Alaska to Alabama in Brutus

I want to do a road trip in the worst way.

Have fun on the trip! A few weeks ago I drove from West Texas up to Utah, injectors stuck open and brought my trip to an end earlier than planned.

Spare fuel filters, fluids, and wheel bearings/grease will cover most potential issues.

TB58 said:

... I just signed out on leave and am departing Ft Wainwright now (1223 am 4 June). ...

Click to expand...

Safe travels! Excited for you all!

I plan to follow your adventure closely. I hope to do a long distance trip myself
in the next few weeks in an M35A2.

This time of year I tend to do my best driving during the night hours when there's
less traffic and the temps are a lot cooler. That's especially valid in SW climates.
Still... you'll have to keep an extra sharp eye out for road hazards along the long,
dark stretches of road.
Also... just a thought: Once you get heading east and just prior to sunrise... give
the windshield a good cleaning. The blinding sunlight is often bad enough, but the
view through bug-guts and 'splatter' can put visual strain into a whole different
category!

Keep us posted as you can!

Hope I don't repeat what someone already said; I'm stealing time at work and don't have time to read all of the thread.

If at all possible, have a chase car, either driven or towed. I'm not sure that you would have the horses to tow something; I think you're already maxing out that deuce. You're gonna have something go wrong and need a ride to a parts store, etc., GUARANTEED!

If you look at my avatar, you will see a '69 Bronco on a tow bar which would have been my ride if something had gone badly wrong when I picked up the M109 at Ft. Riley. When we picked up my M923 in Georgia and drove it to TX, it threw a belt and we fetched the replacement in the car my wife was driving behind me.

I applaud you for the courage to take a trip like that. You’re gonna have some good stories, mostly about overcoming problems. TAKE LOTS OF PICTURES!. We love to live vicariously through people like you and your wife.

PS On the Georgia trip we rented the chase car because it got better gas milage than anything we had sitting in our driveway.

i live in los angeles county off 10 freeway by the 605 freeway if you need anything go ahead and send a message

- I agree with KaiserM109's advice. A small front wheel drive on a tow dolly, or a CUCV on a tow bar would be perfect.
- Do you have the best muffler installed on your truck that money can buy? Afer 12+ hours, ear plugs will cause your ear canals to hurt like heck. Ask me how I know.
- Do you have any kind of communication between the cab and the camper? An inexpensive set of FRS or GMRS radios will work. You and your wife can share driving and resting with one of you in the camper.
- Do you have 12 volt power adapters in the cab of your truck? Buy some 12v DC automotive fans so you can keep cool. Keep a wash cloth in the cooler, and when you get really hot you can wipe down your neck and forehead. The fans will evaporate the water and your core body temperature will drop. That's how I survived living in Miami for a year with a car that didn't have A/C.

I take it has been a slow start or your trying to make hay due to a delayed exit. time for a post and pictures, if you hit a tornado I think you already have your shelter. Let's gets posting..

I was going to be towing our Subaru but ran into issues getting a trailer. Now I am wishing We had brought it.
Day 1 - Made about 500 Miles. No issues running great saw 5 moose, 1 Bear and a few porcupines. Other than a wicked head wind the weather was beautiful.
Day 2 - Alternator started to squeal about an hour out of Whitehorse. Tightened it up a few times but kept getting worse. We stopped about 30 min from Whitehorse to tighten again and it was smoking. I had the wife grab the fire extinguisher. I didn't see any flames so I tried water first. It kept smoking and sizzling. I decided to try to remove the line going to the battery bank in the living area. That fixed that problem. When I went to restart the fuel pump stopped working. The PO had rerouted the fuel from the bottom of the tank through an external pump up to the engine. I was able to make it to Whitehorse and spent the night to wait for Napa to open. No one in town had a 24volt pump so I picked up a generic 12volt pump at napa and installed it. This got me back on the road. I did not have the foresight to grab another set of belts. Turns out the spare set I had was in my garage not Brutus.
Day 3 - The rain started. It was raining on and off the whole day. Brutus ran well and I thought we had things under control. Saw more porcupines and rabbits and one black bear. We decided to spend the night next to Upper Gnat lake. This was about the 1000 mile point.
Day 4 - On my preflight I found the center axle passenger side hub seal leaking. Lucky I still had another set from what I had overnighted to me. I took a few hours and swapped it out and got on the road. The belt decided it had had enough. It squealed like crazy. It was slow going to keep it from squealing too much. Coming up from a river crossing we came across a 4runner that had gone off the road and rolled. All occupants were ok, their english wasn't very good and I don't speak Chinese. Other people also stopped and It was decided we would head south about 20 miles and talk to a guy who runs a towing outfit. We got there and also asked about belts. After going through a whole bunch of old rigs he found one that satisfactorily fit and got us back on the road. When I started Brutus to leave he reved up to about 2500 and dropped back to idle. It was weird but I dismissed it. Driving along things got worse. When I would push in the clutch the RPM would spike then drop. Finally I pulled over to check something and he died on me. It took a bit to start him and when he did catch he would surge. Up to 2500 and back to about 500 and continue like that. We decided to spend the night and deal with it in the day light. I looked everything over and couldn't find anything obvious. I looked into the tank and the fuel is a cloudy green color (winter Fuel?) I drained the primary filter and got a little water but no dirt. I eventually syphoned off the 35 gal that were in the tank and replaced it with the remaining 25 gal of Alaska fuel. I was able to start him and he ran decently but not near as well as before. Got down the road about 20 miles and here I am. We pulled over to close an access cover that came open. When I went to pull back on the road, I pushed in the clutch and he died. kinda at a loss right now.

Wish I had a lowboy!

Do you need to run a lubrication fuel additive with the ultra low sulfur diesels in that motor? Lets hope it's something simple but keep up on the situation reports when you can.

Your location updates are most important.

Good Luck and Happy Motoring!

Do keep the Advil close by!!

If your fuel was cloudy I would start with new filters.

I agree change the fuel filters when you can that would be a quicker fix, I'm concerned it may be that replacement pump,
keep posting, unless you picked up some bad fuel somewhere my bet is you have burned through anything in the tank, unless the bottom needed cleaned out.
keep posting location so we can assist in any way.

Also send us,a picture of truck, engine etc, post up the issues.

Hey if your in a wifi spot service you chat chat users on line for assistance, if we see your on the web. ok not sure how practical but there are some night owls out there that may help.

Changing the filters is the best thing. .hope you get back on the road

Turned out to be bad fuel. Got fewsh fuel in the tank and he is back to normal. Was a bit of a scare especially since contact was so difficult out there. Didn't help that it was 45 and raining. Got to Prince George about 4 am. Hit up the Napa and am grabbing a bite to eat then back on the road. Will be trying for some where near seattle as our next stop. Sorry for no pictures, the wife has them on her camera. Will get them up as soon as I can.

That's great news.

Glad you guys are back on the move

Totally awesome road trip. I drove my deuce 60 miles today felt great. 5 thousand miles yes I like it!!!!

That's good news with any luck your bugs are gone for awhile. Now enjoy the trip, we are enjoying the read.