Mz Dazy went to the Arctic Circle!

[mhaisten]

One of the goals from the get go with building MzDazy was a trip up the Dalton to the Arctic Circle. She did it! she struggled a bit on some of the climbs (12 mph in 1st gear). She has a Cummins 5.9 very slightly tweaked and the dreaded AT545 transmission. I know the trans was replaced with a rebuilt at some point, but I don't know when. On some of the grades the trans temp got up to 260 and I figured it would explode, but it never flinched.

You can check out a blog post on it at www.mzdazy.net/adventures

[dbsoundman]

Wow, what an adventure! How did you manage your speeds going down those grades without cooking your brakes?

[mhaisten]

I started the top of each grade in the 10 mph range and just braked hard at 25 and then coast back to 25. A couple of times they got pretty fragrant, but they never seemed be be fading away.

[o1marc]

I had to laugh at your Rated Cap. That means capacity or how any students. Yours holds 17 1/2 students? Sounds like a bucket list item checked off for that trip. I'd like to do a trip like that, but it'd be a bit longer fro Atl. than Wasilla.

[Bert06840]

Very cool. We are gonna do the New York to Prudhoe trip when we have gotten to know our bus a bit better.

I see you’re in Juneau. How the noise level with those knobby tires? On pavement, I mean.

[mhaisten]

It is a front engine and the tires are a long way back, so I don’t notice them unless I am coasting. The exhaust comes out right in front of the left rear tires. I can’t say I would want to drive beside me in that position.

[Bert06840]

I’ll be very interested in hearing how you fare on snow with them. Are they 22.5”?

And, what sort of budget range do they fall into?

Do you have less bitey (quieter) tires in front?

I lived in Europe close to the Arctic circle for 15 years and the tires they use over there are pretty damn good. But you need to put them in storage when it gets into the forties because they wear incredibly fast in warm weather.

[mhaisten]

They are Yokohama YO53. 22.5 11. They were $625 each. The should perform well in snow, mud, sander anything that can fit between those lugs. The fronts are a lot less aggressive but a little wide on the ribs to shed rocks.

[HamSkoolie]

Originally Posted by mhaisten

They are Yokohama YO53. 22.5 11. They were $625 each. The should perform well in snow, mud, sander anything that can fit between those lugs. The fronts are a lot less aggressive but a little wide on the ribs to shed rocks.

Haven't seen these particular tires but I've run street legal mud tires with the mountain snowflake logo to avoid chain requirements. First time I drove through some mud those big lugs clogged up and I had nothing better than slicks on oil. I wasn't dug in more than an inch or two but I wasn't going ANYWHERE.

Just something to keep in mind in regards to MUD and big lug tires that you'd think would be good.