Alaska bound!

95gtdude · Dec 3, 2007

Hey guys and gals,
The Air Force is sending me to Alaska (I not complaining trust me!) and I need to winterize my beast for the hard winters! I have to be up there by the end of Feb and the stang is going to be shipped up there. Any body know what I need to winterize it as far as block heaters, tranny heaters, etc.?
thanks!

go-stang5.0 · Dec 3, 2007

Yes a block heater is a must...I have no idea where to get an aftermarket one though. Dont forget snow tires. You will prolly need studded snow tires. Make sure your running a proper coolant mix, dont wanna crack the block. Thats just a few of the things I can think of off the top of my head.

Grady will chime in...he used to live in Alaska, so he can give you a better idea.

BTW enjoy...you will have some of the crispest, cleanest air to breath. And you'll need it too cuz the scenery up there will take it away.

95gtdude · Dec 3, 2007

Yeah I heard it's beautiful up there and I can't wait. not happy about the cold since I'm from florida but oh well.

Hef5.0weisen · Dec 3, 2007

AF huh, me too. Park the car, get a beater truck for AK Congrats on the cool assignment

95gtdude · Dec 3, 2007

Wish I could park it but it will be my only mode of transport til the summer when I get a new truck. Probably park it next winter though

baglock1 · Dec 8, 2007

Yeah, good luck with a high power rwd in AK. I was up there in Dec a few years ago and decided that if I were to live there, I wouldn't take the car.

However, to answer your question, get a block heater as all the bases up there have plug ins in the parking lots for the winter. Fill your windshield washer tank with alcohol, replace all the lubes (tranny, diff, engine, etc) with oil viscosity designed for the cold.

I'm planning on adding Eielson to my dream sheet next year. Where are you headed?

95gtdude · Dec 8, 2007

baglock1 said:
Yeah, good luck with a high power rwd in AK. I was up there in Dec a few years ago and decided that if I were to live there, I wouldn't take the car.

However, to answer your question, get a block heater as all the bases up there have plug ins in the parking lots for the winter. Fill your windshield washer tank with alcohol, replace all the lubes (tranny, diff, engine, etc) with oil viscosity designed for the cold.

I'm planning on adding Eielson to my dream sheet next year. Where are you headed?

Going to Eielson! going to maintain the new Aggressors! it's going to be awesome. Well I think I might ship it as late as I can so I can miss as much snow with it as possible. I'm deffinatly going to park it next winter, but I have no choice but to drive it right now. hopefully it won't be so bad at the beginning of March!

baglock1 · Dec 9, 2007

95gtdude said:
Going to Eielson! going to maintain the new Aggressors! it's going to be awesome. Well I think I might ship it as late as I can so I can miss as much snow with it as possible. I'm deffinatly going to park it next winter, but I have no choice but to drive it right now. hopefully it won't be so bad at the beginning of March!

At the very least, it'll still be sloppy in March but use some sense with the loud pedal and you'll be fine. The main reason I vowed not to take a car up there is I occasionally have to just stomp on it for a few seconds to remind myself what torque is. Up there, you can't do that for 4 months out of the year.

Some pics from my TDY:
View attachment 343262
View attachment 343264
View attachment 343265
View attachment 343267

View attachment 343271
View attachment 343273

What I'll be taking instead of the Mustang as my weekend toy :
View attachment 343275

95gtdude · Dec 14, 2007

DUDE Awesome pics!!! yeah man I can't wait. those pics got me pumped. but your totally right about the lead foot. I'm going to really have to watch what I do even if it's slushy and sloppy.

9646gt · Jan 7, 2008

Good luck up here in alaska! I am in the Air Force also and just started up here on my first PCS. We are from Tennessee and I can tell you, the cold is a shock lol. Will be worse for you. The stang will be fine around base if you are coming to Eielson. There are a few running around. I hope when summer gets here I can find me another stang up here but it isn't easy! All in all it isn't to bead but takes some getting used to. Shoot me an email or something if you have any questions. You can get the block heater installed on base at the service center. It's like 30 bucks for heater and 70 for install or you can install at auto skills if you feel comfortable. I did the block heater, oil pan heater and also a battery blanket. All can be bought and are pretty easy to install except for the block heater. Also look at tranny heater for the sweet ass ride Keep in touch!

blksn955.o · Jan 7, 2008

Alaska looks wonderfull. I have family there and family that makes its money from up there (own's the company that makes the crab "pots"). They always ask my mom when we are coming up to visit since not many family members go up there. We are trying to put together a cruise to go up there in the next year or so.

