Friday, July 26, 2013

Prepping the New Beetle for the tough stuff

I have been asked several times about the preparation the bug underwent in order to complete the Alaska trip without mechanical failures or flat tires. Well, here it is:

It all started about 3 years ago when we bought the car. It was in really bad shape and needed a TON of help. I called BoraParts and ordered all the major service items:
Then installed them all. The car was much happier after the work was done, and I could trust it to get my wife safely to work every day. 

She told me she wanted it to be "beefier" and be able to withstand some of the road debris that had damaged her previous New Beetle, so I lifted it a little - 2":

 And then installed Bilstein HD's and VR6 288mm brakes. This significantly improved the driving experience!

 The car still wasn't ready to be called "beefy" though, so I installed the most important part - the skid-plate from Evolution Imports:

The car served us very well for the last 3 years in this configuration, and took us places like Death Valley, Pikes Peak, and Canyonlands in Moab Utah:

We had decided to go to Alaska and the New Beetle was the obvious choice for the trip. It was due for a few things like coolant hoses and filters, but what it really needed was tires. The General Grabber tires we had on it before were great, but I heard Alaska was a muddy place. I wanted to find something more aggressive, and was shocked to find that BF Goodrich made their Mud Terrain T/A KM2 tires in 215/75r15 - just one inch taller than what we had run previously. (Three inches taller than stock). I knew it would be close, but for that tread, the risk of tons of clearance work ahead made them worth it, so I bought a set:

 They turned out to be VERY close! I'm glad to say though that they work perfectly after very minor rubbing on the spring perch portion of the strut:

Clearance in the fenders was a major issue. I worked at it with a heat gun for quite a bit in order to get the liners away from the tires, but they finally took on a form that allowed the tires to fit properly:


And after much work - they fit!:

 It was all well worth the work, as we didn't suffer any tire damage over our 8,919 mile trip that included driving the full length of the Dalton Highway both ways:



Alaska Pics - the road home via the Alaska Highway

We drove home via the Alaska Highway and there was no shortage of wildlife along that route either! 

Here is a bear that wasn't scared off by us driving by:



And we sure are glad we didn't hit any of these bug guys!



Alaska Pics - Top Of The World Highway

Here is the Beetle at the Alaska sign near the Canada border on the Top Of The World Highway:


And here was crossing the Yukon River in the Yukon Territory Canada:


Thursday, July 25, 2013

Alaska Pics - Deadhorse and the Arctic Ocean!

This is the Deadhorse Mall, or more technically the Prudhoe Bay General Store, located at the North end of the Dalton Highway. This picture was taken just before midnight with the sun still high in the sky.

And the Arctic Ocean:



And you can't drive 5,000+ miles to Arctic Ocean without getting your feet wet!


 How's that for a cool offroad vehicle?


At out "Hotel"

Check out those MOSQUITOES!

And the whole reason there is a road there - Oil!




 I guess where trees don't grow, forests still exist! ;)


Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Alaska Pics - The Arctic Circle!

Here we are at the Arctic Circle on the while driving the Dalton Highway in Alaska. 


We camped there for one night, and ate great food despite the crazy mosquitoes. We also slept well despite the midnight sun!

And in the morning had the great pleasure to run into this guy that we had passed the night before:

 I thought driving a New Beetle TDI with 340,000+ miles on it to the Arctic Ocean was a bit crazy - until I talked with Julien with his 1976 VW Bus:

He is 3.5 years into his road trip that started with shipping his VW bus from France to South America, where he drove all over the continent before heading north and eventually winding up at the Arctic Circle with us! His story is INCREDIBLE!!! I highly recommend you check out their website:

Alaska Pics - Driving the Dalton Highway (Haul Road)

Driving to the Arctic Ocean via the Dalton Highway is an incredible experience - It may just be the coolest thing we did while in Alaska! :)

Our New Beetle atop the Atigun Pass:

Me atop the Atigun pass:

Both cars just north of the Brooks Range:

The Dalton as it stretches through the arctic tundra:





My sad, mosquito-loaded attempt at getting some pics:

 Coldfoot:


Some serious construction equipment:

More moose!



The Alaska Pipeline:



Permafrost:





Your worst nightmare while north of the Brooks Range: