Running produce to Alaska

Got back from another trip that was plagued by break downs. I guess that cold weather is just hard on everything. Lost another airbag on the trailer on top of the Cassiar. I had a spare and figured I get it switched out in Whitehorse since I did not want to change it at minus 20 on the side of the road. 200 mls later the cartridge in the air dryer failed and froze. I had to bypass the dryer since I lost all air. Fun times in a cold dark night in the Yukon. Since my governor is part of the dryer I had to figure out a way to keep the pressure down too. The leaking airbag did help, but I ended up disconnecting my train horn and using the hand valve to drop the pressure. To make a great night even better my APU quit and I got to spent a very cold night in Whitehorse where the temperature dropped to -27.

The guys at New North Truck and Equipment had a new air dryer and installed my air bag as well. Not the cheapest fix, but I did not loose my load and still made it for on time delivery. The snow and ice ripped out the wiring out of the ABS sensor on the trailer. After I delivered and reloaded on Friday I got my APU going and was a happy camper to have warm food and hot tea again. After the snow storm stopped on Saturday I replaced the ABS sensor and fixed a leaking airline on the tire inflation system. It's going to rain the whole time I am home and I figured I rather lay in powder snow than mud. It was great until the wind picked up I got blasted by that nice powder snow.

The road is getting back and took four trucks in the last month. We had to rollovers, a head on and one truck that went off the road into the rhubarb. That are just grocery trucks and don't count the log trucks, bulk hauler and vans that were on their sides.

Tomorrow I get to fix a broken radiator shroud, coolant leak and a wiring issue on the trailer. I have to get my base plate in Olympia and see how badly I will get raped again this year. Last year's base plate was just over $4700.00 and then add Alaska and Yukon and it came to $6014.10 for a grand total.

 

I am glad you posted that. I will give them a call and find out.

 

We came through there Monday night and it was solid ice from Bell 2 to Bell 1 even going up Hnnah was pretty greasy and I kept breaking loose a lot of times. We stopped and spent the night in Smithers and hoped for better roads the next morning. I ended up chaining going up Hungry Hill into Houston. It finally got better after we got through Burns Lake.

 

It's warm and raining at home. I can't wait to lay under my trailer tomorrow to fix a wiring issue.

 

If you ever thought about running to Alaska and have a nice truck don't do it.
Here are some pictures of my tractor before the first trip. Mirror polished aluminium all the way around. Nice black frame and shiny paint.