Alaska 4x4 renters beware

Michigander

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Jul 20, 2020
Messages
112
Location
Michigan
Just a heads up for anyone heading up for the Haul road hunt. I placed a reservation with Alaska 4x4 in early April for a 2500 series truck. They had lots of trucks still available at that time so I thought we were good. We are heading up Sept. 1 so I called yesterday just to confirm all was well with our reservation. I was informed that they do not have anything besides maybe a midsize suv available for us even though we had a reservation. They said we were shit out of luck and go to u haul.
From the way they talked we weren't the only ones but they never called to let us know. If you think you have something reserved you may want to check.
 
Just a heads up for anyone heading up for the Haul road hunt. I placed a reservation with Alaska 4x4 in early April for a 2500 series truck. They had lots of trucks still available at that time so I thought we were good. We are heading up Sept. 1 so I called yesterday just to confirm all was well with our reservation. I was informed that they do not have anything besides maybe a midsize suv available for us even though we had a reservation. They said we were shit out of luck and go to u haul.
From the way they talked we weren't the only ones but they never called to let us know. If you think you have something reserved you may want to check.

We flew into Fairbanks at 2:30 am on the 8th and they had staged a 2500 for us in the rental lot. We were supposed to get a 1500. Other than fuel costs, it worked out well. Buy a pump and plug kit in FB though. A new tire in Prudhoe bay was 546 bucks.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Great point! If you have it you never need it. A buddy and I have the same truck and we have an extra tire just for this hunt. We also pack patch kits, and in the 5 trips we’ve never needed it. I am a firm believer in if you have it, you won’t need it. Don’t pack it, you wish you would have it!
 
Great point! If you have it you never need it. A buddy and I have the same truck and we have an extra tire just for this hunt. We also pack patch kits, and in the 5 trips we’ve never needed it. I am a firm believer in if you have it, you won’t need it. Don’t pack it, you wish you would have it!

We needed it twice haha!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
After many years of haul road trips I finally used my plug kit a few weeks back. Was pretty nice compared to changing the tire - took 15 min to plug and pump the tire then back on the road.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We pulled the tire and took to Prudhoe thinking it would be an easy repair… guy said too many wires were broken and it’s unrepairable. Sold us a new tire for 546.00. We didn’t have a plug kit.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Rent from Turo. Got a Suburban for two weeks up there - cost me $1600.

Comms from AK 4x4 here on Rokslide were terrible, when I called about booking they had nothing. Turo is where it's at.
 
After many years of haul road trips I finally used my plug kit a few weeks back. Was pretty nice compared to changing the tire - took 15 min to plug and pump the tire then back on the road.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
We had to plug two tires on two different vehicles, one had enough air to drive until we got to camp. The other we had to swap out, but at least we could fill it up and still have a spare for the return trip. Plug kits are so cheap and easy to use everyone should have one in their vehicle.
 
A plug kit takes up no room, and I have one in my 4Runner, but what are folks using to pump up the tire after repair if you are in the middle of nowhere? A regular old bicycle pump? That would work, but dang if it would not wear me out and take some time.


Eddie
 
Rent from Turo. Got a Suburban for two weeks up there - cost me $1600.

Comms from AK 4x4 here on Rokslide were terrible, when I called about booking they had nothing. Turo is where it's at.
Turo owners let you do the Haul Road? I’m surprised… I figured they would prohibit that.
 
I have one of the Viair 12v pumps stashed away in the box. I also have a Power Tank CO2 setup I’ll take on some trips but that obviously isn’t going to work if you’re traveling to Alaska.
I always throw in a dealt 20v max tire pump. You can use both batteries and the 12v plug in
 
Anchorage is an absolute crap show for rental vehicles in September. Completely unreliable. I knew this and booked with 3 different companies. Showed up to the counter and got told by two of the three that had a small SUV for me when a Tacoma TRD off road was booked. The third company said they could get me in a SUV for the first day and then a Tacoma was coming back the next day. Got lucky and returned the 2WD suv for the Tacoma the next day.

If you are booking in Alaska during hunting season use one of those private cars being rented out companies as the rental car companies are a joke there.
 
Turo owners let you do the Haul Road? I’m surprised… I figured they would prohibit that.
I'm sure some don't, but they have all "rules" or limitations expressly stated before you rent. This had none of the like and unlimited miles. It looked like it had been up and down the road quite a few times and had 120k miles or so. Was comfy, towed our uhaul trailer well, and we had no issues.
 
Back
Top