I got the Cooper ST/MAXX tire that I destroyed on the Dempster replaced in Fairbanks at American Tire. The tire cost was higher up here and Discount Tire would only cover up to $223 so I ate about $100 of the tire replacement. I had to document the tire wear for the warranty and was surprised to find they had worn from 18/32 when new to 12/32 in only 5500 miles. The new tire has visibly more tread. At this rate, I’ll be buying a new set before we get home. Not cool! All the gravel roads we are running are tearing them up. Since the Dempster, we have run Top of the World Highway and part of the Taylor Highway, which are both gravel. We’ve run the Steese and Elliot highways which were 50% gravel and the Dalton, which is 75% gravel. I guess this is the price to pay to travel up here.
Oil changes are a maintenance duty I always do myself at home. This is tough on the road. I don’t want to carry and store a drain can and then find a place to dispose of the oil. The guys at American Tire were great and agreed to do my oil change on the Super Duty using my oil and filter for cost of of a half hour shop rate. We got the TJ’s oil changed at Mr. Lube in Wasilla since we’ve put about 3200 miles on it during this trip.
Brakes are another thing I usually do and that task is needed soon. I knew the Super Duty would need it at some point on the trip but I smoked the brakes hard on the Elliot going to Manly Hot Springs. I’m sure the heat fractured them. The rotors don’t seem to be warped so I picked up a set of pads at NAPA in Fairbanks and plan to find an out-of-the-way boondock spot and spend a few hours putting new pads on and rotating the tires. I’m going to do pads on the front of the TJ, too, and rotate it’s tires. The TJ is seeing a lot of day trips out and back on even less maintained gravel roads. It is a fun way to see places we wouldn’t have with the pickup.
I’ll need another oil change by the time we get back in the lower 48 but I’m hoping to do the one after that at our friend’s place in Nevada. I sure miss my garage but the adventures are well worth the sacrifice of paying for maintenance work for one year.