Screwed Myself Again

[JoeRaisin <joeraisin2001@xxxxxxxxx>]

And this time, mother nature threw her two cents in as well... the bitch.

About 40 min from home on an hour and half drive, guy pulls next to me
on a passing lane and points to my tires.

I hadn't felt anything out of the ordinary but I pull over and sure
enough, the right front is about 2/3 flat.  Well, I knew it had a slow
leak and I was keeping up with it.  It was only losing about 10 lbs of
air over 5-6 weeks if I let it go that long, usually checking and
topping it off with a pound or two once a week.  Don't know if what was
causing the slow leak was the cause of the flat... Don't care.

I have gotten into the habit of looking at it and I know it was riding
nice and high when I left the job site.

No problemo... I got a spare and right after I started driving this heap
I had gone to a junk yard for a jack and tool kit that normally come
with a 2001 Sierra.  Only took about two hours of hunting around but I
found a junked 2001 Sierra that had everything I needed.  Worth the
time, I figured, as having a flat without a jack is a bitch.

So I flip the seat forward and there's the tools... oh shit, I used the
jack when I was working on my yard tractor and never put it back.

I suck at this...

Well.... again, no problemo... I got AAA road service.  I give them a
call and tell them I need a tire change - won't cost a me penny.  They
make the arrangements and tell me I will have about an hour wait.

No problemo... that will give me time to crank the spare out from under
the truck and have it all ready when the guy gets here.

There's a hole in the bumper with a sleeve that directs the long tool
right to the crank that drops the spare... assuming, of course, that
one's bumper isn't cocked, which mine is.

Though it took a minute to figure out the problem.

No Problemo... that plastic sleeve isn't hard at all to remove and I
peer into the hole with my pen light... there's the nut all I gotta do
is slide that tool right on to it.  Hell, it only took about five
minutes to get it seated.

I crank and crank and crank... the cable is lying on the ground but the
spare has only dropped about 4-5 inches.  I kick and pull but it's not
moving down at all.  So I feel around, trying to figure out the problem
but can't seem to find where things have gone wrong.  I realize that the
entire mechanism is suspended by two hooks and ONE bolt.

NO Problemo... it's a work truck and I gots tools up the ass (it's the
safest place to keep them in some of the areas I work in).

I grab a wrench that I think will be right, based on my guestimate when
I felt it.  I feel around for several minutes and realize the half inch
is a little too small.  What was I thinking!  Auto makers love the
9/16th. takes a few minutes of blindly feeling around to realized the
9/16th ain't gonna make it either.  The 5/8 was a perfect fit.  so I
commence to unbolting the entire mechanism (and I made sure that's what
I was unbolting).  At a quarter turn at a time it only took... Forever.

I still couldn't get the spare off the damned mechanism, but with the
whole thing lying on the ground I can see what I'm up against.  The
retractable hook that prevents it from dropping while I'm, driving down
the road is all corroded from the Michigan road salt and it won't retract.

NO PROBLEMO... I gots lots of tools.  I beat on it with a hammer...
nope.  I crank on it with pliers, several different types of pliers in
fact, including vice grips... nope.  I beat on it some more with the
hammer, not that I think the hammer will suddenly work, but I needed a
bit of therapy about then.  I can see how it's supposed to move so in a
moment of clarity, I grab my mini pry bar and that does the trick.

Did I mention that it started raining right before the mechanism
dropped?  Wouldn't have done any good to rain before that as I was under
the truck and would have been somewhat protected.

Tow truck gets there about 5-10 minutes later and the driver says, "Glad
to see you got the spare off.  When I heard the year of the truck I
thought for sure it would be froze up and I'd have a hell of a time
getting it down."  Then he sees the mechanism sitting there on the
ground and says, "Oh, I see you did have some trouble."

We change the tire (still raining) but now I got nowhere to put the flat
tire.  One would think that with a full sized truck bed there would be
room for a tire, but with all the tools, equipment and ladders I carry
there was no friggin way.  So I put it on top of my ladder rack (which
has other ladders on it, the ones that won't fit in the bed).  Those
damned tires are HEAVY!

I climb on top of the truck and bungy the fucker down.

Did I mention it was raining?

Turns out the spare was low on air itself - about 20 lbs in it and it
should be 44.

NO FUCKING PROBLEMO... I know I'm only 7 miles from a gas station with
an air pump.  I stop there all the time.  In fact I was planning to stop
there in any event as I had to pee like a friggin racehorse.  Where I
had pulled over was on a highway through the woods but this time of year
there's no cover.  I would have had to trek about a quarter mile through
the remaining snow and over a ridge to avoid getting arrested for
indecent exposure.  I just KNEW the minute I whipped it out a damned
female trooper would drive by and get all offended 'cause I wasn't
slipping that monster to her.  I figured I could hold it - but it did
add a bit of spice to everything else.

It takes a dollar in quarters to activate the air pump and I have no cash.

No (sigh) problemo... got the debit card and go inside to use the
bathroom and the ATM.  What ATM?  I could have sworn they had an ATM.
So I buy a vitamin water, I'm pretty thirsty anyway, and get $10 cash
back, then make change.

I go back out into the rain and fill the tire up to the prescribed 44
lbs, let the hose snap back and climb in the truck.

I start it up, turn on the wipers and pull away.  Less than a mile later
the wipers start making that annoying noise they make when they are
being dragged across a dry windshield.

Must of had something to do with the sun coming back out.

I wonder if my Vitamin water will still be sitting on the ice cooler
next to the air pump next time I'm by there.

Probably not...