Still grounded in Little Rock........

Although we planned on leaving Little Rock on Wednesday, that didn't happen. Monday morning when we got up, we had 2 problems. One: a damaged tire and two: no refrigerator

Neither of which are simple matters!!!

We started calling the necessary parties. The Amana Co. and Goodyear tire Co. Soon we had a repairman scheduled to come out and look at the frig and Goodyear sending a claim form. We took the damaged tire to a Goodyear dealership so it could be FedEx'ed to their home office for inspection...


The G614 "G" rated tire had completely thrown it's tread. The tread was wrapped around the axle and wedged between the tire behind it. It had gotten very HOT and that was causing the smoke. A car right behind us saw it happen and he immediately flagged us over. That's where we got REAL lucky!! Had we gone much further, the tire would have BLOWN. If you click on the above picture of the tire, you will see it was wearing through the steel belts. Had it blown, I'm sure the damage caused would have been much worse.




The flopping tread tore the insulation above it off. It looks terrible, but really it's not that bad. It didn't bend anything or damage the fender or side panel on the fiberglass at all. Very LUCKY!!

In nearly 14 years of full-timing and 1000's of miles, this is our FIRST tire problem of any nature!!! Someone has been looking out for us !!! However, I've always worried about my tires and watched them closely. Twice before I have had Goodyear replace the NEW tires that came on our Tetons because they weren't adequate for the load. This Teton we special ordered and requested and paid extra for the upgraded "G's" instead of the "E's" that it came with. Most all the Manufacturers put just barely enough of a rated tire to get by. Then when you put anything in the rig, it's overweight. I should have gone even further and ordered it with the 17.5 wheels and the "H" rated tires. Isn't HINDSIGHT great? It's not enough to be just a little below the weight limits of your tires, we need to be considerably BELOW those weight limits......I weigh my rig every chance I get and weigh every axle and every wheel separately. It is EXTREMELY important!!!! It's interesting for me to note that this tire was loaded the heaviest of all the Coach's tires..... The tires have just over 15,000 miles on them. I carry 110 lbs of air in each tire and monitor them constantly.

I was one of the FIRST to obtain and use thePressurePro tire monitoring system, so I could watch the air pressure and be forewarned of a leak as I was driving down the road. I liked the system so well I began getting it for friends that also wanted it and soon became one of the top RV dealers for PressurePro. That was nearly 5 years ago.

Because I want more of a safety margin, we have decided to get rid of all the remaining G614's and go with the G114's. They are a 17.5" tire, while the ones we have now are 16". This requires we purchase 6 new 17.5" wheels and obtain 6 of the new G114's. They are "H" rated and designed specifically for commercial "low-boy" trailers hauling such things as back hoe's, caterpillars, etc. It will be an expensive undertaking, but necessary, in our opinion....

We are in the process of doing this now, The new wheels were ordered form HTW wheel mfg company near South Bend, IN. They arrived by UPS Friday and the 6 new tires came in Thursday. We took the new wheels over to the Dealer and they are mounting the new G114 tires on them. Now, to take the rig over to the dealer and have them all installed.....
I'm VERY happy to say that Goodyear, as usual, has cooperated with us 100% on this deal. In fact, they agreed to give us FULL PRICE credit for our G614's toward the purchase of the NEW G114's and pay for our damages. I have ALWAYS found them very cooperative. I wouldn't consider any other brand tire on my Coaches........


Our good friends Mark & Dale Bruss have also done this and Mark has documented it well with all his research on his website: Tires: New Sized Tires

They had much more damage to the side and fender well of their Coach.........

WAIT,,,we can't move!! One Amana repairman came out last Tuesday, found the frig had a bad circuit board,,,,,,,none in stock. Had to order it. Fortunately, it came UPS overnight delivery and we got it Wednesday. Another repairman came out the same day to install it. BOY, this is going smooth,,,,,,,,WRONG!!!!!

The 2ND repairman knew a lot more about what he was doing. He said " wait a minute, let me check the compressor, that's what usually causes this circuit board to go out". YEP,,,,,sure enough, compressor was SHOT!!!!! Had to order it !!!:-( New compressor came Friday morning, but no repairman was available to install it until MONDAY............So here we sit, afraid to move or go anywhere waiting for the repairman.........refer sitting out in the middle of the floor. Didn't realize how tough it is to be without a frig!!!! Boy, we take these modern conveniences for granted!!


Here is the first repairman that came out. He's ordering the circuit board and Pat's on the phone, as she has been for the last week continually!!!!


But, in spite of all these problems, we have a LOT to be thankful for!! We still wouldn't trade places with anyone in the whole WORLD!!!!! Here we sit in this beautiful Corps of Engineers park just 15 miles from our dear friends Louis and Janette Hughes. The park sits right on the shores of the Arkansas river and we have a SUPERB view right out our back picture window. Since we have " Golden Age" cards, the site costs $9.50 instead of the usual $19.00 per night. Not a bad life at all.

Monday we hope to get the Compressor installed and get the refer cooling again. Tuesday the tires can be installed on the Teton and Wednesday we can continue our journey to Tallahassee.

But,,,,who knows???? We'll see!!!

Meanwhile I have 6 lightly used beautiful Aluminum 16", 8 bolt, heavy duty wheels FOR SALE.


This is an actual picture of one of the wheels from our Teton. So if YOU, or anybody YOU know wants to upgrade your wheels to these beautiful polished aluminum wheels that will NEVER rust, now is your chance. Asking $65.00 each.......that's about 1/2 price or less. They are manufactured by HTW, the same ones that make the NEW 17.5's I just bought. I like the 16" wheels better than the 17.5's, I think they are more attractive......


SPECIAL REQUEST: Our friends, Bob & Molly Pinner, have a young niece who has Leukemia and is going through some of the same treatments Scott had to endure. Her name is Kristy and her Mom is Kathryn (Molly's sister). Kristy will be undergoing a Bone Marrow Transplant on Thursday, Oct. 23. We are asking that all of our Blog readers and friends everywhere pray for Kristy, especially on Thursday, that the BMT will be successful and that she will be on the road to recovery. Kristy has 4 beautiful children and they need their Mommy. God Bless you Kristy and keep up the good fight!! Kathryn we're praying for you, too.

See ya all next week and I'll bring you up to date on our progress. Hopefully, we'll be in FLORIDA!!! Thanks for stopping by and we LOVE your comments!!!
It was a BEAUTIFUL WEEK!!!
God Bless
Mike


This Blog is published every Sunday morning..