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#1
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Truck woes (Long and Totally Off Topic)
Let me tell you a little a story about my last pizza delivery tonight.
I pulled out of the parking lot, turning north towards Fort Sill. I needed to turn again onto a 4 lane about 100 yards after leaving the parking lot. Suddenly the left front end did a nose dive. I'm looking through a shower of sparks watching one of my wheels roll down the road. I got as far to the right as possible, hit the four way flasher, and took off walking down the road chasing my wheel. While I'm walking down the road I got on the cell and called the store, letting them know what happened so that they can get another driver to come finish my delivery. Also, while I'm walking I'm thinking that if something like this had to happen, it really couldn't have happened at a better time and place. First, I had just turned onto the road and was about to make a turn, so I was going much slower than the 45mph speed limit. It would have been much worse if I had make the turn and was going down the other road at the speed limit (50mph), or even worse made the turn onto the turnpike another half mile down the road where the limit is 65 mph. Second, it's almost 1AM - I'm the only vehicle on the road at the time. While I'm still in the truck watching the wheel roll up the road, I remember hoping and praying that no one picks that time to come up the off ramp. About the time I make it back to the truck with the runaway wheel the other driver arrives, grabs the food and heads off to make the delvery. I get out my flashlight and start looking the situation over. Front left rotor resting on the ground, and of course it's shot, no longer round it's flat on one side, and the hub cover is missing. I head back the road and find the cover, but can only find one lug nut. About the time I find the lug nut a cop shows up. I tell him what's going on. While I'm trying to figure out how to fit a 6 inch tall jack under an axle that's now about 2-3 inches off the ground he starts looking for the missing lug nuts. Another cop shows up, and together they check both sides of the road, all four lanes, looking for the missing lug nuts. Another store employee (ex Army mechanic) shows up and together we figure out a way to jack up the truck, using two jacks on the frame to get it high enough to get another one under the axle. As we're getting the wheel on (stealing one lug nut from two of the other wheels) the cops come back to report no luck finding more lug nuts. We talk it over and I decide to just limp to the local Midas (naton wide chain of brake/exhaust/suspension specialists) shop, which, luckily, just happens to be 6-8 blocks away. One of the cops takes off, while the other follows me with his lights going, waits while I leave the keys in the mail box and a note telling them what happened and promising to call first thing in the morning. Then he gives me a ride back to the pizza shop. Tomorrow, well later this morning, I'll find out what this will end up costing. I know the brake rotor is shot, and rather than replacing one I'll end up replacing both. As long as I'm having to replace those, will also look at repacking the wheel bearings, new brake pads and front end alighnment. Not even thinking about what else could be damaged, I won't be surprised if I end up just handing over my paycheck to Midas. Another lucky break, payday is Thursday, but my boss was managing tonight and went ahead and paid me cash tonight to make sure I have enough for the repairs. Can you tell I'm trying hard to keep remembering how much worse things could have been? Tonight I'm just thankful that no one was hurt - just damage to the truck. Tomorrow I imagine I'll start to get p*ssed off when I learn how much the damage is going to cost. Did I mention my discovery when I got back to the pizza parking lot? It looks like someone took off some of the lug nuts there in the parking lot, loosening the ones not removed completely. I found one of them on the far side of the lot where no one ever parks. Yep, I figure I might be more than a little PO'ed tomorrow. No way to ever find out who the prankster was. I'm guessing someone with a little too much to drink came out of one of the bars on either side of the shop, noticed I had a lug wrench in the bed of the truck, and thought it'd be a funny joke. Okay enough of that, now for a little Rant off the truck topic: I've been having server glitches here lately. After relating the problem with the truck, an error message popped up saying my server didn't recognise my user ID/password. I finally get caught up with the group - mainly by lurking and not replying to many posts, except silent purrs to those in need, and now my server is conspiring to put me behind again. This is the second time