Just thought id share my afternoon with you all. Had a couple of errands to do so off i go. After business was done, i thought id take a little drive pass my buddies house. About 8 miles south of where i was at. His house caught fire 2 years ago and he bought an old Gulf station to call home. He didnt appear to be home, so i kept going. Made a sorta big circle back around, then decided to exit towards a town called, Clairton. Very familiar road about 10 miles from home. Been down this road 1000 times. River on the right, hills on your left. Cruising along and then out of the blue, a patch of big yellow posies. I never buy my wife real flowers, she always hints around, and always buys them for her self. Ive bought her flowers made out of brass, tin, ceramic, steel etc and they last forever, nevertheless, she likes the ones that die. So i made a u turn through a gravel lot, back 500 feet or so, pulled off da road, shut off da motor, jumped out to pick a bouquet of big, long stem posies to make her day. When my feet hit da ground, pssssssss is all i can hear. L/f tire. Felt aroud and realized the stem was leaking. Eeeee. Jumped back in the truck, u turn, Speedway gas station about a mile or so down the road. Figured id call my wife to pick me up so i can get my tow truck or the spare and change it. Parked, investigated the leak. There was actually a hole in the side of the valve stem. I put my thumb on it and it stopped. Yea me....except i couldn't drive and hold my thumb on the valve stem. Ha.. wire tie. Glove box, no, ha, makeshift tool box under hood. Bingo. Put 1 on and silence. Leak was slowed enough to attempt the trip home. Maybe i should put a bit more air in it since I was at a gas station. Limped around the lot, found the air station, $1.50 later and 32 psi is all i accomplished. Well because it started leaking worse than initially. 1st wire slipped down and was to tight to slide back. Open hood, makeshift toolbox, ha, hose clamp, made and honest attempt, but was to big. Another wire tie stopped the leak again, after moving around like there was a fire behind me and my rear was catching. Lol. I still only accomplished 30 psi or so and wasnt putting another $1.50 in this machine that really needed upgraded to say da least. Jumped in. Got moving. And was praying for green lights. I made it back to the garage without inconveniencing my wife or anybody else to assist me because i was unprepared. Now i will have a jack and 4way at a minimum. Maybe a spare also so I dont need to borrow one off the rear. I blamed my wife by the way. Ive should of known better. She'll get fake flowers or none at all....lesson well taught. Ha... pics are my buddy Bills house, and the subject tire.
My rule. ALWAYS carry a good spare with jack and at least a lug wrench in every vehicle I own. I also check the pressure in spare regularly. I have also been the victim of valve stem leaks. Especially on E rated tires with 80psi on my other truck. I now run steel stems in that one.
I try to run short steel valve stems. But I did have a tire that had a hole under a loose-ish flap, push down, leak stops. I dumped in a can of "fixaflat" but it didn't work for long. After the tire was flat, I filled the underpart of the flap with super glue and put a heavy weight on it. The tire held air for the next two months (IN MY GARAGE!! I wasn't driving it--- no engine) until I had the body dragged off.
Another quality post. Real Trucks Rattle HELP! The Paranoids are after me!
Yep, I learn about steel valve stems a while back, I have a habit (not a good one mind you) of using the tire and rim to climb in the back of 4x4. It only took one time of tearing the rubber valve stem out to fix me on doing that and swapping to steel valve stem on the next tire mount... I still climb into the bed that way on occasion, just make sure I'm not on the valve stem.
~ Craig 1958 Viking 4400 "The Book of Thor" Read the story in the DITY 1960 Chevrolet C10 "A Family Heirloom" Follow the story in the DITY Gallery '59 Apache 31, 327 V8 (0.030 over), Muncie M20 4 Speed, GM 10 Bolt Rear... long term project (30 years and counting)
If you don't like driving yourTruck, you won't drive yourTruck..| Living life in the SLOW lane
That was only wheel with a long rubber stem. The other 5 have steel stems. Unfortunately i didnt have anymore steel stems around, but i did use a short instead of a long one. Hope it lasts. Lol.
