gregmchugh
Observer
We were camped at Teklinika campground 30 miles inside Denali NP in our GXV Patagonia for 2 1/2 weeks at the end of August and the day we left (the day before the campgrounds in the park close and the busses stop running) I heard a grinding noise when I started the truck but it stopped quickly and everything seemed normal. Looked around the engine but didn’t see anything unusual but didn’t tilt the cab to inspect it further. After about 3 miles heading out to the front of the park we got the engine overheat message and I stopped and pulled to the side of the road. Turned out the sound was a shredded serpentine belt so we were not going anywhere.
With no cell service, I contacted my daughter with a text message using our Inreach and had her contact the Park headquarters to let them know we were going to need a tow out of the park. A Law Enforcement Ranger arrived after awhile (we were about 27 miles into the park) and I gave him our Coachnet info and he tried to call them with his Sat phone but no luck. We let him know that we were self sufficient and could stay where we were without any problems. He gave us his cell number so we could set up texting to him with the Inreach. He went back to headquarters and called Coachnet and got their cell number so we could set up texting with them too. After he sent us the Coachnet number on the Inreach we proceeded to work with Coachnet to get a tow. We kept in contact with the Ranger to keep them up to date on what was happening with getting towed out of the park. A couple times park personnel who were going by stopped to check on us. I placed some flashing LED lights and road triangles in front and in back of the truck.
There were several false starts in getting towed out. We broke down on Wed around noon. Coachnet arranged for a tow for Thursday morning to take us to the Kenworth dealer in Fairbanks. That tow never showed up and they scheduled another for Thursday afternoon. That one didn’t show up and they arranged for one on Friday that also never showed up. They switched to a better tow service (Ben’s Towing in Fairbanks that does a lot of towing on the haul road all year around) and they showed within a few hours on Friday night at 11:00 pm with a super heavy duty flatbed and carried us to Kenworth getting there about 4:00 am on Saturday. There is a lot more to the story about the failed tows but that covers the basics.
Ironically, I had getting a spare serpentine belt on the list of things to do at the next visit to a Kenworth dealer but wasn’t too worried about it with only 25,000 miles on the truck. Turns out that shredded serpentine belts are very common in Alaska with all the gravel roads throwing up stones into the belts so carrying a couple spares is necessary up there.
On Monday the Kenworth dealer opened and they found out that there were no serpentine belts for our truck anywhere in Fairbanks so there was a 2 day delay to get the belt and I had them order two spares for me. On Wed they replaced the belt (and showed me how to do it). All you need is a long handled 1/2” ratchet to rotate the idler pulley while you thread the belt using the diagram on the side of the engine. Only trick is that one of the pulleys (the idler pulley as I recall) has an extra groove for a wider belt and the best alignment uses the position of the belt closest to the engine (at least on our truck).
Here is a pictures of us stranded on the side of the road in probably be nicest place I can imagine to be stranded (we went for hikes every day while we were waiting). We do happen to carry a spare cassette for the toilet which came in handy. We had not dumped the almost full cassette before leaving the campground since we were planning to fill the water tank and dump the cassette and grey water at the park dump station as we left the park.
Friday was the first day of the Denali Road Lottery so we were one of the attractions for the hundreds of vehicles heading into and out of the park. Also, here is picture of the low boy truck that finally got us out and to Fairbanks in this picture carrying a full size tour bus which happens a lot when rocks poke holes in the transmission pan. Their main work is towing trucks along the haul road all year around with most of the work in the winter when the truck traffic picks up. I added a photo from their website showing them recovering a flipped semi truck and trailer.
Bottom line, if you are going to travel on the gravel roads up north make sure you carry spare serpentine belts and know how to change them yourself. An Inreach is a good idea too when out of cell coverage...
With no cell service, I contacted my daughter with a text message using our Inreach and had her contact the Park headquarters to let them know we were going to need a tow out of the park. A Law Enforcement Ranger arrived after awhile (we were about 27 miles into the park) and I gave him our Coachnet info and he tried to call them with his Sat phone but no luck. We let him know that we were self sufficient and could stay where we were without any problems. He gave us his cell number so we could set up texting to him with the Inreach. He went back to headquarters and called Coachnet and got their cell number so we could set up texting with them too. After he sent us the Coachnet number on the Inreach we proceeded to work with Coachnet to get a tow. We kept in contact with the Ranger to keep them up to date on what was happening with getting towed out of the park. A couple times park personnel who were going by stopped to check on us. I placed some flashing LED lights and road triangles in front and in back of the truck.
There were several false starts in getting towed out. We broke down on Wed around noon. Coachnet arranged for a tow for Thursday morning to take us to the Kenworth dealer in Fairbanks. That tow never showed up and they scheduled another for Thursday afternoon. That one didn’t show up and they arranged for one on Friday that also never showed up. They switched to a better tow service (Ben’s Towing in Fairbanks that does a lot of towing on the haul road all year around) and they showed within a few hours on Friday night at 11:00 pm with a super heavy duty flatbed and carried us to Kenworth getting there about 4:00 am on Saturday. There is a lot more to the story about the failed tows but that covers the basics.
Ironically, I had getting a spare serpentine belt on the list of things to do at the next visit to a Kenworth dealer but wasn’t too worried about it with only 25,000 miles on the truck. Turns out that shredded serpentine belts are very common in Alaska with all the gravel roads throwing up stones into the belts so carrying a couple spares is necessary up there.
On Monday the Kenworth dealer opened and they found out that there were no serpentine belts for our truck anywhere in Fairbanks so there was a 2 day delay to get the belt and I had them order two spares for me. On Wed they replaced the belt (and showed me how to do it). All you need is a long handled 1/2” ratchet to rotate the idler pulley while you thread the belt using the diagram on the side of the engine. Only trick is that one of the pulleys (the idler pulley as I recall) has an extra groove for a wider belt and the best alignment uses the position of the belt closest to the engine (at least on our truck).
Here is a pictures of us stranded on the side of the road in probably be nicest place I can imagine to be stranded (we went for hikes every day while we were waiting). We do happen to carry a spare cassette for the toilet which came in handy. We had not dumped the almost full cassette before leaving the campground since we were planning to fill the water tank and dump the cassette and grey water at the park dump station as we left the park.
Friday was the first day of the Denali Road Lottery so we were one of the attractions for the hundreds of vehicles heading into and out of the park. Also, here is picture of the low boy truck that finally got us out and to Fairbanks in this picture carrying a full size tour bus which happens a lot when rocks poke holes in the transmission pan. Their main work is towing trucks along the haul road all year around with most of the work in the winter when the truck traffic picks up. I added a photo from their website showing them recovering a flipped semi truck and trailer.
Bottom line, if you are going to travel on the gravel roads up north make sure you carry spare serpentine belts and know how to change them yourself. An Inreach is a good idea too when out of cell coverage...
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