in the past couple weeks this has happened. Last time was on a Friday night, which meant I couldn't upload or download anything from the newsgroup server. By Monday, when I had tech support available, it was recognizing me. Now the problem is back ;-(( I don't know when this message will actually be sent off - Probably not until I've been able to find out what the damage will cost. So I may post an update at the same time this goes out. OK, rather than posting a separate update (since the stinking server has yet to allow me to sent off the original) here's the update. Cost ended up to be $536.94. Actually that cost is inflated, since I okayed work that really had nothing to do with losing the wheel. I probably could have picked up the truck and driven away for less than half that. But, like I mentioned above, since they had the truck in the shop anyway, I did a lot of "might as well" work. They had to replace the one rotor, so "might as well" replace both. The brake pads may have had another 20,000 miles on them, but "might as well" replace them since they're doing the rotors. The rotors were off, so "might as well" repack the wheel bearings. You get the idea, those "might as well" charges add up after a while. I didn't have to pay for the pads, though. I have the Midas lifetime warranty and they agreed to go ahead and replace them early. Midas really didn't have people like me in mind when they thought up that life time warranty - I bought the truck almost 20 years and over 200,000 miles ago and they've replaced the brakes, shocks and done exhaust work several times. Oh, and after picking up the truck I stopped by the pizza shop to they them it was repaired and pick up a pizza to bring home so Sammy would have a warm box to sit on (had to to sneak in something cat related into the post). As I was leaving I glanced over, saw something and stopped. Yep another of the missing lug nuts. -- Steve Touchstone, faithful servant of Sammy, Little Bit and Spot with loving memories of Rocky (RB) [remove Junk for email] Home Page: http://www.sirinet.net/~stouchst/index.html Cat Pix: http://www.sirinet.net/~stouchst/animals.html |
#2
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Truck woes (Long and Totally Off Topic)
Dirty litter to the "prankster". Yeah, the prankster could have killed
you or someone else I'm glad it came out ok and actually for all you had done I thought that was a pretty good price so I suppose it's all good, but that could really have been bad. Rocky was looking out for you. |
#3
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Truck woes (Long and Totally Off Topic)
On Wed, 09 Aug 2006 16:50:53 -0500, Steve Touchstone
wrote: Let me tell you a little a story about my last pizza delivery tonight. Did I mention my discovery when I got back to the pizza parking lot? It looks like someone took off some of the lug nuts there in the parking lot, loosening the ones not removed completely. I found one of them on the far side of the lot where no one ever parks. I knew the end of this before I read it. Report it to the cops. Has anyone been fired from the store lately? |
#4
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Truck woes (Long and Totally Off Topic)
Wow! What an adventure! Yes, it could have been a lot worse, but it still
must have been nerve-racking. And it's infuriating to think that it's because someone thought he was being funny. It was good that the police were so helpful. I'm glad you're all right, but I'd be angry, too. Joy "Steve Touchstone" wrote in message ... Let me tell you a little a story about my last pizza delivery tonight. I pulled out of the parking lot, turning north towards Fort Sill. I needed to turn again onto a 4 lane about 100 yards after leaving the parking lot. Suddenly the left front end did a nose dive. I'm looking through a shower of sparks watching one of my wheels roll down the road. I got as far to the right as possible, hit the four way flasher, and took off walking down the road chasing my wheel. While I'm walking down the road I got on the cell and called the store, letting them know what happened so that they can get another driver to come finish my delivery. Also, while I'm walking I'm thinking that if something like this had to happen, it really couldn't have happened at a better time and place. First, I had just turned onto the road and was about to make a turn, so I was going much slower than the 45mph speed limit. It would have been much worse if I had make the turn and was going down the other road at the speed limit (50mph), or even worse made the turn onto the turnpike another half mile down the road where the limit is 65 mph. Second, it's almost 1AM - I'm the only vehicle on the road at the time. While I'm still in the truck watching the wheel roll up the road, I remember hoping and praying that no one picks that time to