Do you keep original tires on rv when going to Alaska?

[Glenda2014]

We're planning a trip to Alaska in 2017....we bought a new Outdoors Creekside last June, have put about 5000 miles on it. Our first TT and we love it and can't wait to head out in May. My question is would you change out the original tires before heading to Alaska? Thanks in advance and I love reading about all of your experiences!

[ford-willy]

CHANGE THEM. I have many trailers, horse, flatbed, 5ver and TT. In my experience trailer manufacturers always equip trailers with a load range tire one load range less than the trailer should really have. So do change them before the trip, and step up one load range with the new tires. ---- I have the exact same situation for my May 3 month Alaska trip. I did not want to take my large Grand Junction 5ver and bought a second tandem axle 26 ft smaller camping TT. I am replacing the load range C tires on it now with a much stronger load range D tire just before the trip. I also carry a complete wheel bearing kit, and have installed a heavy duty lubable spring shackle kit. It also has Super Lube axles so I carry a grease gun to give the bearings a few pumps several times during the journey. ---- Have a great trip.

[Glenda2014]

Thanks everyone for the great advice! We will probably get new tires all around and take 2 extra spares for both. We don't want tire issues if we can avoid them. Thanks again for the help...

[lizzie]

We replaced the tires on both of our trips to Alaska. We also took two sets of spares for the truck and the TT. We were not as concerned about how they looked as how old they were. In both cases our TT was used and we did not know how many miles the tires had on them. On our first trip we did not have a flat ourselves, but "loaned" one of our spares to another camper. Last summer we did a lot of off road towing including the Dempster Hwy. We had two flats on the way home, one in Reno and one outside Grand Junction. We were so fortunate that neither incident resulted in any damage. lizzie

[Searching_Ut]

Personally I wouldn't worry about if provided they are newer, and in good shape. My 2012 Oudoors RV Timber ridge came with the Goodyear Marathons, which I believe are made in china, but held up really well. When I traded the trailer in the tires had something over 25 thousand miles on it and the tires looked great. My experience is trailer tires tend to age out long before they wear out unless you have suspension issues.

[Orion]

is it worth looking at Costco?

Good question , Gary. I remember reading somewhere years ago, that Costco Tires were classed as 'Club Tires' and had a shorter tread life. They were the same grade that manufacturers put on their new vehicles. This applied to Michelin tires, but could have been applicable to other brands, as when I mentioned this to my Mazda dealer, they said they had noticed that original tires had always worn out faster than their replacements.
I have never been able to find that info since.

[garyhaupt]

If you are buying new tires...is it worth looking at Costco? Reason being they have such a great return policy and with stores through-out your trip routing..maybe worth considering?

Gary Haupt

[sljohnson1938]

I would assume that a new trailer probably would have a cheap set of tires on it. maybe not, but as suggested to purchase a set of GOOD tires is not that much when you consider the cost of the trip. keep a couple of the other tires as back up in case you need them. I would take two tires as spares.
good luck.


on our Alaska trip last year (2016) I replaced all 6 tires on our truck.
not really sure if they needed it, but made me feel better.

[colliehauler]

TUCQUALA wrote:
OP's Creekside should have Goodyear ST D rated tires on it. It may have E range if option on trailer. ORV doesn't use the cheapest Chinese tires on their trailers. The Goodyears may be from China, or New Zealand, or the US. Never have had a Goodyear problem on 3 trailers. But you have to take care of pressures and inspections, like many don't!!!

I did not know what they came with. If they did come with Goodyear, I wouldn't worry about it.

[mockturtle]

I agree with Nodaker. Except for a long construction section in the Yukon, the roads are overall as good--or sometimes better--than those down here. Some of the unpaved roads I took, like the Denali Highway and the Nabesna road, were pretty rough and I probably wouldn't take the Nabesna Rd without 4WD. The Denali Highway is doable but don't plan to go more than 10-15 mph if you want your tires to survive. Sharp rocks embedded in the dirt. The Taylor Highway has a lot of frost heaves. I had no tire issues and traveled more than 7K miles.

[Nodaker]

My 2015 36' 5th wheel came with 'Towmax' tires which don't have the best reputation. I decided to replace them this past summer before leaving for Alaska. I chose the Sailun 637's. I kept the original tires and sold them this fall after returning from Alaska. That way I was able to travel with the regular spare plus an unmounted spare Towmax. That ensured I wouldn't have to replace a tire in a remote place at a premium price.

I also used a tpms system for the 5er tires.

I was also nearing time to replace tires on my truck so I also carried one of the 'old' tires unmounted in addition to the spare.

Bottom line, my precautions ensured that I had NO tire issues on the trip! 🙂

We found the roads not much worse than the lower 48. A few more rough & longer construction zones and a few frost heave zones but not bad. The key is SLOW DOWN and relax.

[PA12DRVR]

Just a suggestion or two from an Alaskan-local:

- I would suggest that for any given road type (i.e. divided highway, gravel road, chipseal road) that many of the roads in AK are slightly (slightly) worse than their L48 counterparts due to frost effects and (IMNSHO) lack of proper maintenance;
- Outside of the "Major cities" (ha, ha, but meaning Los Anchorage and Squarebanks), any given tire except the absolute most popular will be hard to find just due to minimal stocking.
- Similarly, wreckers and tire repair will be fewer and further between, although not non-existent.

I would suggest: a) having new-ish tires strictly due to the distance one travels from the L48 to Alaska; and b) having ideally two spares each for trailer and truck; although not unknown to blow two tires in quick succession (or possibly 4, don't ask me how I know), having a surplus spare in each size should allow one to get to a sizable burg with a tire shop that has (or can get) replacements or can do a fix. "Spare" btw means rim and tire.

Best way to prepare for tire trouble is to avoid it by driving at a reasonable (= slow) speed as needed.

[TUCQUALA]

OP's Creekside should have Goodyear ST D rated tires on it. It may have E range if option on trailer. ORV doesn't use the cheapest Chinese tires on their trailers. The Goodyears may be from China, or New Zealand, or the US. Never have had a Goodyear problem on 3 trailers. But you have to take care of pressures and inspections, like many don't!!!

[colliehauler]

I would probably replace mine if they are the cheapest Chinese tires available with the best one I could find. Tire trouble is no fun wherever you are, especially on a trip to Alaska. The cost of tires would be such a small expense compared to the cost of the trip.

[3oaks]

explorenorth wrote:

TenOC wrote:
The roads in AK are no different than the roads in the lower 48, but the distance between towns is much greater.

Many of the roads are different in that they use chipseal rather than asphalt. It's much coarser, and although it's not obvious on car/truck tires, on my motorcycle, I get FAR less mileage on tires on northern roads.

Obviously you are our out of touch with rural America in the lower 48 states. A lot of us still travel on "chipseal", crushed gravel and shale roads even down here.

[TUCQUALA]

Tires should be good, our Timber Ridge has about 5000 miles and they are close to new, in my opinion. As stated above, keep an eye on the tires and pressures.

Consider taking a second spare tire and wheel like your orig spare,just in case!! Also, double check your present spare retaining nut on the bracket. Many are not the same size, and sometimes not the same thread, as the wheels on the ground!! Need to make sure that you have a wrench or socket for both sizes, if different, or change out to be the same as ground wheels!!

I'm sure you have aluminum wheels on the ground, and a steel spare. Double check the wheel nuts to make sure that they will work on the spare wheel. They should, but better to know now than just outside of Toad River!!!!