Long story short after watching countless videos and reading countless articles on adventures in the North I've decided I want to make a road trip to Alaska in September of 2015. My route is up the Pacific Coast Highway and head north. Im not sure how North I want to go. My ultimate goal would be to go to the top and be in the Arctic Circle. At the most this would be about 4k miles. Or I could scale back and go as far as Anchorage and the surrounding areas. I plan on doing some light off roading and camping once there. Since anyone can go buy a 4wd vehicle to do this, it seems more of a challenge and an adventure to do it in my Range Rover. I mean how many RRC's could possibly be at the Arctic Circle at any given time??

I've gone above and beyond doing maintenance and repairs on my truck. New radiator. headgaskets are done. All belts hoses. All fluids. Tune up. Accessories. Swivels rebuilt. All four corners have new wheel bearings. All four u joints replaced. Brakes all new. No electrical gremlins. Heated windshield works. Rear defrost works. Fitted with two 8 inch HID lights on the front. No major leaks. Motor has zero smoke. Excellent compression on all cylinders. No ticking. No sludge. Great oil pressure hot and cold.

My truck is well suited for off roading. It's not too bad on the hwy. Now that I have the previous owners mistakes fixed and added my own parts it performs great. I will be going on a series of smaller trips before this big one. Moab is on the list. LA and a few others consisting of about 2-3 hundred miles each. I am worried about how my rear locker will affect snow driving.

My list of mods for a trip like this are in line with what I wanted to do anyway so it wouldn't be a great loss if the trip fell through after the build. I wanted some opinions on what you'd guys bring or do to your truck to make such a trip.

Exterior :
I'd want a roof rack. I'm not sure if a rook top tent is the way to go in such harsh conditions. I've thought about removing the rear seats and building a custom shelf /sleeping platform.

Obviously I'd need a way to carry extra fuel.

I want to relocate the spare to the outside. Which probably means rear swing out.

Interior:

CB radio w emphasis on range .

Full set of aftermarket gauges.

A full custom sleeping platform starting just behind the front seats. Even if I go with a roof tent.

Mechanical:
I was considering installing a second battery.

I'd do another full tune up and upgrade the ignition before leaving. Plus I'd carry spares of nearly everything.

Finally installing my winch.

I'm considering having the transmission rebuilt before I go. It's in great shape with no signs of a problem but the added insurance would be nice.

I want to convert to the LT230 before this trip as well.

Tires:
I've had great luck with General Grabber AT2's. They are quite on road and work great off. Plus these tires are studable. Does anyone know if you can un-stud a tire after you have it done?


Plus I'd be carrying a lot of survival gear. MME's, water, shovel, axe, those traction boards (forget what they are called). I have a sleeping bag rated to 10 below zero. Obviously a lot of warm clothing. Spare phone batteries. Offline GPS/maps. Plus paper maps if I can find them. An extra long tow rope. Tire chains. Tools. Fluids. Spare parts.

What else would you guys bring or modify?

 

Depending on temp you may need to block some air flow for rad. To keep engine warm

Not sure I would use a tent, hungry wild animals

Good heavy front off road bumper brush guard , again, wild animals

Yes you can remove studs I have, pop em out with a small screwdriver

All that gear maybe you want to buy a 1/4 ton surplus army trailer, they tow great , can get with self contained brakes no controller, they are perfectly balanced loaded

Not sure how cold you are planning it to be but be sure oils are thin enough

Air compressor

Gun

 

Get a ham license and VHF instead of CB, and program the repeaters along your route and take a repeater directory with you. Also consider a Spot Gen 3 or DeLorme InReach.


Definitely get a second battery. I use a AGM-type (Die Hard Plat.) that has a low rate of self-discharge so I leave it disconnected. There's no need for an expensive isolator or even a switch, not to mention the expensive cables for a dual setup. I can just jump myself with the 4-guage jumper cables I carry. 2-guage cables are better, especially if they're over 12 feet. 8-guage will fail you.



For extra fuel, use a fuel cell, and pay extra for one with a bladder. It doesn't have to be plumbed into the main tank or to the injection. You can use gravity feed or a small pump to simply refill the main tank with it. I took a 3000 mile trip once and about 20 or 25 gallons of extra fuel in Jaz Jugs in the pickup bed, just in case. I never needed it, and it ended up being a hassle at border crossings. Some countries won't let you import fuel that way. I don't know about Canada.

How do you like the RRC vs. the D1?

 

I have no idea what any of that means. It sounds like I need to educate myself.

I love the RRC. I love it's looks foremost. But it's nice to have the simpler systems on it compared to the later D1's. I can't imagine dealing with potential electrical problems on a D2 or P38. Maybe I'm just paranoid.
Now that I've put different springs in it and done all the front end parts it drives great. The previous owner set it up all wrong. Spring spacers and stock length shocks. Worn out parts. It drove horrible before.

Tom, I do need to change all the oils before heading up. I tend to use thicker stuff because of our mild weather. And yes a gun or two is mandatory. I'll look into the trailer. I was trying to avoid that route but it might be a good idea.

 

Just watch alaska offroad and do everything that team rover did not.

 

Pick up a current copy of "The Milepost" for the drive.
The MILEPOST: Alaska Travel Guide and Trip Planner
I took 30 days on my first drive up there and am so glad I did, lots to see and no real time commitment made it really fun. LOTS of bug spray and head nets if you go up the haul road.
Think about getting a block heater.
Tenting is fine just be aware of your surroundings, a rooftop would be great. No handguns through Canada though.

 

Any reason why you could not go up in April or October 2015? Im making the trip to Alaska from New Hampshire in either April or October and Im looking to build a caravan.

 

I think you are coming from the east and I'd be headed up the Pacific Coast.

 

Driving South in late October could be an extreme adventure and camping will most likely be out of the question. Even April has a pretty high likelihood of snow in the mountain passes.

 

I don't know any route specifics, but April is worse than October in the passes. There's some passes that don't get cleared until late July or August. Early October is a safe bet, but late October there's some risk of closure. It depends a lot on the commercial value of the pass. Donner pass for example is kept open because the Interstate traffic is worth it. But Tioga Pass into Yosemite or Lassen Peak Highway for examples, are closed late and again early. Like I said, I don't know where you're going, nor am I familiar with Alaska, but seeing the nation and it's treasures, you will often want to be off the busy Interstates that may be open, but just connect cities via the most boring routes.