come up the off ramp. About the time I make it back to the truck with the runaway wheel the other driver arrives, grabs the food and heads off to make the delvery. I get out my flashlight and start looking the situation over. Front left rotor resting on the ground, and of course it's shot, no longer round it's flat on one side, and the hub cover is missing. I head back the road and find the cover, but can only find one lug nut. About the time I find the lug nut a cop shows up. I tell him what's going on. While I'm trying to figure out how to fit a 6 inch tall jack under an axle that's now about 2-3 inches off the ground he starts looking for the missing lug nuts. Another cop shows up, and together they check both sides of the road, all four lanes, looking for the missing lug nuts. Another store employee (ex Army mechanic) shows up and together we figure out a way to jack up the truck, using two jacks on the frame to get it high enough to get another one under the axle. As we're getting the wheel on (stealing one lug nut from two of the other wheels) the cops come back to report no luck finding more lug nuts. We talk it over and I decide to just limp to the local Midas (naton wide chain of brake/exhaust/suspension specialists) shop, which, luckily, just happens to be 6-8 blocks away. One of the cops takes off, while the other follows me with his lights going, waits while I leave the keys in the mail box and a note telling them what happened and promising to call first thing in the morning. Then he gives me a ride back to the pizza shop. Tomorrow, well later this morning, I'll find out what this will end up costing. I know the brake rotor is shot, and rather than replacing one I'll end up replacing both. As long as I'm having to replace those, will also look at repacking the wheel bearings, new brake pads and front end alighnment. Not even thinking about what else could be damaged, I won't be surprised if I end up just handing over my paycheck to Midas. Another lucky break, payday is Thursday, but my boss was managing tonight and went ahead and paid me cash tonight to make sure I have enough for the repairs. Can you tell I'm trying hard to keep remembering how much worse things could have been? Tonight I'm just thankful that no one was hurt - just damage to the truck. Tomorrow I imagine I'll start to get p*ssed off when I learn how much the damage is going to cost. Did I mention my discovery when I got back to the pizza parking lot? It looks like someone took off some of the lug nuts there in the parking lot, loosening the ones not removed completely. I found one of them on the far side of the lot where no one ever parks. Yep, I figure I might be more than a little PO'ed tomorrow. No way to ever find out who the prankster was. I'm guessing someone with a little too much to drink came out of one of the bars on either side of the shop, noticed I had a lug wrench in the bed of the truck, and thought it'd be a funny joke. Okay enough of that, now for a little Rant off the truck topic: I've been having server glitches here lately. After relating the problem with the truck, an error message popped up saying my server didn't recognise my user ID/password. I finally get caught up with the group - mainly by lurking and not replying to many posts, except silent purrs to those in need, and now my server is conspiring to put me behind again. This is the second time in the past couple weeks this has happened. Last time was on a Friday night, which meant I couldn't upload or download anything from the newsgroup server. By Monday, when I had tech support available, it was recognizing me. Now the problem is back ;-(( I don't know when this message will actually be sent off - Probably not until I've been able to find out what the damage will cost. So I may post an update at the same time this goes out. OK, rather than posting a separate update (since the stinking server has yet to allow me to sent off the original) here's the update. Cost ended up to be $536.94. Actually that cost is inflated, since I okayed work that really had nothing to do with losing the wheel. I probably could have picked up the truck and driven away for less than half that. But, like I mentioned above, since they had the truck in the shop anyway, I did a lot of "might as well" work. They had to replace the one rotor, so "might as well" replace both. The brake pads may have had another 20,000 miles on them, but "might as well" replace them since they're doing the rotors. The rotors were off, so "might as well" repack the wheel bearings. You get the idea, those "might as well" charges add up after a while. I didn't have to pay for the pads, though. I have the Midas lifetime warranty and they agreed to go ahead and replace them early. Midas really didn't have people like me in mind when they thought up that life time warranty - I bought the truck almost 20 years and over 200,000 miles ago and they've replaced the brakes, shocks and done exhaust work several times. Oh, and after picking up the truck I stopped by the pizza shop to they them it was repaired and pick up a pizza to bring home so Sammy would have a warm box to sit on (had to to sneak in something cat related into the post). As I was leaving I glanced over, saw something and stopped. Yep another of the missing lug nuts. -- Steve Touchstone, faithful servant of Sammy, Little Bit and Spot with loving memories of Rocky (RB) [remove Junk for email] Home Page: http://www.sirinet.net/~stouchst/index.html Cat Pix: http://www.sirinet.net/~stouchst/animals.html |
