Blog post #2
Tom takes the lead, Mike holds back wanting to watch how Toms shifted load handles at freeway speeds. Soon they are at 75 mph and Mike is becoming worried, not that Toms trailer is going to sway any more but that Tom is speeding and on questionable tires at that. Suddenly something blows out of Tom’s trailer landing in the gravel median; Mike quickly slams on the brakes and pulls over to retrieve someone’s favorite wind breaker. Seeing in his mirror that Mike has stopped, Tom pulls off also. While meeting to return the jacket the two men notice that Toms right rear trailer tire is almost flat. Mike comments how lucky it was that they had pulled off just as the tire was losing air, another few minutes at 75 mph and the least damage would have been a ruined tire, the most could have been a horrific accident. Let’s get your jack and spare says Mike, Tom’s blank stare tells the story, no jack, no spare, and no tire wrench. I don’t need that stuff, I’ll just call AAA or a local tire store says Tom as he gets out his Blackberry. Ten minutes later he says that AAA will call back within an hour to let them know what to do. Clearly exasperated Mike says look, were only an hour into our vacation, I have some tools and a jack. We can do this ourselves and be on the road again before you know it. Quickly Mike gets out his bottle jack and four way spanner, remarking how glad he is that the flat is on the shoulder side of the trailer instead of next to the high speed freeway traffic. See these cracks in your tire sidewall Mike points out, this tire is rotten, old age and sunshine have destroyed all your tires even though they have lots of tread. There are tire products to protect against ozone damage. Soon Mike has more bad news, all your lug nuts are rusted, when I force them, some may break off, or worse, break off later. Sure enough two studs next to each other snap off, were going to need an auto parts store and a tire store says Mike. Using his Channel Locks Mike pops the wheel bearing cap off and pulls out the cotter pin and bearings allowing him to remove the wheel hub. See these bearings says Mike, they are almost bone dry, another failure waiting to happen, and a burned out bearing at freeway speeds besides being hazardous can be very expensive if you have to replace spindles and hubs too.
The two of them take the kids with them in Mike’s car, leaving the wives alone and broken down beside the freeway. While Mike was pulling apart the wheel, his wife was calling ahead to locate a Tire shop and auto parts store. Luckily she finds what they need across the street from each other about ten miles further up the freeway. The wives have been best friends for years and this trips problems are not unexpected. While underway Mike explains the facts of life to Tom, first testing their friendship he calls Tom an idiot for thinking he could leave town without doing routine maintenance, furthermore he is risking his family and both their vacations. Next Mike explains fixing the one wheel is not enough, they need to do all four, Tom totally agrees sensing Mikes growing exasperation. At the tire store Mike leaves Tom to make the best deal he can buying four new tires, stressing to him that paying a little extra for trailer rated tires is preferable over cheap passenger tires especially if he expects to continue over loading and fast driving. At the auto parts store Mike places the hub on the counter asking for twenty replacement studs with nuts. Soon they are on the way back, they have been gone less than hour when AAA calls back, Toms cancels the emergency roadside assistance assuring the operator they will be OK. It takes Mikes only seconds with his hammer to pound out the remaining studs and tap the new ones in place. Not surprising Mike has with him a can of waterproof wheel bearing grease that he quickly applies to the dry bearing. Tom is quite pleased with himself, not only are they about to be on the road again, but he has not had to do a thing except get out his credit card. Meanwhile Mike is using his waterless hand cleaner thinking unspoken words. At the tire store, they get instant service when they arrive. Mike passes to the technician the remaining fifteen studs and nuts requesting that they switch them at the same time they grease all the wheel bearings including redoing the one Mike had done by hand.
