planning of 55 road trip to all 50 states (3 Viewers)

[sofj45]

Actually, unless you are gonna truck it to Anchorage to ship it south to Seattle or LA to ship it to Hawaii... North Pole ain't gonna be the end of the trip.

Mark...

no that will just be the official end of our road trip. Will be at our place outside healy for a bit once up there my dad is outside delta junction. depending how much time i have once up there we may cruise around for a week or so. take it down to Whittier hop on the Ferry down to Bellingham.

 

[sofj45]

You all are welcome in Southern Illinois too. The Shawnee NF and Crab Orchard NWR are here. So is Voodoo Cruisers . We road trip long distances in our pig but use a small trailer. It makes a big difference with useable interior space. Good luck with planning and let me know if you are heading this way.

View attachment 3584162

we will be in coloma and benton harbor mich, then head around to Hines Illinois just at the edge of Chicago to at least have a picture at the Edward hines veterans hospital. Before moving out of Oregon we owned the 1929 edward hines lumber company office building in Hines oregon that we were running as a traditional bed and breakfast. spent a lot of town on the history of he company and Edward Hines.

 

[Mark W]

no that will just be the official end of our road trip. Will be at our place outside healy for a bit once up there my dad is outside delta junction. depending how much time i have once up there we may cruise around for a week or so. take it down to Whittier hop on the Ferry down to Bellingham.

LOL, I deleted all of that with the new edit almost as soon as i wrote it when I saw that you were well familar with AK.

Mark...

 

[4Cruisers]

well made southpoint didnt make green sands beach.

When my wife and I last visited Hawaii we drove down to South Point and hiked over to the green sand beach, There were quite a few people there, but most of them paid to have someone drive them over, so our hike was pleasant and pretty quiet. The hike down to the black sand beach on the north side of the island was nice also.

That was the week with the two hurricanes and the earthquake NW of Waimea that shook the hotel strongly enough to wake us up.

 

[PabloCruise]

I took the family of 5 down to the 48 and back in the Pig in... maybe '95. AC would have been nice but other than that is was not bad trip. Was running dual alternators and it turned oput the be a good thing when one failed. Carrying an extra fuel can too... which also turned out to be good idea as I was trying to make Deese lake on the third day. Even with the extra fuel, I was shutting the engine off to cost the downgrades and crossing my fingers. Probably would not do that now, but I was young(er) and dumb(er) then.

Mark...

Awesome adventures!!!

 

[sofj45]

the typical rabbit hole of working on a cruiser. where to stop. replaced rear leafs, added airbags, had to cut exhaust short and angle down while i wait for new manifolds to show up. then all new stainless exhaust front to back to re route around airbags and figure out a way to sneak past the 50 gallon tank. at the same point cant wait to get rid of the dual cherry bombs.

 

[scrapdaddy]

When you get to the airbag install, I'd like to see some pictures of your mounting, I've been thinking about getting some in the rear.

 

[sofj45]

When you get to the airbag install, I'd like to see some pictures of your mounting, I've been thinking about getting some in the rear.

i used the boss airbags setup. ive put them under acouple cruisers now and have zero problems. slocruisers has the best price on them. they make two setups one for lifted setup which is 3 billow and then the stock to 2" which is 2 billows. ill get some pictures tomorrow weekend when i pull tires back off. its acouple hour install. loosen u bolts, remove bump stop and the brackets bolt in place.

 

[riderjgs]

When you get to the airbag install, I'd like to see some pictures of your mounting, I've been thinking about getting some in the rear.

God forbid you lighten the load instead! Beefier axles and air bags are the answer. Who cares about back injuries? If some is good, more is better and too much is just about right.
Happy Trails...after years of advocating for N. Nevada I'm bummed that the 2024 Pig Party is most likely out of the question.