#5
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Truck woes (Long and Totally Off Topic)
Steve Touchstone wrote: Let me tell you a little a story about my last pizza delivery tonight. I pulled out of the parking lot, turning north towards Fort Sill. I needed to turn again onto a 4 lane about 100 yards after leaving the parking lot. Suddenly the left front end did a nose dive. I'm looking through a shower of sparks watching one of my wheels roll down the road. I got as far to the right as possible, hit the four way flasher, and took off walking down the road chasing my wheel. While I'm walking down the road I got on the cell and called the store, letting them know what happened so that they can get another driver to come finish my delivery. Also, while I'm walking I'm thinking that if something like this had to happen, it really couldn't have happened at a better time and place. First, I had just turned onto the road and was about to make a turn, so I was going much slower than the 45mph speed limit. It would have been much worse if I had make the turn and was going down the other road at the speed limit (50mph), or even worse made the turn onto the turnpike another half mile down the road where the limit is 65 mph. Second, it's almost 1AM - I'm the only vehicle on the road at the time. While I'm still in the truck watching the wheel roll up the road, I remember hoping and praying that no one picks that time to come up the off ramp. About the time I make it back to the truck with the runaway wheel the other driver arrives, grabs the food and heads off to make the delvery. I get out my flashlight and start looking the situation over. Front left rotor resting on the ground, and of course it's shot, no longer round it's flat on one side, and the hub cover is missing. I head back the road and find the cover, but can only find one lug nut. About the time I find the lug nut a cop shows up. I tell him what's going on. While I'm trying to figure out how to fit a 6 inch tall jack under an axle that's now about 2-3 inches off the ground he starts looking for the missing lug nuts. Another cop shows up, and together they check both sides of the road, all four lanes, looking for the missing lug nuts. Another store employee (ex Army mechanic) shows up and together we figure out a way to jack up the truck, using two jacks on the frame to get it high enough to get another one under the axle. As we're getting the wheel on (stealing one lug nut from two of the other wheels) the cops come back to report no luck finding more lug nuts. We talk it over and I decide to just limp to the local Midas (naton wide chain of brake/exhaust/suspension specialists) shop, which, luckily, just happens to be 6-8 blocks away. One of the cops takes off, while the other follows me with his lights going, waits while I leave the keys in the mail box and a note telling them what happened and promising to call first thing in the morning. Then he gives me a ride back to the pizza shop. Tomorrow, well later this morning, I'll find out what this will end up costing. I know the brake rotor is shot, and rather than replacing one I'll end up replacing both. As long as I'm having to replace those, will also look at repacking the wheel bearings, new brake pads and front end alighnment. Not even thinking about what else could be damaged, I won't be surprised if I end up just handing over my paycheck to Midas. Another lucky break, payday is Thursday, but my boss was managing tonight and went ahead and paid me cash tonight to make sure I have enough for the repairs. Can you tell I'm trying hard to keep remembering how much worse things could have been? Tonight I'm just thankful that no one was hurt - just damage to the truck. Tomorrow I imagine I'll start to get p*ssed off when I learn how much the damage is going to cost. Did I mention my discovery when I got back to the pizza parking lot? It looks like someone took off some of the lug nuts there in the parking lot, loosening the ones not removed completely. I found one of them on the far side of the lot where no one ever parks. Yep, I figure I might be more than a little PO'ed tomorrow. No way to ever find out who the