pre- trip report

On 12 Oct 2006 03:33:41 -0700, "Charlie Choc"
wrote:


wrote:

Chiseled!? Um, it sure sounds like there was some definite chiseling
going on...if it ever happens again, get a _good_ 4-way and put the
appropriate end on the crossed lug nut and then,

Hmm. Stuck in a rest area and I'm supposed to go 'get' a good lug
wrench? g

Sure, "get" it out of the vehicle...you DO carry a 4-way and a full
compliment of 6- and 12-points as well as spline-grab sockets in all
vehicles, doncha? Heck, anyway, I sorta figured that the trailernator
was like one of those Transformer robot things that, at the first sign
of trouble, turned into a robotic Manny, Moe, and Jack, and took care of
itself, the tow vehicle, the driver and/or passengers, or lastly, any
fool impertinent enough to mess around with any of the above...

The nut was damaged, either by the folks who cross threaded
it or by the 1st tow truck driver, and a socket wouldn't grip well
enough to break it loose - and they tried plenty of different ones.

Ah...not that it matters now, but for those still watching this episode
of "This Old Tire," if faced with a similar round-off situation and
don't have access to grabber wrenches or spline sockets (and true, few
do), try metric sockets (or inches, if you have a rounded metric
bolt/nut). Sometimes, the other system will have a SLIGHTLY smaller
socket that will get enough to grab (not just limited to tires,
obviously). And with things like lug nuts and other softer/
non-hardened nuts and bolts, hammering on an _impact_ socket can
sometimes work.

All
good roff advice considered, I'll still call AAA if it happens again.
;-)

Call...AAA? Son, you're gonna have hell to pay when this is discussed
at the next Man Law meeting...there are only three acceptable ways to
deal with this type of thing: fix it yourself, beat the **** out of it,
or shoot it deader than dead, dead, dead...."Man Law!"

As it was, I still would have had to drive on the spare (not a full
sized one on my wife's Jeep GC) until I found a place to get a new tire
the next day,

OK, so let's get this straight - you're driving around in what is
supposedly an S _U_ V, but has a friggin' donut spare, you don't have a
full set of tools and cheater or even a 4-way, and you actually belong
to AAA...**** you, choc....

so I was probably at least as well off in the long run
not getting it changed myself.

Yeah, we wouldn't want you to get grease on yer dress or break a nail,
would we...

There was a tire place (JR's) close to
the repair place (Larry's), and I was able to get a good used tire
pretty cheap, so it all worked out.

Glad to here it, and here's hoping the rest of trip is (bad-)
incident-free...and never again let anyone start lug nuts with air.

TC,
R