 

[sofj45]

God forbid you lighten the load instead! Beefier axles and air bags are the answer. Who cares about back injuries? If some is good, more is better and too much is just about right.
Happy Trails...after years of advocating for N. Nevada I'm bummed that the 2024 Pig Party is most likely out of the question.

running the bags at 5-7 psi just to keep air in them while everyday driving as its a DD not a garage queen then with the full 50 gallon tank in the rear that's already a lot of weight so bump the bags to 15 with the flip of a switch when full tank of fuel. Springs are stock 60 springs so fairly light no overloads or helpers, had to move the holes on perch mounts to accommodate the offset of the 60 spring vs the stock 55 spring but easy enough. Would have went 55 springs but the 1500 dollars i saved going 60 springs was worth the hour of moving acouple holes. but yes the idea was a little extra help in the rear would be nice when we have 5 people in it for a month of driving and the gear and full tank of fuel. which will probably be less than 1/2 the crap the 90% of the bolt-on overland monkeys have.

 

[riderjgs]

running the bags at 5-7 psi just to keep air in them while everyday driving as its a DD not a garage queen then with the full 50 gallon tank in the rear that's already a lot of weight so bump the bags to 15 with the flip of a switch when full tank of fuel. Springs are stock 60 springs so fairly light no overloads or helpers, had to move the holes on perch mounts to accommodate the offset of the 60 spring vs the stock 55 spring but easy enough. Would have went 55 springs but the 1500 dollars i saved going 60 springs was worth the hour of moving acouple holes. but yes the idea was a little extra help in the rear would be nice when we have 5 people in it for a month of driving and the gear and full tank of fuel. which will probably be less than 1/2 the crap the 90% of the bolt-on overland monkeys have.

Message was meant for Ron, who has more than a little experience with heavy loads. Jealous of your trip. Onward…

 

[sofj45]

When you get to the airbag install, I'd like to see some pictures of your mounting, I've been thinking about getting some in the rear.

before, during and installed.

 

[scrapdaddy]

I'm being lazy here, but with the air lines, is there just a valve stem for each side?

 

[sofj45]

yeah run them wherever depending how you want to set it up. the lazy cheap way that ive seen a lot of people run is using the valve stem as license plate bolts. which works ok tell everything is filthy dirty, plus depending where you live and weather and snow build up and mud and all im not a fan of the rear bumper area. my suburban and 60 i did bags on i drilled holes in my fuel cap area so they were always out of the weather and clean and easy to get to behind the door. This pig i ran them up and inside and hooking up a onboard compressor under driver seat then it will just be a switch on the dash with a gauge for air pressure in bags. plus then i will also have on board air for tires and if i decide to go air lockers in the future.

I'm being lazy here, but with the air lines, is there just a valve stem for each side?

 

[scrapdaddy]

Nice, yeah, I'd put them by my compressor in the back.

Thanks!

 

[sofj45]

figure 4-5 hours by the time your done. if everything goes smoothly it could be less. i completely remove the outside u bolt loosened the inner enough to pick it up and slide the bracket under. then installed the top two bolts where bump stop was not tight just in. then put outer u bolt back on. line it all up and tighten everything back into place. i was surprised with mine that all bolts and nuts broke free easily and no problems on that front. just the exhaust that i ran into to cut out and next week will take to the shop and we will run all new stainlessness.

 

[scrapdaddy]

I just looked at his website, three left in stock. It doesn't say, but I'm guessing the bags will correct cruiser lean, which I've developed the past year.

 

[sofj45]

The dang broken leaf spring is still costing me money, but ill atleast get something out of it. first one in the works with probably another 3 to be made from it.

 

[bobm]

Don' wanna drop that HOT TOTTY

 

[sofj45]

on a different note new exhaust parts are showing up so hopefully get that knocked out in the next couple weeks. full stainless front to back with a walker quite-flow muffler. want it to be nice and comfortable to drive. the 3 inch magna flow on the 71 was fun for awhile but i like to be able to hear when something sounds off.