Fiasco with the truck brakes today. Grrrr.
Actually, !@#$%.... Did not have a good trip today.
Drove down from Birch Bay near BC/Wa. border down to Oregon today towing our TT with an '09 F250. Drove down myself to watch some vintage car races at PIR. About 300 miles and first time I've driven more than maybe 30 miles alone. Thought I would treat myself to some alone guy time and go on an adventure. Been wanting to go to these races a long time anyway.
Had really hoped to have left Birch Bay really early to beat some of the bad traffic through Seattle but didn't get up early enough and ended up in some pretty bad stop & go traffic. Very hard on the brakes. Had to keep up with the traffic otherwise everyone jumps into the gap ahead of you. Then there were some pretty rough sections of concrete on I-5 south of Seattle. Good shaking up of truck and TT.
Pulled into a gas station around Chehalis to fuel up and there was a terrible loud crunching/grating sound from the back of the truck and the brakes really locked up. Quickly determined nothing to do with the TT. Checked brake temps with my IR gun and all okay. No scoring of brake discs. Nothing visually wrong. Brakes were just fine backing up and driving as long as I didn't use the brakes.
Very weird so what to do? Hang around for a day in some small town I don't know and wait for a mobile mechanic (if there was one) or wait for parts to come into a NAPA? Had no idea what was wrong anyway. Decided to soldier on to my destination CG near Portland and planned not to use the brakes along the way. Well, that worked fine for 80+ miles down into Oregon by driving with all the slow traffic in right lane and leaving lots of room. The kinda thing I woulda done around 20 years old....
The last mile or two into the CG was a rather busy 40mph road with 6 or so stop lights. Despite driving as slow as possible, downshifting all the way down to 1st gear and trying to leave lots of room from vehicles ahead, I had to use the brakes. Luckily I made it to the CG office in one piece. In the few minutes I went inside to sign in and pay, when I came out , one rear tire was flat. Lovely.
Limped into the already assigned site and with the help of lots of bystanders (I hate that) I got backed in. Jacked the flat tire up and found that the lower bolt on the brake caliper had backed out and was missing. Must have happened from the abuse through Seattle and then pounding of the pavement after that. Every time I used the brakes, the caliper would flip about 180 degrees and jam itself against the rotor. I didn't realize in the last couple of miles the wheel must have locked up and was dragging the tire each time. So now I needed a new bolt and tire.
As luck would have it (the only luck today), a garage was right across the street from the CG. Ordered in a bolt kit but wasn't the right one and pulled one from a parts truck. $100 hit. I've never heard of this happening and neither did the mechanic.
Go down the street 1/4 mile to a Walmart. New tire is a $250 hit. At least there's no tax in Oregon.
Get back to the CG proud of myself that I got it taken care of in the same day only to get a call from the dude at Walmart. Turns out the alloy rim is cracked and can't be reused. Flippin' wonderful. Now I have to find a new rim. Who knows how much that will be. Will have to try some wrecking yards nearby.
Oh, did I mention that the brake caliper now has stripped threads and will likely need replacement?
If I didn't have to get up early to get to the races, I'd probably get totally wasted tonight. Dang good thing DW was NOT with me today. But one way or another, she's gonna find out how much this all cost and I will be in the dog house. She's an accountant and fraud investigator and there's absolutely no chance of hiding this... :(
If you got this far, thanks for reading. And don't worry about me, I'll be okay (sniffling)... :(
Drove down from Birch Bay near BC/Wa. border down to Oregon today towing our TT with an '09 F250. Drove down myself to watch some vintage car races at PIR. About 300 miles and first time I've driven more than maybe 30 miles alone. Thought I would treat myself to some alone guy time and go on an adventure. Been wanting to go to these races a long time anyway.
Had really hoped to have left Birch Bay really early to beat some of the bad traffic through Seattle but didn't get up early enough and ended up in some pretty bad stop & go traffic. Very hard on the brakes. Had to keep up with the traffic otherwise everyone jumps into the gap ahead of you. Then there were some pretty rough sections of concrete on I-5 south of Seattle. Good shaking up of truck and TT.
Pulled into a gas station around Chehalis to fuel up and there was a terrible loud crunching/grating sound from the back of the truck and the brakes really locked up. Quickly determined nothing to do with the TT. Checked brake temps with my IR gun and all okay. No scoring of brake discs. Nothing visually wrong. Brakes were just fine backing up and driving as long as I didn't use the brakes.
Very weird so what to do? Hang around for a day in some small town I don't know and wait for a mobile mechanic (if there was one) or wait for parts to come into a NAPA? Had no idea what was wrong anyway. Decided to soldier on to my destination CG near Portland and planned not to use the brakes along the way. Well, that worked fine for 80+ miles down into Oregon by driving with all the slow traffic in right lane and leaving lots of room. The kinda thing I woulda done around 20 years old....
The last mile or two into the CG was a rather busy 40mph road with 6 or so stop lights. Despite driving as slow as possible, downshifting all the way down to 1st gear and trying to leave lots of room from vehicles ahead, I had to use the brakes. Luckily I made it to the CG office in one piece. In the few minutes I went inside to sign in and pay, when I came out , one rear tire was flat. Lovely.
Limped into the already assigned site and with the help of lots of bystanders (I hate that) I got backed in. Jacked the flat tire up and found that the lower bolt on the brake caliper had backed out and was missing. Must have happened from the abuse through Seattle and then pounding of the pavement after that. Every time I used the brakes, the caliper would flip about 180 degrees and jam itself against the rotor. I didn't realize in the last couple of miles the wheel must have locked up and was dragging the tire each time. So now I needed a new bolt and tire.
As luck would have it (the only luck today), a garage was right across the street from the CG. Ordered in a bolt kit but wasn't the right one and pulled one from a parts truck. $100 hit. I've never heard of this happening and neither did the mechanic.
Go down the street 1/4 mile to a Walmart. New tire is a $250 hit. At least there's no tax in Oregon.
Get back to the CG proud of myself that I got it taken care of in the same day only to get a call from the dude at Walmart. Turns out the alloy rim is cracked and can't be reused. Flippin' wonderful. Now I have to find a new rim. Who knows how much that will be. Will have to try some wrecking yards nearby.
Oh, did I mention that the brake caliper now has stripped threads and will likely need replacement?
If I didn't have to get up early to get to the races, I'd probably get totally wasted tonight. Dang good thing DW was NOT with me today. But one way or another, she's gonna find out how much this all cost and I will be in the dog house. She's an accountant and fraud investigator and there's absolutely no chance of hiding this... :(
If you got this far, thanks for reading. And don't worry about me, I'll be okay (sniffling)... :(
