If you hit a moose, you are gonna want full front end coverage. Most rigs that you might bump into up here are on the larger side compared to back east urban areas too.

Personally... a couple five gallon water cans is all the "system" that I would bother with. Or one actually. It is just a road trip. You will not find yourself far from services very often. FWIW, you can drink out of almost any stream or river you encounter in western Canada/Alaska... just don't drink from standing water (beaver ponds LOL).

*myself*... I would not dedicate the space for sleeping in the rig. I have found that the space is better used for gear. A tent is so f'ng easy to pitch after all, and so much simpler than having to rearrange everything over and over. I am not a fan of roof top tents. But... for a long road trip like this I would give it some thought.

Don't worry about a lot of effort or expense toward onboard air. Any stand alone electric compressor will do just fine. Just a road trip after all.

Fuses do not wear out. No need to replace them. Just carry spares. Ignition wires are either good or bad. If they are bad, it is from damage. They do not really wear out either.

CARRY A FIRE EXTINGUSHER!
CARRY A FIRE EXTINGUSHER!
CARRY A FIRE EXTINGUSHER!

Having one has saved me at least once. Having one has let me save others more than once. Not having one has cost a couple friends their rigs.

"All new relays" will be intensive and expensive and very very unlikely to be a thing that will be needed.

Carry an extra fusible link assembly. They seldom fail, but it can happen. DON'T forget to check that point too if you have electrical failures on the road!

Change your fuel filter.

Do not "flush" your tranny fluid. Change it if there is indication it needs to be changed. Same for PS fluid.

Gear lube and oil does not get flushed, merely changed.

Why new springs???


An Inreach or comparable satellite communications system is handy. Not vital. But nice. You will be out of cell coverage for long distances.

Carry a COMPREHENSIVE tool kit and an FSM (Digital download on a tablet is handy). Electrical tools too. Tire repair kit too. And the skills to use it all.

If you have not already done it along with your gearing changes,a speedometer/odometer recalibration unit (like a "yellowbox") is really nice. Over the distance of 9000 miles it is handy to know that your speed and mileage are accurate without having to constantly mentally readjust the numbers. Particularly if you are making guesses on the fly as to whether you can skip a gas stop in the Yukon at 11 pm or not.

Speaking of speedometers... ya know the yellow speed warning signs along the highways. Not really regulatory limits but strong safety suggestions... In the US, it seems that the powers that be assume that we will all ignore them, or at least not take them serious. So they are always lower than they need to be. Not in Canada. If the yellow speed warning sign going into a curve in the middle of the night halfway between Destuction Bay and Beaver Creek says 45KPH... you probably do not want to go into the curve at 50KPH. Just saying.




The road(s) north are long, but really the trip is no sort of challenge these days. You won't see anything on the way up that a Subrau Forester can't handle without a thought.

I assume you realize that your rig is not gonna be going to Bristol bay with you. You will want some place to store it while you are out there.




Mark...

 

[peesalot]

Couple things you may need if going Cassair or Denali, heck most places, bring goggles in case windshield gets shattered by passing rock truck (their BIG) and they thro a wake of gravel. Ax, fishing gear, common sense, go north as far as you can, Inuvit (SP) thru Ft McPhearson ( theres a ferry) , hit Top of world Hwy from Tok to Dawson, back thru Whitehorse. Stop and take the boat ride on Yukon thru Devils Couldron in Whitehorse.

 

[Mark W]

Couple things you may need if going Cassair or Denali, heck most places, bring goggles in case windshield gets shattered by passing rock truck (their BIG) and they thro a wake of gravel.

I'm just gonna assume you are joking... or F'ng with the cheechakoo LOL. But I'll ramble on some anyway since there are people that do think this!

Over the past 35 or so years I've been up and down every highway/major road in Alaska many many many times, and have run the Alaska Highway and the Cassiar many times too. I have never seen or even heard of "rock trucks" shattering windshields by kicking up gravel. Never met anyone who carries goggles in case of this occurence.

