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Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Another near disaster averted

As promised, our latest near disaster!
I'm beginning to wonder each time we take a trip, "what's going to happen on this one!"
Out of our first 5 trips, 3 have had near disasters, and this one was no different. We left Toledo Monday morning, got just over the border of Michigan, and I said to Craig, "Let's get an Egg Mc Muffin". So we pulled off the highway and there was a McDonald's in front of a truck stop. There was not enough room in the parking lot for us, so I pulled into the truck stop and drove all the way around it and parked near the exit drive. Went in, got our food, and walking back to the mo-ho, noticed the rear tire on the drivers side looked funny. As I got closer, I realized the 2 nuts that hold the cover on the wheel were gone, and the cover was barely hanging on because we had value stem extenders put on and they attach to the cover. If not for them, the wheel cover would be gone.

Can you imagine this big sucker coming off on the highway? It could have caused some serious damage had it hit someone.
So I got out the tools and disconnected the valve extenders from the wheel and put the wheel in side the mo-ho. Then to keep the valve extenders from flapping all over, I duck taped them together.

So I had to order 2 new nuts from our dealer, and they should arrive today or tomorrow and I can put it back on. I checked the rest, and they all seem snug. I don't know how these 2 came off. The last time the cover was off was 4 years ago when we had the valve extenders added.

I wonder what's going to happen the next trip!

4 comments:

  1. In 1981 we made a camping trip from PA to ME, stopping in MA for a couple of days. All seemed well from PA to MA. We parked the camper (pop-up) and enjoyed a few days there. The morning we left MA for ME, we did not drive more than 5 miles when the lug nuts came loose on one of the camper wheels and the wheel fell off. Luckily the hub cap stayed on, containing the lug nuts. We were able to put the wheel back on and continue. We were on one of the busy loop interstates around Boston and the potential for disaster (camper swerve, etc.) was huge. We were *very* lucky. From then on, that camper did not move before the lug nuts were tightened.

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  2. AVERTING disaster is the name of the game. Keep on AVERTING!

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  3. It is hard to believe that this would happen with all the maintenance work you do. I'm glad you spotted it in time!

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  4. Anonymous4:23 PM

    Wow, I haven't had this kind of luck. I always seem to break down and have to get it toad in. So count your lucky stars and hope all your disasters are only near disasters.
    Ken from Tampa

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