prankster was. I'm guessing someone with a little too much to drink came out of one of the bars on either side of the shop, noticed I had a lug wrench in the bed of the truck, and thought it'd be a funny joke. Okay enough of that, now for a little Rant off the truck topic: I've been having server glitches here lately. After relating the problem with the truck, an error message popped up saying my server didn't recognise my user ID/password. I finally get caught up with the group - mainly by lurking and not replying to many posts, except silent purrs to those in need, and now my server is conspiring to put me behind again. This is the second time in the past couple weeks this has happened. Last time was on a Friday night, which meant I couldn't upload or download anything from the newsgroup server. By Monday, when I had tech support available, it was recognizing me. Now the problem is back ;-(( I don't know when this message will actually be sent off - Probably not until I've been able to find out what the damage will cost. So I may post an update at the same time this goes out. OK, rather than posting a separate update (since the stinking server has yet to allow me to sent off the original) here's the update. Cost ended up to be $536.94. Actually that cost is inflated, since I okayed work that really had nothing to do with losing the wheel. I probably could have picked up the truck and driven away for less than half that. But, like I mentioned above, since they had the truck in the shop anyway, I did a lot of "might as well" work. They had to replace the one rotor, so "might as well" replace both. The brake pads may have had another 20,000 miles on them, but "might as well" replace them since they're doing the rotors. The rotors were off, so "might as well" repack the wheel bearings. You get the idea, those "might as well" charges add up after a while. I didn't have to pay for the pads, though. I have the Midas lifetime warranty and they agreed to go ahead and replace them early. Midas really didn't have people like me in mind when they thought up that life time warranty - I bought the truck almost 20 years and over 200,000 miles ago and they've replaced the brakes, shocks and done exhaust work several times. Oh, and after picking up the truck I stopped by the pizza shop to they them it was repaired and pick up a pizza to bring home so Sammy would have a warm box to sit on (had to to sneak in something cat related into the post). As I was leaving I glanced over, saw something and stopped. Yep another of the missing lug nuts. -- Steve Touchstone, faithful servant of Sammy, Little Bit and Spot with loving memories of Rocky (RB) You were so lucky that it didn't cause an accident that got you hurt. That is *awful* that someone would do that as a prank. Do you have transportation until you get your truck back? Sherry |
#6
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Truck woes (Long and Totally Off Topic)
OMG, Steve! That's totally outrageous that someone would take off your
lug nuts in the parking lot! How evil can someone get?!? People like that deserve to be the victim of the accident that could have caused!!! I'm so glad to hear that no innocent people were hurt though. What a PITA. I had a similar accident in college. I was 18 and had borrowed the car from a classmate. Was driving on a narrow, curvy mountain road when suddenly the tire came off the rim. Crashed the car into the side of the mountain, $1800 in damage and this was in 1990. Couldn't tell my parents because they would have flipped, so paid for it all using my food money and ate what I could scrounge and shoplift for 2 years :-( -- Britta Purring is an automatic safety valve device for dealing with happiness overflow. Check out pictures of Vino at: http://photos.yahoo.com/badwilson click on the Vino album Steve Touchstone wrote: Let me tell you a little a story about my last pizza delivery tonight. I pulled out of the parking lot, turning north towards Fort Sill. I needed to turn again onto a 4 lane about 100 yards after leaving the parking lot. Suddenly the left front end did a nose dive. I'm looking through a shower of sparks watching one of my wheels roll down the road. I got as far to the right as possible, hit the four way flasher, and took off walking down the road chasing my wheel. While I'm walking down the road I got on the cell and called the store, letting them know what happened so that they can get another driver to come finish my delivery. Also, while I'm walking I'm thinking that if something like this had to happen, it really couldn't have happened at a better time and place. First, I had just turned onto the road and was about to make a turn, so I was going much slower than the 45mph speed limit. It would have been much worse if I had make the turn and was going down the other road at the speed limit (50mph), or