Broken Montana in Deadhorse, AK

[bob n pam]

When we got here we started having a little trouble with our big slide and Bob noticed a broken hanger underneath the trailer. Since we had been told there were no public services here at Prudhoe Bay we thought we could make it back to Fairbanks if we were careful, but we got about 5 miles down the road and the trailer just wasn’t tracking right, plus the driver’s side wheels were too close together. We called one of the places in Deadhorse (luckily we still had cell service) and were referred twice more to the CMH2Hill light duty shop and they were agreeable to taking a looksee. The looksee revealed a broken frame as well as a broken hanger. Brock, the welder, said the frame already had an old crack and the new one broke it. The rear of the trailer was about 3” lower than it should have been. Thank goodness it is the summer season here as they wouldn’t even have been able to give us the time of day in the winter. Not that we would come up here in the winter. Brock said it was good thing we had the problem here because the North Slope has just about the best welders in the world and enough steel to completely rebuild the rig if necessary. We took it in at 7:30 this morning and it was all fixed by 4:00 better than new. He checked the rest of the frame and hangers over and said it all looked okay. The only thing that needs replacing are the bushings in the springs. I am so grateful that it was something that could be fixed and that there was someone who could fix it. Moral of the story is if you take your rig on the Kamikazie Highway (the truckers' name for the Dalton Highway) go so slow you could have walked instead!

Pam

[Bill-N-Donna]

Sounded pretty bad to begin with but as I kept reading the story got much better. Wow, what a scary event that must have been. I'm glad that everything turned out ok for you guys and you was able to get it taken care of; especially the same day. Hopefully the bushings won't be a major problem to get fixed.

[HamRad]

Bob n Pam,

Sorry to hear of your troubles. Glad you got it fixed relatively easily. I have not heard of the new frames breaking. I know they had trouble with some early models but that is when they were still using the smaller I-beams.

Now the hangars and shackles that's a different story. Many problems with those! Get them changed as soon as you get somewhere that they have them! Otherwise you're liable to end up with more problems. No fun! And by all means change out the shackles not just the bushings and spring hangars. Get the heavy duty ones.... not the OEM.

Good luck.

HamRad

[dsprik]

Pam, you guys are much braver than I for trying that Dalton Hwy run to Prudhoe Bay. Just watched the "Tougher in Alaska" episode where they made that run in a semi. Very rugged terrain...

[Icehouse]

I don't understand why you wouldn't come up here in the winter??????
Tammy

[Snownyet]

Does anyone else see the irony of breaking down in a town called "Deadhorse".

[bob n pam]

Snownyet, I do!! That's one of the versions of how Deadhorse got its name; i.e., a dead hauling horse. When they allowed drinking up here (no alcohol, no drugs at all) they had a saloon called the "Happy Horse".

Thanks Hamrad for the recommendations. We'll make sure to upgrade when we get the rig in for repairs.

We're off to Fairbanks today. Wish us luck!!

[adelmoll]

Hey... What's happening? We haven't heard anything for a long time.

Helen

[bob n pam]

Helen, been busy, busy and resting after the Haul Road adventure. Took the Monty in yesterday for replacement of the bushings and ended up with new equalizers, new nylon bushings and new bolts. We had all of that replaced in 2003 and the bushings were just little scrawny plastic things and the bolts had hogged out the holes so much everything had to go. We're glad to have it done now and avoid further problems down the road.

Our trip back to Fairbanks was great. We took the road much slower and saw so many caribou grazing and luck of all luck saw two different herds of musk oxen, one so close to the road we could hear a big guy crunching the leaves as he ate. They are such interesting animals. Coming back into Fairbanks I felt a little shell shocked at all the traffic and people after 9 days in "the wilderness". We are treating ourselves at the River's Edge RV Park with full hookups and cable TV so Bob can watch the Olympics. We will leave here on Sunday heading for Tok and Chicken.

I forgot to mention that when we got back the truck and Monty were completely covered top to bottom and front to back with about an inch of mud. It was so thick on the overhang at one point that when I walked under it just plopped on my head like a big bird had flown over. It cost us $80.00 at the car wash to get it clean and we still have mud on parts of the underneath.

Pam

[HamRad]

Bob and Pam,

Sounds like you got the stuff replaced just in time. Hopefully you'll be good to go for many thousands of miles.

Happy travels to you.

Dennis

[adelmoll]

Laughing out loud at the mud Pam. I think we are still cleaning it off the underside of ours after two years. Most of ours came from traveling the Top of the World Highway in the rain. We found a fellow down in Hyder that washes the underside. He actually crawls under the rig and scrubs. He charged $80.00 and we tipped him on top of that but we still have some stuck there.

Glad you got back safely... Enjoy Chicken.

Helen

[rames14]

Glad everything is working out. Deadhorse is one of the places I want to visit in 2013 when we go to Alaska. Just to be able to say you camped above the Arctic Circle. Have a safe trip back. Are you going to be at the rally in Goshen? If so, please bring lots of pictures.

[sunshineduo]

My brother and I rode our motorcycles from Spokane, WA to Deadhorse in the summer of 2005. It was one of the most incredible adventures I have ever been on. I was wearing a helmet camera and took 21 hours of video along the way. Someday I may get the video and hundreds of digital pictures condensed down to a work of art presentation .
To read that you got your Monty up there just impressed the daylights out of me. To read that it suffered a breakdown didn't surprise me. I remember getting slam-dunked and battered by that road a couple of times along the way and the vast emptiness of that landscape was both striking and daunting when it came to the realization of how alone we were should something break or someone get hurt. We met and helped another cyclist who'd broken down and got him to a pump station while he waited (days) for another ride out.
Congratulations on getting up there and back (did you get a Polar Bear certificate???) What a great adventure that must've been.
I'm thankful to hear that it all worked out for the best and that the repairs were exactly what you needed.

I don't mean to 'plug' stuff, but the trip to Alaska was a highlight of my life and if you can get there, by all means do so

A couple of videos are at www.tygertech.com and the still pics are at http://travel.webshots.com/album/396806274ipnYkV

[bob n pam]

rames14, We won't be at the rally in Goshen. In fact, we are still in the Yukon Territory in Dawson City. We probably won't even cross the border until sometime in September. I can email some pics of our Dalton Highway jaunt if you would like to see them. Let me know. If you want to camp above the Arctic Circle you only have to go as far as Coldfoot, which is 250 miles from Fairbanks on fairly decent roads. There is a nice BLM campground there.

Sunshineduo, we saw quite a number of cyclists on the way to and from Deadhorse and thought they were all nuts. They were completely, and I mean completely, covered in mud. I know if they stood still and dried they would look like statues! But, boy, did it look like a great way to see the country. What an adventure that must have been for you and your brother. A little like taking out across country back in the old days not knowing what was out there. We didn't get a Polar Bear certificate, but we did do a pinky dip!

Pam