Crazy Not Stupid

[Gandalf]

Not long after I recieved my driver's license, something similar happened to me. My first car came with a full set of snow tires on custom rims (the rims matched the custom rims the "normal" tires were on) because the previous owner of the car used it to get to whereever he and his wife went skiing. So, being a Joisey native, when it came time to put on the snow tires, I did. Only I forgot to tighten them all the way on one of the wheels. Driving with my dad in the car, we did not get too far when the one wheel started to feel odd. Pulled over, noticed that there were no lugnuts on the wheel ( I was EXTREMELY lucky the wheel didn't come off). I panicked, "What do I do! There's no auto parts store nearby! Etc." Now we were not out in the middle of nowhere, but a store that sold lugnuts was definitely not within walking distance and home was about an hour's walk away, cell phones were still bulky and expensive then, so my family did not have one, therefore mom could not have picked us up. My dad told me to calm down, told a similar joke only I didn't "get" it and was clearly not happy with him telling jokes when we were "stranded" and when it was clear I did not quite understand what he was getting at, he explained it to me. Put the three lugnuts on from the other three wheels, tightened them down good, this time, and re-tightened all the lug nuts while I was at it, and everything was fine.

I tell ya', to this day, if my dad were not with me, I probably would have tried to walk home or do something equally stupid. I really do not know if using one lugnut from each of the other wheels would have crossed my mind even after I had started walking and the initial adrenaline surge faded.

I guess that means in my youth I was stupid not crazy, my wife says that I am the opposite, though, that must happen with maturity.

Paul

[Scooter]

Gandolf, That's funny. It reminds me of Forrest Gump. In the book, not the movie, he was driving with his college room mate and something similar happened to the room mates car, he lost all the lugs off one wheel and didn't know what to do. Forrest suggested the same thing that your dad did. The room mate was floored that simple Forrest could have thought of something so simple and clever, to which Forrest replied "I might be an idiot, but at least I ain't stupid!"
Tom.

[Flyfish4troutguy]

Sounds like you dad has had experience in this as well...lol.

Mike

[J Castwell]

Just in case you missed it; http://colo2.flyanglersonline.com/lighterside/

[roygpa]

About 30 years ago I had the same experience as Gandolf except the wheel did fall off and went its merry way into oncoming traffic. A few cars swerved to miss it and the wheel got tangle in the old cable guard rail. Sparks flew from the back of the truck like the 4th of July. After a few seconds I got stopped and surveyed the situation. The rear end of the truck was still in on coming traffic and I wasn't sure what to do. A few minutes later a local policeman stopped and prevented on coming traffic from running over my legs as my friend and I jacked the truck up enough to put the wheel back on. It was difficult jacking with the brake drum sitting on the asphalt.After we got it jacked up the policeman suggested taking a lug nit off the other three wheels.
We did and got the hell out of there. The whole episode did not noticeable damage to the truck.

[Gandalf]

Just in case you missed it; http://colo2.flyanglersonline.com/lighterside/

Thanks JC, I just took it for granted that everyone read their FAOL from "cover to cover" when each new "issue" came out. The Lighterside frequently has some very good and very funny stories.

It did bring back the memory, though. I had nearly forgotten about that incident.

Paul

[Gandalf]

Sounds like you dad has had experience in this as well...lol.

Mike

I remember asking him about it at the time, and he actually did not have personal experience. I do kind of remember him saying that he did know someone who had this happen, though.

Paul

[Gandalf]

About 30 years ago I had the same experience as Gandolf except the wheel did fall off and went its merry way into oncoming traffic. A few cars swerved to miss it and the wheel got tangle in the old cable guard rail. Sparks flew from the back of the truck like the 4th of July. After a few seconds I got stopped and surveyed the situation. The rear end of the truck was still in on coming traffic and I wasn't sure what to do. A few minutes later a local policeman stopped and prevented on coming traffic from running over my legs as my friend and I jacked the truck up enough to put the wheel back on. It was difficult jacking with the brake drum sitting on the asphalt.After we got it jacked up the policeman suggested taking a lug nit off the other three wheels.
We did and got the hell out of there. The whole episode did not noticeable damage to the truck.

Glad to know everything worked out. I can't imagine what would have happened to my little Celica had the front whee come off. Might have cracked that cast iron disc (brake) by having that corner's portion of the car's weight falling on it.

Another time that I dodged a bullet in that car, actually happened twice. The first time, I remember very vividly. I was on the Garden State Parkway going to school (I commuted to college), needed to slow down because traffic ahead slowed. Being a careful driver, I anticipated I had to slow a good distance before I had to. Hit the brake pedal and as soon as my foot came to rest at the normal location I used for slowing down at the rate I wanted, I could not feel the brake pedal anymore. The brake pedal's momentum kept it going until it hit the stop and did not bounce back to my foot. I.e. the pedal had no resistance whatsoever. I nearly voided my underwear, but I quickly pulled the brake pedal back up with my foot and pumped the pedal (while using my parking brake to help slow down) and everything was fine. I would have pulled off at the next exit except that traffic was bumper to bumper before the next exit came up and my brakes were working fine by then. I checked the master cylinder when I pulled into the parking lot at school and the brake fluid level was full in both reservoirs of the master cylinder (nowadays most cars have only one reservoir, back then two were common, one reservoir fed one front and one back wheel, the other reservior was supposed to feed the opposite wheels). The trouble did not reappear for my drive home, though I was extra cautious, this time taking the long way, (i.e. secondary roads) in case it happened again. Pulled all four wheels off and checked my brakes, when I go home and found nothing wrong. Bled the system, nothing obviously wrong because the fluid was a nice color and no air came out. The brakes worked fine for two months, when the same thing happened, except this time, the brakes "died" when I was in the parking lot at school. Took the same precaution driving home, took my car to a local place that did brakes the next day and had them work on it. All they could find was a leaking cylinder in one of th rear drums. I had that car for another two years and the brakes were fine until the day I sold it.

I was darn lucky that, both times, I did not hit any other car or, in the second case, anyone.

To this day, I can't imagine that one leaking brake cylinder could have caused the problem, especially since it was not a gradual loss of pedal resistance, like I have experienced with a brake cylinder valve that I forgot to tighten all the way, but simply no pressure from the start, like the system was dry.

Another piece of wisdom my dad passed on to me that I have since come to be in agreement with, "DIY car repairs for a hobby is fun, DIY car repairs when you're on a schedule (i.e. you need your car to get to work tomorrow) is not fun."

Paul