even worse made the turn onto the turnpike another half mile down the road where the limit is 65 mph. Second, it's almost 1AM - I'm the only vehicle on the road at the time. While I'm still in the truck watching the wheel roll up the road, I remember hoping and praying that no one picks that time to come up the off ramp. About the time I make it back to the truck with the runaway wheel the other driver arrives, grabs the food and heads off to make the delvery. I get out my flashlight and start looking the situation over. Front left rotor resting on the ground, and of course it's shot, no longer round it's flat on one side, and the hub cover is missing. I head back the road and find the cover, but can only find one lug nut. About the time I find the lug nut a cop shows up. I tell him what's going on. While I'm trying to figure out how to fit a 6 inch tall jack under an axle that's now about 2-3 inches off the ground he starts looking for the missing lug nuts. Another cop shows up, and together they check both sides of the road, all four lanes, looking for the missing lug nuts. Another store employee (ex Army mechanic) shows up and together we figure out a way to jack up the truck, using two jacks on the frame to get it high enough to get another one under the axle. As we're getting the wheel on (stealing one lug nut from two of the other wheels) the cops come back to report no luck finding more lug nuts. We talk it over and I decide to just limp to the local Midas (naton wide chain of brake/exhaust/suspension specialists) shop, which, luckily, just happens to be 6-8 blocks away. One of the cops takes off, while the other follows me with his lights going, waits while I leave the keys in the mail box and a note telling them what happened and promising to call first thing in the morning. Then he gives me a ride back to the pizza shop. Tomorrow, well later this morning, I'll find out what this will end up costing. I know the brake rotor is shot, and rather than replacing one I'll end up replacing both. As long as I'm having to replace those, will also look at repacking the wheel bearings, new brake pads and front end alighnment. Not even thinking about what else could be damaged, I won't be surprised if I end up just handing over my paycheck to Midas. Another lucky break, payday is Thursday, but my boss was managing tonight and went ahead and paid me cash tonight to make sure I have enough for the repairs. Can you tell I'm trying hard to keep remembering how much worse things could have been? Tonight I'm just thankful that no one was hurt - just damage to the truck. Tomorrow I imagine I'll start to get p*ssed off when I learn how much the damage is going to cost. Did I mention my discovery when I got back to the pizza parking lot? It looks like someone took off some of the lug nuts there in the parking lot, loosening the ones not removed completely. I found one of them on the far side of the lot where no one ever parks. Yep, I figure I might be more than a little PO'ed tomorrow. No way to ever find out who the prankster was. I'm guessing someone with a little too much to drink came out of one of the bars on either side of the shop, noticed I had a lug wrench in the bed of the truck, and thought it'd be a funny joke. Okay enough of that, now for a little Rant off the truck topic: I've been having server glitches here lately. After relating the problem with the truck, an error message popped up saying my server didn't recognise my user ID/password. I finally get caught up with the group - mainly by lurking and not replying to many posts, except silent purrs to those in need, and now my server is conspiring to put me behind again. This is the second time in the past couple weeks this has happened. Last time was on a Friday night, which meant I couldn't upload or download anything from the newsgroup server. By Monday, when I had tech support available, it was recognizing me. Now the problem is back ;-(( I don't know when this message will actually be sent off - Probably not until I've been able to find out what the damage will cost. So I may post an update at the same time this goes out. OK, rather than posting a separate update (since the stinking server has yet to allow me to sent off the original) here's the update. Cost ended up to be $536.94. Actually that cost is inflated, since I okayed work that really had nothing to do with losing the wheel. I probably could have picked up the truck and driven away for less than half that. But, like I mentioned above, since they had the truck in the shop anyway, I did a lot of "might as well" work. They had to replace the one rotor, so "might as well" replace both. The brake pads may have had another 20,000 miles on them, but "might as well" replace them since they're doing the rotors. The rotors were off, so "might as well" repack the wheel bearings. You