Wednesday, June 6, 2012

And the wheels on the bus go.....oh no!

The wheels on the bus stopped going round and round!  We left Lafayette on the 3rd, planned on stopping in Springfield for a couple nights on our way to Kansas.  We did finally make it to Springfield....about 2 days later.  Just past Danville on I74 Billy noticed smoke coming from the fifth wheel.  Needless to say, we both got a little excited.  He pulled onto the shoulder and I jumped out to have a look.....NOT GOOD....one of our wheels was about to fall off.  That smoke was metal against metal....red hot!  Billy said it was the bearings.  So, now what.  Billy put the hazard markers out and we called Progressive.  It is hard to make folks understand what it means when your wheel falls off....they wanted to treat it like a flat.  Billy explained that was not the problem...you can't just put the spare tire on.  We either need a repair or someone who can transport a 40 foot fifth wheel.  Well, it was Sunday morning and everyone seemed to be closed.  Progressive finally found us a "tow", who claimed he could put us up on his trailer.  Progressive could not find a repair shop and wanted to "tow" us to a Walmart.  That wasn't going to fly with us...we wanted a repair shop.  So, we got online and located one....tow truck was on its way. 
Tow truck arrives....no flat bed trailer....just a big old truck.  The guy comes back shaking his head...he can't "tow" us anywhere.  It seems Progressive told him he was coming after a 36 foot motorhome.  Why is it that everyone assumes an RV is a motorhome.  Billy had not only explained it was a fifth wheel, but also gave them height, weight, and width....and still it got screwed up.  Good news, the tow truck driver knew of a repair shop that was closer and where we could sit for the night and hopefully be taken care of first thing Monday Morning.  The shop was about 15 miles away.  So, we tied up the wheel hub so it wouldn't drag on the ground, said a prayer that the remaining tire could take the load, and limped on down the road.  The tow truck driver followed us with his lights flashing and WE MADE IT. 
We got set up in the parking lot....thank goodness for our Big Foot Leveling System.  We were able to take all the pressure off our tires.
First thing Monday morning the guys at Travel Trailers Sales and Service Inc jumped right on our job.  They were great, very professional and fair.  We really got lucky on this one.  They put us at the head of the service line, knowing we wanted to get back on the road as soon as possible.  Great group of guys!  About 5 hours later we were repaired and on our way to Springfield.  You can see the damage in the photos below.....

Long post...I know....even l-o-n-g-e-r day!

4 comments:

  1. I'm just really glad you guys are okay. Do you have a tire pressure monitor? I, too, will never understand why people think every RV is a motorhome. Enough problems now - hopefully no more for a really long time.

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  2. Wow what a close call, could have lost the fiver to fire, I carry a laser temperature reader that I got at Harbor Freight for about 19 dollars on sale, you just point the red light at something,in your case the bearings and it will tell you how hot they are. We have got in the habit of checking all wheels, truck an trailer at pit stops, when we are traveling. I try to repack ours every 5000 miles on the trailer, it's not hard while we are home and have the jacks and compressor and stands available. Once we are on the road full time I will have to pay someone to do it.Glad to see it all turned out okay. Be safe out there. Sam & Donna.....

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  3. Glad to see that you made it out alright. This is the one thing that we all face is trouble on the road.

    Joe and Sherri

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  4. Wow...how scary that was. Glad you got the repairs done quickly.

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