Preperations for the trip Alaska to Florida

[51Hog]

As a lot of you know, I rebuilt my fathers 51 fl from the ground up, and did it as close to original as possible.
She is running great with the exception of fuel economy. Very little oil consumption. I have about 4000 miles on her now, and have most of the bugs worked out.
Tranny is working great.
6 volt system
M35 Linkert
Solid lifters


The problems that I have are:
Fuel economy-
Bulbs burn out, or shake apart-

What Mods would you all make to the ol gal in preparation for a 6000 mile 1 way road trip?

My Son is going to buy a "Sofa with wheels" to make the trip with me.
Says he may pull a trailer with it. That way we can take comfortable camping gear--Cots and chairs etc...

We are planning to do this next spring stopping to sight see a little on the way. Maybe visit some of you that are close to our route. We are thinking that we will go from Anchorage through Washington to Vegas to Dallas area to North Florida and Down to Key West. We are planning to take about 6-7 weeks to do it. I will ship the 51 back home and my son will sell his bike in south Fla.

[fourthgear]

LED bulbs for the taillight if its whats giving you the burn outs . If its the head light , can't help ya on that one, but others here that use six volt systems will . Fuel mileage could be a lot of things , If your running points , get one of those electronic ign. for your stock timer , it should help and I think they make them for six volt-ers and it won't alter your OEM look .

Sounds like a cool trip, I'm in north Florida , let me know when your coming down , might take a ride to the Key's with ya. Depends on work , it looks like I'm going to go back . This beach bumming is getting old and the moneys is always a good thing . ( I need more Panheads )

[51Hog]

Thanks,
As the trip gets closer, and we lock in a date, I will let you know. Even if you can't take off, I am sure we could meet for lunch or something. It would be great to put a face to some of the cyber friends. Nothing like an in person meet----
I wonder if anyone makes a 6v headlight with the replaceable bulbs....not sealed beams.

[john HD]

a couple of thoughts,

solder up the main jet and try numbered drills unitil you get mileage in the acceptable range. mine has the main soldered with a #55 drill if i remember correctly. (lemme check on that before you try it)

there are halogen 6 volt bulbs available, i have one on the shelf and you are welcome to it. however, it draws quite a bit of current. if you are not running a 2 brush setup i would not try it. as for the rest of the bulbs i would just carry 2x the spares.

some of my favorites to carry on a long trip:

visa/mastercard
a CO2 tire inflator
tire irons
spare points and a known good condensor
plugs
quart of oil
tape
razor blade or a good knife
about 3 feet of wire
fuses if you run them
elcheapo wire connectors of various sizes and something to crimp them with.
master link for rear chain
allen wrench that fits the lug nuts

that's about it.

john

[mogman]

I'm not sure what it is about Panheads and Key west, I was planning to take a trip on my 58 Duo-Glide from S. TX to Key West this year to celebrate OUR 50th birthday, not really sure why, just wanted to do it. But alas it looks like it will be next year, I still have a few issues with the Duo-Glide (piss poor mileage is one) and the time of year is getting too late.
Hint to all you folks that do not live along the coast as we do... hurricane season is a real bad time to be in key west. I can think of several scenarios that would spell disaster including traffic moving too slow and toasting the Pan/driver. and not enough fuel available to get off the island just to name two...We live just far enough away from the coast that only a cat 5 storm would endanger our lives (well that's our story anyway) but we do live on an evacuation route and when a storm enters the western gulf we sit up front on the highway and are simply amazed at the dog and pony show that occurs right in front of our eyes, the best and worst mostly the worst in human behavior.
Craig

[mogman]

SORRY I kept getting a message saying there was a failure in posting, again I am sorry for the multiple post
Craig

[51Hog]

I thought that you were just trying to make sure that we got your point! LOL

If our timing is right, maybe we could meet up somewhere. I plan on stopping in the DFW area.

[john HD]

SORRY I kept getting a message saying there was a failure in posting, again I am sorry for the multiple post
Craig

got it fixed, looks like the server is in debug mode.

john

[fourthgear]

If your on two wheels , the escape traffic won't be a problem . All of Florida gets effected when a big 'H' comes our way . I would say that if you were out of doge ( Florida ) by late Aug. you should be OK. It seems we get the worst near Sept . ,But I wouldn't bet my life on it , you mus-sent fool with Mother Nature . With my new job, I have to go to work for a " H " warning and stay for the duration , double time when working and time and a half while sleeping .

[51Hog]

If your on two wheels , the escape traffic won't be a problem .

Until some clown opens his car door---

[FlatHeadSix]

Dale,
The list of "must have" items could get pretty extensive, unless the roads have improved considerably between Alaska and Washington. Are you going to ferry any coming down the coast?

I'll add a few things to the good list that John started. I'm sure you are going to start the trip with at least new chains and new tires, here are a few more tool box items: A few extra lug nuts to go with the big allen wrench, a tube of LocTite, a small grease gun, and a chain breaker/repair tool. I'm sure the list will grow, its a good thing that junior is planning to be your support vehicle, he might need a big trailer behind his recliner-on-wheels.

You'll probably head straight east out of Dallas and avoid Arkansas, but if you decide to jump up and take I-40 east through TN you'll go right by my place about 30 miles east of Little Rock. The shop is always open and the coffee pot is always full. If you need an oil or tire change or anything else I should be able to hook you up.

mike

[51Hog]

Yea, the must have items will grow for sure.
No Ferry, The roads are great now. The last time I drove them, I just ran into about 25 miles that they had just stripped the surface off of.
I keep telling my son if he picks up the gold wing that he is looking at, he will need to pull tandems ----one of them for his spare parts, and the other for the camping gear--LOL

Thanks for the invite--

[Panacea]

Maybe you could get someone to drive a "support vehicle", I went on a long trip out west with a large group once(12),one of the guys hauled his bike on a trailer as far as Sturgis. He also hauled all our camping gear, coolers,etc. which made for a much more enjoyable ride out there. Once there we all rode out thru Wyoming and Montana then back to Sturgis for the second weekend, Then loaded up all the gear back in his truck for the trip home. It's nice to know if somebody has problems you can always load him up without screwing up the trip....

[pan50head]

51 hog, just curious, why are you not using an M74B? Would an M74B help your mileage?

[51Hog]

The M 35TP was on the scooter when I got her. You guys tell me if it ts better to use the M74B. She runs great now, Starts easy, as long as I don't let her fart while starting. She needs a good strong kick to get her moving, First time almost every time. After Pushing through the choke kicks.