get the idea, those "might as well" charges add up after a while. I didn't have to pay for the pads, though. I have the Midas lifetime warranty and they agreed to go ahead and replace them early. Midas really didn't have people like me in mind when they thought up that life time warranty - I bought the truck almost 20 years and over 200,000 miles ago and they've replaced the brakes, shocks and done exhaust work several times. Oh, and after picking up the truck I stopped by the pizza shop to they them it was repaired and pick up a pizza to bring home so Sammy would have a warm box to sit on (had to to sneak in something cat related into the post). As I was leaving I glanced over, saw something and stopped. Yep another of the missing lug nuts. |
#7
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Truck woes (Long and Totally Off Topic)
OMG, Steve! That's totally outrageous that someone would take off your lug nuts in the parking lot! How evil can someone get?!? And it could happen to anyone too... I think I'm gonna get back in the habit of inspecting my car like I would an airplane, with a walkaround before I get into it and drive it. Nocturne sends plans for a special torment for the idiot who did that to you. like putting his eternal soul in the cosmic litterbox. --Fil |
#8
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Truck woes (Long and Totally Off Topic)
Steve Touchstone wrote:
Let me tell you a little a story about my last pizza delivery tonight. What a terrible thing to happen! I'm so glad you weren't hurt, Steve. Or anyone else. Purrs for your wallet. -- Marina, Miranda and Caliban. In loving memory of Frank and Nikki. Stories and pics at http://koti.welho.com/mkurten/ Pics at http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/frankiennikki/ and http://community.webshots.com/user/frankiennikki |
#9
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Truck woes (Long and Totally Off Topic)
Steve Touchstone wrote:
Let me tell you a little a story about my last pizza delivery tonight. I pulled out of the parking lot, turning north towards Fort Sill. I needed to turn again onto a 4 lane about 100 yards after leaving the parking lot. Suddenly the left front end did a nose dive. I'm looking through a shower of sparks watching one of my wheels roll down the road. I got as far to the right as possible, hit the four way flasher, and took off walking down the road chasing my wheel. While I'm walking down the road I got on the cell and called the store, letting them know what happened so that they can get another driver to come finish my delivery. Also, while I'm walking I'm thinking that if something like this had to happen, it really couldn't have happened at a better time and place. First, I had just turned onto the road and was about to make a turn, so I was going much slower than the 45mph speed limit. It would have been much worse if I had make the turn and was going down the other road at the speed limit (50mph), or even worse made the turn onto the turnpike another half mile down the road where the limit is 65 mph. Second, it's almost 1AM - I'm the only vehicle on the road at the time. While I'm still in the truck watching the wheel roll up the road, I remember hoping and praying that no one picks that time to come up the off ramp. About the time I make it back to the truck with the runaway wheel the other driver arrives, grabs the food and heads off to make the delvery. I get out my flashlight and start looking the situation over. Front left rotor resting on the ground, and of course it's shot, no longer round it's flat on one side, and the hub cover is missing. I head back the road and find the cover, but can only find one lug nut. About the time I find the lug nut a cop shows up. I tell him what's going on. While I'm trying to figure out how to fit a 6 inch tall jack under an axle that's now about 2-3 inches off the ground he starts looking for the missing lug nuts. Another cop shows up, and together they check both sides of the road, all four lanes, looking for the missing lug nuts. Another store employee (ex Army mechanic) shows up and together we figure out a way to jack up the truck, using two jacks on the frame to get it high enough to get another one under the axle. As we're getting the wheel on (stealing one lug nut from two of the other wheels) the cops come back to report no luck finding more lug nuts. We talk it over and I decide to just limp to the local Midas (naton wide chain of brake/exhaust/suspension specialists) shop, which, luckily, just happens to be 6-8 blocks away. One of the cops takes off, while the other follows me with his lights going, waits while I leave the keys in the mail box and a note telling them what happened and promising to call first thing in the morning. Then he gives me a ride back to the pizza shop. Tomorrow, well later this