Writing late at night, tired, thirsty, and a little
less than coherent. I'll rewrite the post, and see
if I can make more sense.
Take two!
Went out to take care of a couple errands. I was on a
limited access highway, going about 55 MPH in a
65 MPH zone. The truck started to make some awful
noise in front. I pulled over, off the side of the road.
Get out and look. Right front tire, was flat as a
pancake, on the bottom. Bummer.
Found my small air compressor. I'd used it a couple
days ago, with a friend's soft tire. Hook that on, and
ran it for two or three minutes. The tire did not inflate.
Dug in a tote of stuff in the back. Got out a can of stop
leak fix a flat, puncture seal, or some other brand. Squirting
the entire can of stuff in, did not raise the rim off the ground.
Then put the compressor back on. Still, rim on the ground.
Called AAA, they sent a guy out with a tow truck. He had
a floor jack and cordless impact wrench. Made short work
of the tire change. I do have a screw up jack, but it's under
a lot of other stuff. And, I do have a lug wrench. But, I figure
I pay for AAA, and may as well use it.
When we got the tire off, I could see the BIG hole in the tread,
about 1/3 of the way in from the outer edge of the tread. The
latex and presure are bubbling cheerfully away. I marked the
location with a Sharpie pen, on the sidewall. Didn't think the pen
would write on wet latex.
Stop on the way home, bought a couple more tire plug, the
black cord with the tar. I had a couple, but figure to buy
some new ones.
Learning moment. The insert tool I had in the storage tote
in the back had a tip like a closed top U. It pulled the tar
cord plug right back out. Went in doors to modify the
plug tool, (bench grinder; metal content) make it J
shaped instead. Then, it worked. Need to make sure
my insert tools are J shape, in the future. I checked the
other insert tool, in my other vehicle. It was J shaped.
Inflate the patched wheel. Will see in the AM, if the air
holds. [yes, it did] If it holds, I'll put the wheel back on
(matched tire, matches the other side) and put the spare
back under. [The spare is held on by two big nylon tie
wraps, and two coat hangers. The winch and crank
mechanism rusted and stopped working, long time ago.]