Date: Wed, 28 Sep 94 13:45:16 PDT
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: Stuart Redford <scr@hpvcpnpi.vcd.hp.com>
Subject: Re: stranded
>
> yup. to begin with, there ain't an awful lot to chuckle about in the west
> texas desert in the first place.
>
HA!
> before you go on a trip, get a GOOD lug wrench and TRY IT OUT! that is, take
> at least one wheel OFF the car with it. test it out. and make SURE that you
> can loosen and tighten ALL the lugs on ALL the wheels. and, if you can do it,
> NEVER EVER let those idiots at tire stores or anywhere use an impact wrench
> on your lug nuts. otherwise, you will be sadder but wiser, like Mike and
> me. :(
>
Yeah. I've spent many hours (minutes?) trying to convince camper-wana-
bees (both VW hardware campers and generic campers) to try out their
tools before they need them. This was also a strong message we tried
to send when I was in the bicycling biz..
Despite my suspicion this'll generate some religious-like discussion,
I always put a dab of moly grease on lugs. This is a habit I developed
existing in the frozen, salty climes of upstate-NY. I've never had a
problem changing wheels (and have never lost a nut (as in lug-).
I don't bother trying to tell the tire clowns how to tighten stuff.
I just readjust at home afterwards. This is not as difficult for me
as I've got a Snap-On 600ft/lb tork thing for those real ugly numbers.
I retighten using the same wrench I'll have to use in the shit
when I get a flat.
Spare tires? I got a flat (sidewall nail) while in Zion. If I hadn't
had a spare I might've been in deep shit. I'm not sure that liquid
spare tire woulda helped.
The bolt I hate is that unit in the spare tire rack.
I contemplated going spareless for a while. I wanted to use the
spare tire rack space in my '91 for a gray h2o sump tank. I thought
it might not be risky when running near population centers especially
with a cellular. But, I'd never go "blue highway" without one.
Sure, those weeny-wheels seem dopey. But, I'm glad my econobox
Escort doesn't have a full size taking space. And we all know that
VW couldn't even consider aweeny-wheel for the camper.
scr