- Joined
- Nov 24, 1999
- Messages
- 4,981
Driving home from a horseshow, in an F350 dually pulling about a 30ft gooseneck trailer with 2 horses and loads of other stuff, proably about a 9000lb load.
The outside right dual delaminates as we're rolling 65mph in the left lane, the tread blows the fender up, rips the running board halfway off, and caves in the underside of the wheel well before detaching completely and hurtling past the side mirror at unbeleivable speed. Thank the lord, nobody had their arms out the windows! More than half the tread flew off in one chunk, and appears to have been carrying some of the steel belts with it judging by whats left on the tire. Damn General tires, came with the truck new, never buy a general tire for the rest of my life.
So anyhow, we pull over to the right shoulder and my dad and I get out to look it over and change the tire.
2 large chunks of the fiberglass fender are still attached, one is wedged against the tailpipe and dragging on the ground, the other is twisted down between the good tire and whats left of the bad (its still holding air, not a blow out just complete seperation of the tread). So out comes the pocket knife and I cut those peices off so they don't damage the truck anymore than it already is. Then on the front side of the wheels, the rear running board is dragging on the ground and rubbing the wheels. Out comes the gerber 600 multi tool, use the pliars to take all the bolts out and take the running board off. All this on the shoulder of I71 with Semi's and cars blowing past us. One horse in the trailer is panicing at the sound of the trucks, and starts kicking up the trailer.
My dad couldn't get the spare tire to drop. Last summer some scumbag stole the spare, carrier and all and when they put the new carrier in they didn't give us the matching key, we still had one for the old carrier. They're not universal!
So I've got the wheels clear again anyway, can't get a spare and the horse is still throwing a fit soaked with sweat and shaking now, so we get back in and drive another 9 miles doing about 30-35 with the hazard lights on and the truck shaking to beat hell with the heavy load over an unstable axle. People blew by flipping us off, honking the horn, all kinds of pleasantries. We finally got to an exit and pulled into a gas station.
Still couldn't get the tire to drop, the key won't work, there are no bolts or anything we can get too to release it from the carrier, short of taking the whole carrier out like the theives did last summer, and we don't have the wrenches. So out comes the Gerber again and I used the serrated blade to saw through the 1/4" steel cable. Had to cut it with my hand through a hole in the rim, and had the pleasure of lowering it onto my chest rather quickly instead of the ground...
We finally got it changed and got on our way. I'll sure as hell never leave home without my knife and multi tool again!
We even have a toolbox in the trailer, with enough stuff to adjust the hitch, change lights and all kinds of stuff, but had never though to put a hacksaw in, there will be one before the next trip.
And after explaining it two or three times about the key, and the reason for cutting the carrier I think the dealer is going to take care of replacing the cable. Morons.
Anyway, you can bet the next time somebody gives me trouble about carrying knives and a multi tool, they're going to hear a story
The outside right dual delaminates as we're rolling 65mph in the left lane, the tread blows the fender up, rips the running board halfway off, and caves in the underside of the wheel well before detaching completely and hurtling past the side mirror at unbeleivable speed. Thank the lord, nobody had their arms out the windows! More than half the tread flew off in one chunk, and appears to have been carrying some of the steel belts with it judging by whats left on the tire. Damn General tires, came with the truck new, never buy a general tire for the rest of my life.
So anyhow, we pull over to the right shoulder and my dad and I get out to look it over and change the tire.
2 large chunks of the fiberglass fender are still attached, one is wedged against the tailpipe and dragging on the ground, the other is twisted down between the good tire and whats left of the bad (its still holding air, not a blow out just complete seperation of the tread). So out comes the pocket knife and I cut those peices off so they don't damage the truck anymore than it already is. Then on the front side of the wheels, the rear running board is dragging on the ground and rubbing the wheels. Out comes the gerber 600 multi tool, use the pliars to take all the bolts out and take the running board off. All this on the shoulder of I71 with Semi's and cars blowing past us. One horse in the trailer is panicing at the sound of the trucks, and starts kicking up the trailer.
My dad couldn't get the spare tire to drop. Last summer some scumbag stole the spare, carrier and all and when they put the new carrier in they didn't give us the matching key, we still had one for the old carrier. They're not universal!
So I've got the wheels clear again anyway, can't get a spare and the horse is still throwing a fit soaked with sweat and shaking now, so we get back in and drive another 9 miles doing about 30-35 with the hazard lights on and the truck shaking to beat hell with the heavy load over an unstable axle. People blew by flipping us off, honking the horn, all kinds of pleasantries. We finally got to an exit and pulled into a gas station.
Still couldn't get the tire to drop, the key won't work, there are no bolts or anything we can get too to release it from the carrier, short of taking the whole carrier out like the theives did last summer, and we don't have the wrenches. So out comes the Gerber again and I used the serrated blade to saw through the 1/4" steel cable. Had to cut it with my hand through a hole in the rim, and had the pleasure of lowering it onto my chest rather quickly instead of the ground...
We finally got it changed and got on our way. I'll sure as hell never leave home without my knife and multi tool again!
We even have a toolbox in the trailer, with enough stuff to adjust the hitch, change lights and all kinds of stuff, but had never though to put a hacksaw in, there will be one before the next trip.
And after explaining it two or three times about the key, and the reason for cutting the carrier I think the dealer is going to take care of replacing the cable. Morons.
Anyway, you can bet the next time somebody gives me trouble about carrying knives and a multi tool, they're going to hear a story
