Pan Ride This Morning...Finally!

[Buzz_Kanter]

My neighbor Dean showed up on his Panhead this morning for our Sunday ride to Marcus as planned. So I fired up my 1948 Pan for the ride. Hadn't started it since I rode it in Milwaukee last week and she didn't want to fire.

We messed with it a bit and finally got some gas in the carb and she lit up and ran fine....at least 10 miles then she suddenly stopped. All of a sudden. I pulled over to the side of the road and Dean pulled his Pan over in front of me.

It took me about 2 seconds to realize I had no electrics. No lights, not even a dim one on the dash. So I figured it must have been a grounding issue. Sure enough the battery ground wire had broken right where it connects to the frame ground.

Out with my small Swiss Army pocketknife and I had enough of the wire insulation stripped off to make contact, but the wire was a quarter inch too short. So I pulled out a wrench and loosened the connection at the battery and twisted the wire enough to get that extra quarter inch. I wrapped the wire around the frame ground post and tightened down the nut.

Voila - I had electrics again! Not too pretty and certainly not a permanent fix, but enough for me to fire the bike back up and ride it back home, where I swapped out to the 1949 Dual-Carb Panhead for the ride to Marcus.

I'll make a better and more permanent fix for the 1948 Pan ground wire later this week.

Sure do like those easy fixes and wish more problems could be solved that easily. Oh well....

[flthead]

why didn't you just get out your tool bag and a longer piece of wire ? ..... you do carry a tool bag with lots of extra stuff right ?

[rockstar]

why didn't you just get out your tool bag and a longer piece of wire ? ..... you do carry a tool bag with lots of extra stuff right ?

Fat wallet, "light-in-the-sneaker" tool kit I bet!

[Buzz_Kanter]

why didn't you just get out your tool bag and a longer piece of wire ? ..... you do carry a tool bag with lots of extra stuff right ?

I did pull out the tool kit from my saddlebags, but no wire. Can't believe it, but I put this kit together real fast the night before I dropped the bike off on it's way to Milwaukee for Harley's 105th.

Plenty of hand tools, electric tape, zip ties, etc, but NO WIRE! I'll add some right away. That way I'll make sure I'll never need wire for a road-side fix again.

[trashz]

Wonder if the fraying wire could had anything to do with the poor headlight problem you had recently?

[Bigincher]

And the dead battery?

[Buzz_Kanter]

Wonder if the fraying wire could had anything to do with the poor headlight problem you had recently?

I guess almost anything is possible, but suspect it is more likely an old and worn 3-brush generator.

[Buzz_Kanter]

And the dead battery?

I wouldn't consider the battery dead. During the day it was fine, but at night it was certainly dying a quick death when I had the lights on.

[rockstar]

.... but at night it was certainly dying a quick death when I had the lights on.

This is the case even for a GOOD 6v system.....Read up on it! You will find it most likely had NOTHING to do with your worn 3 brush generator UNLESS you believe in the tooth fairy too!

[flthead]

anyone running a glide headlight with 3 brush headlite [6 volt] there isn't a headlite currently made that works , all draw to many amps to keep battery charged . look in your shop book under headlite . i know from expeirence . lucky i found a old steel backed headlite and seperated the glass lens from steel backing and converted bulb to a springer type bulb . correct charging rate now with decent liting at nite