I have a seen mooses hit that left the windshield busted open... One occured halfway between Fairbanks and Anchorage... in the middle of winter.. Thar was a slow cold trip to finish. But they did. Drove north again a few days later. They DID wear snow machine goggles for that... and a miserable trip but made it. Young dumb GIs ya Know.


I *have* met silly "overlanders" from outside who bought into the stories and put expanded metal screening over their windshield for a run up the Dalton Highway (Haul Road). Listened to them repeat how they had been told that otherwise they would have press their hands against the inside of the windshield every time they passed a truck so that the rock storm from the passing trucks that *would* hit them would only break the glass, not cave it in. I am not sure who told them that, but I would love to buy that man a beer. Although, maybe he owes ME one....I spit mine out from laughing so hard when I heard that.
Last time I ran to Deadhorse and back it was a spur of the moment thing when the trail near Fairbanks we were planning on hiking was engulfed in a spreading wildfire and we found ourselves with a few days to kill. We tossed a 5 gallon fuel can in the back just in case, and bopped the 1000 mile round trip in the GF's Subaru... and lived! IIRC though, we did pick up one chip in the windshield. She got it repaired that week

FWIW, I have never encountered a commercial truck on the Denali (the occasional state maintenance rigs notwithstanding).

Unless you are running the Haul Road, you are a lot more likely to get dinged by the rocks kicked up by another plain old car (the percentage of plain old cars on the Hal Road compared to trucks is a lot smaller than anywhere else). Heavy truck traffic is pretty low on the Alcan and Cassiar too actually. Virtually the only freight that it trucked along that highway is almost all for the communities in Canada that the road serves. No real through freight to/from Alaska.

There was a time when it was seriously recommended that you carry two spares if you were making the 60 mile run from Chitina to McCarthy due to the railroad spikes that kept working their way up out of the roadbed (reclaimed railroad grade... "pioneer road" at best). But that advice has been out of date for at least 25 years now.

Now we DO get a lot of chipped windshield from kicked up gravel on all of our roads. We tend to toss a lot of pea gravel on the roads over the winter. Most windshield chips are caused by following too close and getting tagged by gravel from the car in front of you. Not all, but most.

But occasional... or even frequent... windshield chips are not the same thing as a caved in windshield that brings goggles into the gear list.


Mark...

 

[cruiserpilot]

I just came back from a ‘short’ 6000 km trip to Yukon/NWT from BC. Basically any ‘armour’ isn’t really necessary. Heavy duty sliders, extra carriers/tools etc bolted on the exterior of your vehicle just consumes fuel and causes wear. Watch your weight. You won’t need any reserve supplies but do carry proper food and water cause it’s quite likely you will spend anywhere from 15 min to possible hours should an accident occur along those northern highways. We had hours waits for forest fire single lane access up highway 37 just last week. Rains have come, let’s hope that’s over for the year.
Rocks thru windshield? Ya, had one literally the size of a softball hit my windshield 3 yrs ago. The star smash was 4” across. Thank god for modern windshields. I did have bits inside on the dash but nothing a damp paper towel didn’t wipe up.
Even if your truck is even in remotely decent shape you will have no worries. Have a good trip. J

 

[Devils Paw 80]

I just came back from a ‘short’ 6000 km trip to Yukon/NWT from BC. Basically any ‘armour’ isn’t really necessary. Heavy duty sliders, extra carriers/tools etc bolted on the exterior of your vehicle just consumes fuel and causes wear...

Several years ago I had a bike carrier and mountain bike hanging off the back of my FJ62 on a trip to the interior. Both took a beating, with one bolt breaking off the carrier. Never again.

Also, my exhaust pipe broke between cat and muffler on that trip. Make sure your exhaust is firmly attached and ideally not in the least rusty.

Regarding moose, there are several signs along the Seward highway warning of them, with fatality counts for the season. When we were there in August, 24 moose had already been killed. Hitting one at any speed will cause some serious damage, quite possibly disabling the vehicle.