We left Skagway Tuesday morning. The first 15 miles were the hardest. A constant uphill climb. We went from sea level to 3300 feet. It is a well paved and maintained road with a lot of traffic, but still very steep. We had to pull over twice to let things cool down.
When we reached the top, first we crossed the US boarder we did not have to stop. When we crossed into Canada, we had to stop, but it was quick and painless.
Then coming down the mountain I had to stop at a pull out. It seemed like it took longer to stop and required more braking pressure than usual. I checked the hydraulic break reservoir and it was empty. I said to myself, “self, this is not good”. I had a small amount of fluid in a bottle, so I poured it in. It didn’t even make a dent. Having no choice I proceeded slowly using the “tow/haul “ feature that Ford has to slow the truck down using the transmission and engine. We finally reached a gas station in some town that is only a dot on the map. Of course, it was closed. So we trucked on, SLOWLY. Then we reached Jakes Corner. Jake had brake fluid at $9.00 a pint. That filled up the reservoir. Just in case, I bought another one for the road.
About half way to Johnson’s Crossing (where we knew their was a campground, restaurant and gas station) the breaks still did not feel right. Sure enough the reservoir was empty. Again, I said to myself, “self, this is really not good”. Then I crawled under the trailer to see if there was anything wrong. Sure enough, one of the brake lines was rubbing against the chassis and was leaking. We SLOWLY took off for Johnson’s Crossing to see if anyone could fix it. I guess I could fix it myself , if I had to, but I would rather leave it to the experts.
At Johnson’s Crossing they said there was no one who could fix it and did not advise going south because there was no one for many miles that could do the work. He suggested to go back north to Whitehorse, where there were plenty of repair facilities. We decided to stay the night and go back to the Whitehorse in the morning, only about 2 hours away.
We pulled into Whitehorse. They took a look at the breaks. They found two bad brake hoses. Now what. We could try to find the proper hoses (fat chance of that). We could plug up the front two brakes and just leave the other four in operation. Or I could wait until the next day, today, and contact the factory for the proper part. I did not want to go over any more mountains unless I have all the stopping power I can get. Since time in not a problem I decided to go with plan “B” and get the proper part. We are now parked in the parking lot of the garage with a 20 amp power hookup.
I emailed Ken, the service manager, at New Horizons with my problem last night. I new he would get into work early and as predicted, there was an email waiting when we got up at 6 AM (don’t forget the time difference). He had the part and suggested some alternate places to try to get the part. Of course, no one had them. They are now being shipped overnight. We have the tracking number and if the UPS Gods are in our favor we should have them tomorrow.
As long as we are here I am having them change the transmission and rear end oil, as per the manual. This poor little truck has been working SO hard and I do not want the people at Ford to have any excuse to deny a warranty claim.
I will let you know how all this works out in the next installment.
And this too shall pass.
Life is good on the Roan Road…
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