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Coming Clean & A Cautionary Tale!
Skibum346:
Well folks... it's time for me to come clean and provide you all with a cautionary tale.
Last Saturday, I had my beastie (new) up on a ramp swapping over the 2" lifted suspension components. When I'd finished, I cleared up... said my farewells and thanked those around me who had provided sage advicxe & assistance, and drove off.
On Sunday... driving from Rugby to Warwick for an Army Cadet Force parade in my bestest kit (Well... soldier 95's for those in the know but my boots were shiny!) I had accelerated up behind a slower vehicle on a long straight but decided not to bother overtaking as they were speeding up. I touched the brake to adjust my speed accordingly... in a nice safe manner.... when suddenly... Keerrrrrruuunnnnchhh... Screeech... scrape....! My nearside rear wheel overtakes me!
I had used an impact gun on the ramp with the intention of torqueing up the nuts when the ramp was lowered. However, I got distracted by cleaning up... chatting... laughing at jokes etc etc and failed to correctly tighten the wehel nuts.
Thankfully, I stopped in a straight(ish) line, staying in my lane and my wheel, which had been doing 50mph, managed to somehow lose most of that momentum and trundled into the nearside hedge 100m away. I left a long wiggly scratch mark in the tarmac for about 100m and I may need a new drivers seat :oops:.
I was kind of impressed that the only damage appears to be to the edge of the brake disc (being replaced as we speak) however, it could have been a whole lot worse, the M1, Monday morning, outside lane, heavy traffic... :shocked:
So... I'll deal with the embarresment caused by my idiotic workshop practice, if it helps prevent someone else suffering the same fate.
Please... Every time you have a wheel off... put something on the instrument panel that will remind you to torque up the nuts before you drive away!
OK.... now I'm ready for all your jibes! Though I've already got dibs on the 1965 hit by the New Christy Minstrels.... "Three Wheels on My Wagon"!!! 8-[ 8-[ 8-[
Discopoo:
No jibe here m8, been there done that, so easy to do. Glad to hear it wasn't too disastrous.
crazymac:
Only time I've actually had a wheel come off was while test driving a Fiat 126 years ago! The car dealer tried to blame me even though I had only travelled 100 yards from the place!! He got told to "go away exclamation mark"
glad it worked out without injury (except to pride :doh:)
Eeyore:
No jibe here, either.
It happens more often than you think.
Well done you for being man enough to hold your hand up. How many people would have tried to blame someone or something else?
Skibum346:
--- Quote from: Eeyore on October 15, 2008, 11:47:14 ---No jibe here, either.
It happens more often than you think.
Well done you for being man enough to hold your hand up. How many people would have tried to blame someone or something else?
--- End quote ---
Thanks matey...
**Bows Disgracefully**
Skibum
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