38 miles west of Deming, a pick-up pulled up alongside us, with the passenger frantically waving. I rolled down the window and he yelled, "You have a flat tire!" We never felt a thing. We check the tires and hubs everytime we stop - it was all looking good.
Joan looked in the passenger mirror and said, "My side!" I pulled to the side of the Interstate. It looks like a belt in the radial separated...
It did some other damage: tore some wiring and left the fender chewed up...
I looked around us - it looked like this in every direction...
A lot of nothing. Joan got the jack out from under the back seat of the truck, while I got the tire iron our of our automotive bin. Snag: the lugs on the boat trailer wheels are longer than the sockets of the tire iron are deep... I can't get the lug nuts off. On to Plan B: call BoatUS. We have carried their trailer road service, but have never had to use it; I guess we'll see how it works.
I called the 800 number and spoke with a representative. He asked where we were located, and it took us a while to narrow down between which mile markers. He asked what city we were in? I laughed. He asked if we have a spare - yep. I gave him the rest of our information and he said he'd find a road service place and call us back as soon as he had made arrangements.
About 15 minutes later, he called back and said we'd have some there to change the tire within the hour. I got a phone number for the service place, and we waited. I was getting concerned, because sunset was rapidly approaching...
About 45 minutes later, my new friend, Adrian, pulled up...
Adrian, crawled under Wild Blue...
Some of the steel belts were wrapped around the axle. He cut those away and jacked up the trailer. He had all the right equipment, and his job only took about 15 minutes...
You can see where the belt pulled apart and shredded the tire...
Adrian mounted the shredded tire on the post for the spare. I asked him if we needed to sign anything or do any paperwork... "Nope, this was paid before I left the shop. You are good to go."
Well, that was easy. I didn't even have to get my hands dirty. We did lose about an hour and a half, meaning we ran that last 38 miles in the dark. I think this may be the first time we've towed Wild Blue in the dark... and I wasn't excited about that... we both strained into the mirrors, trying to see the tires in the darkness.
We pulled into the RV park, plugged in, and Joan made supper. Not quite the relaxing evening we had planned. And tomorrow, we get to go tire shopping! :-)
7 comments:
While you're shopping, I'd suggest a 1/2" drive breaker bar and a deep socket to fit the lug nuts ;-)
Just curious, how old were the tires?
Never leave on a Friday? I thought that was just for boats; oh, Wild Blue was on the trip!
Roger - Good suggestion, added to the list.
Chris - the tires are about 3 years old and have less than 15,000 miles on them. Goodyear Marathons.
Wilma - Yep. The first thing I checked was Wild Blue's hull to see if the tire had caused any damage there... nope.
BTDT Jim. On the trip N. from Pensacola to VA. Towing the TC 255 at abt 70mph (the speed limit). Aren't tandem trailers great! Finally ran out of spares when we had the second blowout. Tires were 5 years old but had less than 2k miles on them. Glad everyone is OK, safe trip the rest of the way!
Thanks for the well wishes, Charlie. I figure 5 years is the most I can expect out of any tire, regardless of the miles. A boating friend of ours told me he replaces trailer tires at 3 years - as a matter of "continuing maintenance."
In my younger years (you know, like two years ago :-D) I towed whatever the speed limit was. Never had a blow-out, but we did have a couple bearing issues over the years. Since we retired, I rarely tow (boat or 5th wheel) more than 60 mph.
It is HOT here in west Texas (pushing 90º at 5:00), and I think the heat is tough on tires, too. I am now checking tire temps with each stop. Who knew the rear tires on a tandem trailer set up run a few degrees hotter than the front tires? Makes sense.
An uneventful day today - we like that!
Being stranded in a place like that can freak me out! It’s hard to have flat tires when you’re surrounded by pure nothing. It’s good that you know someone who could help you during times of emergency. Though it’s not a relaxing evening, I hope you enjoyed the succeeding trips that you had.
-- Delena Millener
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