Yukon Ho!

[JCMatthews]

This may be a little premature, but my wife and I are planning on a return trip to Alaska. Before we were married my wife spent three summers near Denali National Park working. The summer we were first married we went for two months and did the same. We drove my XJ and drove a little over 9,000 miles in two months.

The plan:
Sell our '97 Cherokee.( Which I have listed on KSL.com and have had such great responses that it should go this week.)
Pay off current debts by May.
Work on our '01 Expedition and turn it into more of its name sake (to be discussed later in another thread)
Modifications to the M416 (to be discussed later in another thread)
Summer of 2012 (if the world hasn't ended) spend at least 1 month on the road traveling with Alaska our goal.

The difference this time is that we will not be working, and we have three kids. I also know that our Expedition is not the choice many would make for an expedition rig, but it gets about 18 mpg, is very comfortable on the road, runs on 33X12.5 (metric of course), and has the air ride suspension that lifts itself about 2" in 4lo. The best thing is that it is paid for, and that frees up money for a few mods and money for the trip. I don't want to be making car payments when we could buy an RTT for the trailer, or some other cool equipment.

Wish us luck we are in the early stages, and for me to be patient will be rough.

 

[02TahoeMD]

Nothing wrong with using something you already own for your travels, and I think a 2001 Expedition will work just fine for you. That is the last body style for the Expedition that still looked like a proper truck instead of an overgrown car, I drove one around the north side of the Arizona Strip around 2000 and enjoyed it immensely.

Good luck on prepping for your trip, I hope to make the drive to Alaska some time over the next two years....

 

[OTR]

I just spent last summer (June, July, August) camping in Alaska in a prop-up truck camper. Sounds like you know what your getting into. The only problem is that extensive tent camping in Alaska with a family can get old kinda of quick. The average high was 60 and the low was around 40-45. There was not a night we didn't need a heater in the camper, so I suggest warm cloths and sleeping blankets. We also had a ton of rain on the Kenai Peninsula, about 5-7 days a week was rain. If you have any questions or need some suggestion feel free to PM me.

 

[JCMatthews]

We have camped quite a bit with the kids. I just finished a run as a boy scout leader where I camped 42 consecutive months with the boys. We had half a dozen week long trips. However rain gets old, and even though our tent is huge, and our kids resilient it is going to be tough. luckily we know some people there with a huge home and hope to be able to stay there a few days maybe a week and use their place as a base. We will see what happens. If we have to get a room and dry out we will. Tents are also not bear resistant, so that is another concern.

 

[JCMatthews]

Air ride Expedition suspension question?

Anyone know how the front of an air ride Expedition lifts. Is it the shocks? If so can I put on longer air shocks if I do a torsion turn and a spacer in the rear? I'd like to get and 1 1/2" to 2" more lift on it and still be able to have the vehicle raise in 4 lo, or is 2" all you can get out of an IFS front end?