Sounds like a Kleb story. But glad you made it, now the truck and
trailer are good to go again!
--R
On 8/1/16 4:59 PM, Donald Snook via Mercedes wrote:
I made it back from Oklahoma. Thanks to Ok Don for his contact info and offer
to help. It made me feel a little better that I could call somebody nearby if
things went terribly.
If you are interested, it was quite an adventure:
My decided to buy a car that was her son's. Or more accurately, it was her
son's ex wife's car. It was very cheap and is intended to be a first car for
her daughter that is turning 16 this month. It is a 2005 Cadillac STS. It has
175,000 Miles and we knew when we started it was going to need some work. The
car was initially located in Davis Oklahoma. Two weekends ago, we went down to
Oklahoma to get the car. We knew it needed a crankshaft position sensor and at
least one tire. One of my other stepdaughters lives in Ardmore Oklahoma and her
husband has a shop and is fairly handy with vehicles. So we planned to Dolly
the car to her house and look it over get a new tire and hopefully drive it
back to Wichita. When we arrived we discovered it needed two tires had no
battery and was going to need more work to be able to drive it back. We rented
a U-Haul flatbed and towed it from Davis to Ardmore. I changed the oil and put
the spare on and looked the car over for other issues. We decid
ed it was not really drivable for the 250 miles to bring it back to Wichita. My
step daughter's father has a flatbed trailer so we decided to borrow it and use
my truck to tow the car back.
My truck is a 92 F150 with the 5.0 and 147,000 miles. I had actually never
driven it down to Oklahoma or any other long-distance other than using it to
haul things around town. So I was a little concerned about its ability to tow
the trailer and the 4000 pound car. But I did some research and I believed that
it was capable of towing. I had previously replaced the rear tires on the truck
although I did not replace the front. The truck had a new water pump and
coolant flush, oil change, spark plugs and wires. I had done this work last
summer. I took off Friday afternoon with the truck and trailer. I had a
checklist of everything I thought I would need for the trip including extra
oil, transmission fluid, coolant, etc. BUT, the one thing I forgot to add to
my list was the spare tire for my truck which I had taken out of the bed
previously when we hauled a new desk my wife bought. So, 60 miles down the road
and I have a blowout on the truck.
I called my wife and she brought the spare tire and a jack that was in my
garage. As it turns out the Jack she brought was the jack for my BMW and the
lug wrench for her car (a Cadillac). So I was on the side of the Kansas
turnpike trying to use a smaller BMW jack to lift a full-size pick up. It
finally worked and I got the tire changed. The spare tire had some dry rot but
I was hoping and praying it would make it the remainder of the trip. There is
more to the story about traveling down to pick up the car but this is already
getting too long. I arrived about 1 am in Ardmore. By the time I arrived I
realize that the spare tire and the other front tire were going to have to be
replaced before I could travel back. So in the morning I went to Walmart to
replace the two front truck tires. By 11:30 that morning I was on the road with
the car on the trailer. I forgot to mention earlier that the air conditioning
does not work in my old truck. So leaving about 1130 was a bad choice in term
s of the heat of the day. I was a little concerned about pulling such a heavy
car and trailer with my old truck so I stopped after the first 60 miles to
check it out. It was actually doing great. The truck wasn't getting hot. It was
having no problems pulling the car and trailer and was performing much better
than I had expected. I was even getting 12 miles to the gallon with the car and
trailer. More than halfway home I was feeling confident although very sweaty in
the hundred-degree heat. I was singing the praises of my old Ford truck as it
chugged along like a true workhorse. I stopped and filled up the gas and got
myself an extra large diet soda and planned to complete the remaining hundred
miles without incident.
2 miles later one of the tires on the trailer blew out. So, i'm on the side of
the road with a BMW Jack and the spare tire for my truck. I learned that a BMW
Jack will not lift a 1500 pound trailer with a 4000 pound car on it. I ended up
calling a tow company to come out and change the tire. When he arrived we
realized that the wheel on my truck spare was a different diameter than the
wheel from the trailer. Although I had noticed that the tire on the trailer
wheel was the same size as my truck tire. The tow driver gave me a ride 5 miles
down the road where I found a shop willing to take the trailer wheel and mount
a proper trailer tire on it. We drove back and got the trailer fixed back up
and I was finally back on the road.
I arrived later safely with no more problems. The amazing thing was that The
truck had performed flawlessly. So now we just need to repair the issues with
the car and get a new tire and it will be on the road!
Don Snook
-----Original Message-----
From: Kaleb C. Striplin [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Friday, July 29, 2016 9:07 AM
To: Mercedes Discussion List <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [MBZ] Towing in Oklahoma -- Member Contact?
Ok don lives just off i35
Sent from my iPhone
On Jul 29, 2016, at 8:37 AM, Donald Snook via Mercedes <[email protected]>
wrote:
I'm going to be driving my old 92 Ford F-150 today or tomorrow down to Ardmore,
Oklahoma (straight shot down I-35) and will return towing my stepdaughter's
new-to-her car on a flat-bed trailer.
Any members close to I-35 along that stretch? I'm hopeful the trip will be
uneventful. If it's not, I'm wondering if anyone is in the area for some
mechanical assistance.
The truck has new rear tires, a very sturdy extra heavy duty tow bumper, new
water pump, new plugs and wires, coolant flush, and all fluids checked and
topped off.
Donald H. Snook
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--
--FT
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