Sad Tales of woe

Hard luck?

I guess I'm going to have to roll a car before I get a hard luck award! Thanks to Greg M. for nominating me, but if arriving a day behind and over $2600.00 spent on three different vehicles for a half-dozen mechanical failures isn't enough to get the award then I give up! On Sunday afternoon we spent 3 hours on the shoulder of I-70, and then another 3 hours in Greenville, IL getting new tires mounted on the trailer. The '72 Superior Pontiac ran hot the whole 1050 mile trip - so we didn't run the AC in order to keep it running. Tim Sibila changed out a water pump twice, a thermostat, a temperature gauge, radiator hose, and a fan clutch in order to address the temperature issue. I believe the car still has a head gasket issue but it ran at 220 the whole way back to Missouri - with the AC running. Tim also worked on the rear brakes on the '72. When he took off the driver's side drum a bunch of parts fell out! Now keep in mind I had already had all of these main issues checked out at two different shops in the month before we departed for Hudson. I also had the tires, and the brakes, checked on the trailer before I loaded the '67 Pontiac. The final straw was breaking the right rear leaf spring on the 2002 F350 while coming back from Swensons on Tuesday. So the Ford is at the dealership from 5pm Tuesday until Thursday - with the '67 on the trailer the whole time! You can't unload a car from a trailer without having it attached to a truck... The last issue diagnosed by Tim on the '72 was the excessive play in the rear axles, and the possibility of losing an axle on the trip home.
 
On Tuesday on the way home I either severly sprained or broke my ankle, (not sure which yet, all I know is its very black and blue and I cannot put any weight on it), at least my car performed flawless with ice cold air both ways.
 
Except for the tire the Lifeliner performed excellent, even the A/C worked both front and rear. Still has to be a better way to nominate people for this award and will check into it for the Daytona meet. Paul did good starting it here.

Matt, I know you were nominated but I think the only thing people heard was a blown tire on the trailer not all the other issues. I know you put a lot into getting there and not inexpensive with the stable of cars you brought.

Hope your ankle gets better John.

:pat:
 
here it is now it this isn't a hang in there it's going to get better shot then I don't know what is. but it was about 1:00 just north of Manakato,Mn. tired hot and hungry. no I did not make any smart remarks.
 

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Hey Ed, tell Kandy she would feel better if she took this tip from Terri. Men can endure anything but the loves of our lives need to be cool.
 

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Hearing all of these horror stories reminds me of numerous breakdowns we have had over the years. The real kick in the a$& is that we, like many of you, spent countless dollars before the trips to prevent these roadside disasters, in some cases, to no avail. I have gotten to the point that I am almost afraid to make a long trip with an old car. It certainly can put a damper on the fun.
 
We had a tale of woe some of you heard about.

I was driving on the PA Turnpike when I heard "BOOM!" Looked back and realized I had blown a trailer tire. So we stopped on the side of the highway and changed the tire, put the spare on and put the shredded tire back on the rack for the spare.

So I was driving and looking for an exit with a town that might have a tire shop - didn't want to go too far without a spare, after all.

And shortly after we got into Ohio, I was driving and I heard "BOOM!". Oh boy, it was another tire. We were about 1/2 mile from an exit so I dragged the thing off the highway and into a FedEx parking lot just off the OH Turnpike. Yes, another shredded tire, this time with a flattened wheel, too.

As I was working to get that tire off (wheel was still red hot, wanted it off before it started a fire), a tire service truck pulled into the lot. I talked to him, and he came over to help. But he was on the way to service a truck, and wasn't from the area, so he couldn't help me much. Now I have two flat tires, one flat wheel, and I'm in Warren, OH.

I took the flat tire on the good wheel off and put it in the back of the truck, and unhitched the trailer and left it in the lot.

I did some checking on the phone (that goodness for smart phones that are smarter than I am), and I finally found a tire shop that had my tire in stock - but they closed in 5 minutes and I was 20 minutes away! I pleaded with the guy, and he agreed to stay and get me on the way. I got there in 15 minutes, they put the tire on, and I dashed back to the trailer and put that back on. We finally made it to the meet about 4 hours later than planned.

Sarah and Liz were able to direct me to a local RV store that had my wheel size in stock, so I bought a new wheel & tire for the trailer so I'd have a good spare again for the ride home. And I found a tire store in Hudson that took my other shredded tire and flat wheel for disposal.

Fortunately, we made it home OK with no tire problems. After all, considering I had replaced another tire before the trip, and had replaced one 2 years ago on the way to the M-M meet, I basically have 4 new tires on the trailer now.

Two words: dry rot! Unngh.

(Of course, Dad can't help me much, so he sat in the air conditioned truck, along with Pate the puppy, while I did all this tire changing in the heat. But when we got to Hudson, he told me how tired he was!) :stars:
 
I think we are trouble with tires. a lot of people had tire trouble this meet. the side walls blowing out of perfectly good tires is getting to be common place now. none of them seam to be able to handle any kind of a load. we blew out two last year, only a year old. one has to watch not only the tire size but the load rating at what PSI. I'm for avoiding any tire that gets it max load at 50 psi. I think all they are doing is selling a marginal tire and pumping the air pressure up to get the load rating. it's doomed to fail at the side wall.
plys don't mean a lot if they are only on the face.
 
A Tale of Three Tows and More

All these stories (except maybe Matt's) are nuttin I tell ya! I blew a tire on the way to Hudson and AAA refused to tow my van. On top of it, it was a bastard size tire and could not even get one till late next day. The van had to sit on the side to the road the entire time and then it was really expensive to replace. Two the master cylinder blew on the Pontiac on Tuesday. THEN while bringing Bob Smith's army ambulance to the meet (it never got there) it died with Scott driving it and had to be towed. THEN going home, we were taking Bob Smith's cars back to Dover and Dan Skivolocke blew a tire on Bob's Pontiac and had to be towed. THEN Kyle and I were taking Bob Smith's van back to Massillon and it just died and had to be towed. And THEN bringing my van home the master cylinder went out on it. I was getting a complex thinking I was the kiss of death.:soapbox:
 
I don't remember! It should have actually been included in nearly everyone's welcome bag this year.:cheers:
 
You guys do know tires go bad after a period of time, even if you're not driving on them, right? More so if they are out in the sun, but really after 10 years you should probably not use a tire for critical driving. I saw some pretty scary looking tires at the meet.

If you want to know when your tire was made, there is a date code on most passenger car tires. It is the last three or four numbers in the group of numbers following "D.O.T.". Tires made since 2000 have four numbers, which are the week and year the tire were made. Tires prior to 2000 have three numbers, and probably shouldn't be used for freeway driving anyway.
 
I believe that the second most experianced failure of the vehicles were brakes...
 
The most common cause of tire failure is UNDERINFLATION! How many of you remembered to check your air pressure BEFORE you left on the trip to Hudson???????
 
Trailer Tires

Both of the tire failures on my trip were on my '97 Gooseneck Trailer - and were all manufactured in 1997. The trailer had been pulled less than 10,000 miles since new. They were all inflated to 80 psi when I picked up the '66 Superior Cadillac Combo earlier in the month. I routinely buy new tires for nearly every Coach I buy - and some of mine are on their second set in less than 10 years.
 
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