I would say get a jeep chero. with a manual trans. myself 4x4 with some room for locking things up and a manual to keep the auto from freezing up. 4.0's ROCK in those things too. I would not even want to deal with RWD only up there. I was talking to a retired AF Col. who was up there for a few years (back when they had a big quake in the early-mid 70's IIRC) and said it was really hard for some and others just loved it. The daylight/night thing messed with a lot of people.

Are those A10's stationed up there or static displays? Those are one of the meanest airplanes.

9646gt · Jan 8, 2008

blksn955.o said:
Alaska looks wonderfull. I have family there and family that makes its money from up there (own's the company that makes the crab "pots"). They always ask my mom when we are coming up to visit since not many family members go up there. We are trying to put together a cruise to go up there in the next year or so.

I would say get a jeep chero. with a manual trans. myself 4x4 with some room for locking things up and a manual to keep the auto from freezing up. 4.0's ROCK in those things too. I would not even want to deal with RWD only up there. I was talking to a retired AF Col. who was up there for a few years (back when they had a big quake in the early-mid 70's IIRC) and said it was really hard for some and others just loved it. The daylight/night thing messed with a lot of people.

Are those A10's stationed up there or static displays? Those are one of the meanest airplanes.

Yeah this place i really beautiful but the cold and snow gets old kind of fast when you work outside alot. I am a F-16 maintainer and am outside for long amounts of time. The A-10's are static in that pic. They used to be stationed here but just recently left. We became an aggressor squadron and they went to Korea I think. We are in the middle of trading F-16's with them now and are going to have the cool aggressor paint scheme. The arctic and black camo ones. Pretty sweet. My Auto seems to do great here even at the 40 below 0 we had a couple of weeks back. My power steering and even throtle cable was froze however! I don't have a heater pad on the tranny or transfer case yet either. One bad thing about a manual tranny here is that at the really low temps the ebrake cable can freeze and snap in two. But alot of people drive a manual up here. I prefer the explorer to the Cherokee to be honest. I have the 4.6 in a limited and its so great up here. I hardly EVER use the 4x4. They keep the roads great up here. But I could always buy the stang if he decides to sell!

Venom351R · Jan 8, 2008

Alaska is awesome, Id love to go there someday. Your lucky.

blksn955.o · Jan 8, 2008

9646gt said:
Yeah this place i really beautiful but the cold and snow gets old kind of fast when you work outside alot. I am a F-16 maintainer and am outside for long amounts of time. The A-10's are static in that pic. They used to be stationed here but just recently left. We became an aggressor squadron and they went to Korea I think. We are in the middle of trading F-16's with them now and are going to have the cool aggressor paint scheme. The arctic and black camo ones. Pretty sweet. My Auto seems to do great here even at the 40 below 0 we had a couple of weeks back. My power steering and even throtle cable was froze however! I don't have a heater pad on the tranny or transfer case yet either. One bad thing about a manual tranny here is that at the really low temps the ebrake cable can freeze and snap in two. But alot of people drive a manual up here. I prefer the explorer to the Cherokee to be honest. I have the 4.6 in a limited and its so great up here. I hardly EVER use the 4x4. They keep the roads great up here. But I could always buy the stang if he decides to sell!

I thought all the v8 exploders were AWD like the 5.0 ones? They are great but the only thing 4x4 that could get me away from one would be an cherokee, too bad they killed them what 5+yrs ago now.

BTW- thanks for serving and take care .

9646gt · Jan 9, 2008

blksn955.o said:
I thought all the v8 exploders were AWD like the 5.0 ones? They are great but the only thing 4x4 that could get me away from one would be an cherokee, too bad they killed them what 5+yrs ago now.

BTW- thanks for serving and take care .

Yeah I think most of them are AWD. But this one is actual 4x4. It stays in 4x4 auto and swtiches to 4x4 high is there is a loss of traction. Also has an actual button for 4x4 auto 4x4 high and 4x4 low.

blksn955.o · Jan 9, 2008

Preaty sure that is AWD or full time 4x4. My buddies mount. is the same way full time 4x4 but with a high/low selector or it will go high/low on it own (auto).

When the wife and I were looking at exploders and sport trac's the dealer and the wifes uncle (sr. master tech...as he says good for a fre .25 coffee), both his kids have v8 explorers as well, explained it too us that way and said all v8's were AWD or full time 4x4 and only v6's had RWD and then 4x4. This was the year before the 4.6 in the exploders though so I did not know if it was the same for the 4.6 v8.

Any of you guys been skiing or snowboarding up there? I have wondered what it is like up there...the furthest north I have been is Jackson hole and Steamboat.

Alaska bound!

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