How to change a truck tire at 46 below zero: 'Don't panic'

Troy Call
Age: 55
Occupation: Heavy hauler, Dalton Highway
Past jobs: Construction, towing and recovery 

Baker's Knob, Alaska -- to those who run it, it’s known as the "Kamakaze Trail," that 414-mile stretch of mostly gravel road between Liverpool, Alaska, 80 miles north of Fairbanks, and Prudhoe Bay (aka "The Beach"). The road’s official name is the Dalton Highway. Some just call it the Haul Road. It’s a route replete with 12% grades and windstorms that can cause whiteouts for days, known to Alaskans as "blows." 

When a guy like me loses a super single tire in, say, Gary, Indiana, I put out some triangles, make a phone call, make a ham sandwich and wait for the tire guy. For truckers like longtime Dalton Highway heavy hauler Troy Call, the nearest road service might be 400 miles away -- a flat tire means it’s time to put on your insulated coveralls and go to work.

Troy CallThe morning of my conversation with Call was such a time. During his pretrip, he “found a flat on the inside left rear,” he said.

The tire was off the rim, so it looked like he was in for some work. Still, it was worth a shot with an air chuck. 

“Those Bridgestones are pretty good about beading back up once you put the air to ‘em. Not this time, though," he said. Starter fluid, torch, and "it beaded up good. I aired it up to a hundred pounds. As I was walking away I hear this, ‘KABOOM!’” 

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A blowout. 

“It didn’t damage the air bag, at least," he said. "So it was time to grab my insulated coveralls. I keep a spare mounted on a rim. I had 162,000 [pounds] on, so I grabbed two bottle jacks. They were froze up inside, so I grabbed the torch to warm them up."

He was working for a flat two hours to make the fix. “When it’s 46 below," he said, "you have to tell yourself over and over, ‘Don’t panic.' I’ve seen it as cold as 70 below.”

Events like these require skills that set the Troy Calls apart from the majority of drivers out here, including, frankly, this gearjammer.

“I’ve never wadded one of these [rigs] up. I have been in the ditch a few times, though,” he said. “But that was always during a blow. These days, if the radar shows there’s a blow, I’ll just wait it out in Coldfoot. I’ll wait a couple days if I have to."

The Haul Road is one of legend, inspiration for all sort of stories -- and songs like Singin' Sam Little’s “Kamikaze Trail”:

Trucking on the Kamikaze Trail
It’s enough to make an Eskimo bail!
Who’d ever thought that a bunch of flatlanders 
Would be truckin’ on the Kamikaze Trail? 

Incentives for the level of commitment required of Kamikaze Trail haulers are substantial. According to Call, “depending on who you work for and how heavy you get ... big rewards” follow. I couldn’t quite get him to go on record on just how big, but it’s safe to say his decades on the Haul Road haven’t been solely for the scenery.

[Related: High-dollar freight means high cost consideration: Heavy and oversize hauling]

Hauling often enough the equivalent weight of more than two maxed-out standard semi loads over one of the most treacherous routes in North America is no solo effort, though. Call maintains it takes a team.

Call saluted those who make all of it at least possible, including the home support of his, Valerie, "and my fellow heavy hauler/push truck driver, Richard Merrill, and my head pilot car driver, Big Mark Juzak.” 

Troy and Valerie CallCall had been surprised when I was admittedly incredulous at a reference he made to the old Singin' Sam song in our conversation. 

“You’ve never heard of Singin' Sam?" Call said. 

I was embarrassed to say I hadn’t. I came to realize later that not knowing Singin' Sam Little, the Haul Road trucker whose 2010 Alaska gubernatorial bid even graced the pages of this magazine, clearly pigeonholed me as one of the soft-handed lower 48ers.

Yeah, I’m definitely no member of this elite corps of truckers who change their own tires at 46 below.

According to Call, “You can only find Singin’ Sam’s CDs at one or two truck stops in Alaska, or on his website. 

“Sam still runs the Haul Road.” 

Speaking to me from a remote Alaskan slope via Starlink, Call was getting surprisingly good reception. Before I knew it, though, it was time to go.

“I’ve got to get off here and chain up," Call said. "I’m about ready to go over the Chandalar Shelf."

Troy Call uses "8-millimeter Tryggs" chains, he said. "They’re so heavy, all you can do is just basically drag them to the tires. These babies can really tear up some ice. I go through two sets every Winter.” 

He guessed he'd "be chaining [up] three more times today." 

After my own 4 million miles out here, I'll just have to accept that there are some trophy loads I’ll probably never ever get to haul. That load of feeder calves straight from Lexington, Kentucky, to Hugoton, Kansas? Probably not going to happen. 

Or how about that transnational load of goods from the Midwest all the way down to Mexico City? Maybe, but probably not. 

Lastly, that load of groceries from Seattle to "The Beach," aka Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. Well ... who knows? 

So here’s to the Troy Calls out there, the Singin' Sam Littles, all those Kamikaze Trail hands out there still getting it done.

Drop me a line some time. 

[Related: Close encounters on the Alaskan 'Haul Road']

More in Long Haul Paul Marhoefer's "Faces of the Road" series of profiles and oral histories.