morning, I'll find out what this will end up costing. I know the brake rotor is shot, and rather than replacing one I'll end up replacing both. As long as I'm having to replace those, will also look at repacking the wheel bearings, new brake pads and front end alighnment. Not even thinking about what else could be damaged, I won't be surprised if I end up just handing over my paycheck to Midas. Another lucky break, payday is Thursday, but my boss was managing tonight and went ahead and paid me cash tonight to make sure I have enough for the repairs. Can you tell I'm trying hard to keep remembering how much worse things could have been? Tonight I'm just thankful that no one was hurt - just damage to the truck. Tomorrow I imagine I'll start to get p*ssed off when I learn how much the damage is going to cost. Did I mention my discovery when I got back to the pizza parking lot? It looks like someone took off some of the lug nuts there in the parking lot, loosening the ones not removed completely. I found one of them on the far side of the lot where no one ever parks. Yep, I figure I might be more than a little PO'ed tomorrow. No way to ever find out who the prankster was. I'm guessing someone with a little too much to drink came out of one of the bars on either side of the shop, noticed I had a lug wrench in the bed of the truck, and thought it'd be a funny joke. Okay enough of that, now for a little Rant off the truck topic: I've been having server glitches here lately. After relating the problem with the truck, an error message popped up saying my server didn't recognise my user ID/password. I finally get caught up with the group - mainly by lurking and not replying to many posts, except silent purrs to those in need, and now my server is conspiring to put me behind again. This is the second time in the past couple weeks this has happened. Last time was on a Friday night, which meant I couldn't upload or download anything from the newsgroup server. By Monday, when I had tech support available, it was recognizing me. Now the problem is back ;-(( I don't know when this message will actually be sent off - Probably not until I've been able to find out what the damage will cost. So I may post an update at the same time this goes out. OK, rather than posting a separate update (since the stinking server has yet to allow me to sent off the original) here's the update. Cost ended up to be $536.94. Actually that cost is inflated, since I okayed work that really had nothing to do with losing the wheel. I probably could have picked up the truck and driven away for less than half that. But, like I mentioned above, since they had the truck in the shop anyway, I did a lot of "might as well" work. They had to replace the one rotor, so "might as well" replace both. The brake pads may have had another 20,000 miles on them, but "might as well" replace them since they're doing the rotors. The rotors were off, so "might as well" repack the wheel bearings. You get the idea, those "might as well" charges add up after a while. I didn't have to pay for the pads, though. I have the Midas lifetime warranty and they agreed to go ahead and replace them early. Midas really didn't have people like me in mind when they thought up that life time warranty - I bought the truck almost 20 years and over 200,000 miles ago and they've replaced the brakes, shocks and done exhaust work several times. Oh, and after picking up the truck I stopped by the pizza shop to they them it was repaired and pick up a pizza to bring home so Sammy would have a warm box to sit on (had to to sneak in something cat related into the post). As I was leaving I glanced over, saw something and stopped. Yep another of the missing lug nuts. Ouch! As you said, you'll probably never find the a**hole(s) who stole the lugnuts, but if you do, you have my permission to pound some sense into them. I'm so glad you weren't injured (or worse). -- Sam, closely supervised by Mistletoe |
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Truck woes (Long and Totally Off Topic)
"Steve Touchstone" wrote in message ... Let me tell you a little a story about my last pizza delivery tonight. I pulled out of the parking lot, turning north towards Fort Sill. I needed to turn again onto a 4 lane about 100 yards after leaving the parking lot. Suddenly the left front end did a nose dive. I'm looking through a shower of sparks watching one of my wheels roll down the road. Thank Bog you're ok, Steve and only really light in your pocket for repairs. I hope that the "prankster" who pulled such a dirty trick finds himself dealing with a lot of dirty litter offerings in the future. The slime could had done much worse. I'm so glad that you're a really good driver and was able to recover. Pam S. glad that you're still around you big lug. |
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