One of those days

[caveman]

It has been one of those days.  One where perseverance is required and patience is an asset.  I bought and paid for tropical fish food two weeks ago at the local feed store.  It was in stock, but when the young man went to get it, none was to be found.  I told the lady at the register to give me a call when it comes in.  I did not need it until today.  I use it to chum up baitfish.  I have some good friends coming to fish with me this week.

I've been checking every couple of days, and no tropical fish feed to be found.  I delayed my departure by several hours this morning to give them a chance to get the feed in.  Finally, around noon, it arrived at the store.  I pulled in with my boat in tow and got it.

Heading south, to Anna Maria, my boat trailer seemed to be offering more resistance than normal.  On I-75, just north of Ruskin, I noticed my right trailer fender vibrating and black stuff flinging off.  I pulled off of the interstate into the grass (I don't trust the emergency lane) and noticed my right rear trailer tire was coming apart.  I aired all of them up and greased the hubs prior to leaving.  Thankfully, I had a 4x6 piece of dunnage and a couple of 2x4's in the bed.  I pulled the front axle's tire up onto the dunnage after breaking the lug nuts free rather than digging my jack out from behind the seat.  My spare (bias ply) got me to AMI and I launched the boat.

After about 1/4 mile, the boat motor ran out of fuel with 109 gallons in the tank.  I pumped the bulb and went a little further, only to have it happen again.  I ran the boat in preparation for this trip, and it ran great except for the hydraulic steering cylinder was leaking-we repaired that last week (new seals).  Last week I replaced a short section of fuel line on the engine due to some of the same line delaminated previously.  The line I replaced it with was bigger in outside diameter, so I had to run it in a little different route.  That was the culprit, it created an inverse ptrap.  I had to pump the bulb every 1/4 mile to keep fuel to the engine.  Thankfully, there was enough fuel line for me to rob 12" and reroute it in the factory spot.

When washing the trailer off, I noticed the hub opposite of the flat tire was shot.  I'll pull it apart tomorrow and determine if it is just the hub or if I ruined the spindle too.

After all of this, I decided to replace the light on the dock.  I shorted something out and kicked the GFI.  It would not reset so I had to change the GFI too. The light is working now.

Tomorrow, I'll pull the hub and determine if I need an axle or just a hub.  I have hubs, but they are 82 miles away.

[thecfarm]

At least there was no blood. 

[TreefarmerNN]

Some days are like that.  It's hard to not get really frustrated and mad but eventually it becomes a story rather than a blood pressure raising event.

[barbender]

Kyle if you run your fuel line to a primer on the floor, you can pump it with your foot as you drive😁

[SawyerTed]

Unfortunately, I can identify with your day.  We are headed 250 miles east to Ocracoke towing our camper.  

I've known the tires are aging but trying to squeeze out one more trip.  

It bit me hard just east of Raleigh on the interstate.  Yup!  A blowout and shredding of the right rear tire.   

I just kept pulling about 2/10 of a mile to an exit.  Pretty much sacrificed the wheel to get to a safe place. 

Emily and I did a pit crew special in about 20 minutes!  She really pitched in hard to help get us back on the road.  

No photos since we were on the exit ramp emergency lane.  I'll post a photo of the aftermath when we get camp set up.   We are on the ferry now and have less than 4 miles to get to the campground.  

[SawyerTed]

This. 



No damage other than the wheel.  

Ordering new tires this evening.  

[Bradm]

That tire looks like it spent too much time on a tractionizer.

I had a bearing failure 2 days after having my trailer safetied (annual requirement on multi axle trailers and safeties are only good for the day on the paperwork).  Turns out the mechanic decided to not take the bearings apart completely, remove them from the stub shafts to check for wear on the shafts, clean the bearings, repack the bearings, and install them after I specifically asked them to do that as my trailer gets a lot of miles.  One of the bearings failed and the tire decided to go off and visit the ditch on the other side of the road (2 lanes both ways and a center median) less than a 1/2 mile from the highway.  No one got hurt and no damage caused other than the failed bearing.

I called the guy who does fabrication work for me to pick up the trailer as it needed new wiring and I made the decision to strip the deck off, clean up the rust from the frame, and get the frame galvanized.  While stripping the trailer down, we found that the bearing that failed had a spot wore down by almost .020" (would've been caught had the mechanic actually done what I asked) and all four break assemblies had almost no usable life remaining).  

The excuse was "a safety only takes 90 minutes and what you wanted was going to take half a day and is not included as part of a safety check."  I'm pretty sure everyone reading this is thinking the exact same thing I told them which was "then bill me for the extra time".

The failed stub shat now sits in my office as a reminder and I no longer use that mechanic and will not send any work their way.