Disaster averted

Current location: Thousand Trails Rv Park called Lake Tawakoni.
Lake front view, 30 amps, water and decided to go with no sewer.


So, I notice I was losing a few pounds of air in the right front tire. As we left Ruston, I again notice the loss of air pressure. Just enough to trip our tire monitor. We pulled over, I put in a few pounds, check, and guess what. Back to where we started. I knew, that is could not the tire but the valve stem (loose).

As we were heading west on I-20, I spied a truck stop and instead of me doing it,  we drove into a Love’s Tire shop. Explained what was going on, next thing, we were in the bay. The  first thing, we were informed, sorry we cannot lift your coach, as we have no jack stand to put under this type of coach. Ok, so, I asked about the valve stem. They say yes it is loose, and we can tighten, we think.

First, thing they said, we can’t get to the nut from the back, due to the brake spring being close to the wheel. Ok, so they got a 9/16 inch open wrench and went to work from the front. Well, they said it was tighten a little, but we could see it was still loose. So, I decided to call another shop across the road.

Yes she said come over and park across the street, and I will send one of my trucks over. We, went, parked, and I got out, look at the location of the valve stem, and then it hit me. All I needed to do was move forward or backward, and the valve stem would be easy to get from the back side.

When Brian came over, he looked and said yep no problem, let me get a 5/8 inch open in (remember 9/16). He said, on aluminum wheels, valve stem is always 5/8 nut. One minute later, air added up to 105, and we were done. Walked across the street, the owner said give Brian a tip and I would be done. I took out a $20 bill, for 3 minutes of his time and we were done.

Moral of this story – 

The moral? Well the first thing was I forgot my own carnal rule. Stop, Look, Think, sit back and have a cup of coffee, before I do anything. We were in a safe place, no traffic, and we were comfortable.  With being safe, now I could have planned out what needed to be done. 

First think back, remember the valve stem? The valve stem is always rotating, so it would have been easy to move the Rv a few inches, if I really needed to get to it from the back. 

Second I would have made sure,  I knew what size wrench it took, and not make the mistake the gentlemen did working on it, knows what size the nut is. 

I realize I could have done this myself. In fact, I am checking the other size after completion of writing this. But, never let a loss of air continue, as you know know when a little loss turns into a flat tire. 

Safe Travels from
DaGirls Rv aka Dakota and Tilly
Susan and Dale