September 11, 2013

Wasatch View, Ogden, UT

The following quite by former mayor Rudolph Giuliani best describes how I feel about the attacks of September 11.

The attacks of September 11th were intended to break our spirit. Instead we have emerged stronger and more unified. We feel renewed devotion to the principles of political, economic, and religious freedom, the rule of law and respect for human life. We are more determined than ever to live our lives in freedom.

-Rudolph Giuliani, former mayor of New York City

We really enjoyed our time at Antelope Island State Park. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We would have liked to stay longer but are anxious to move on because to want to explore several parks in Utah while the weather is so nice. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Monte trying to avoid the squeeters 

It was very overcast so it is doubtful we would have gotten a full charge if we stayed another day. 

 

 

 

 

 

Our drive across the causeway-This is the first time I got to see what it would be like to drive with Monte in the truck because I left my car in a parking lot on the other side of the causeway to save the additional car fee.

 

 

Yeah-my car is still there.

Monte waiting for me as I walked back to my car.

But first we made the short drive to Les Schwab in Ogden to get the tires flipped on the rims and cross rotated due to abnormal tire wear.  Monte believes this was caused by the axles being out of alignment.

Last year we made a trip to Mor/Ryde in Indiana to have disc brakes and an independent suspension system installed on our rig.  Everything appeared to be working well until Monte noticed that the tires were wearing unevenly on the inside of the tires.  When Monte called Mor/Ryde to report the condition of the tires, he was told that the wear is NORMAL. 

He wasn’t convinced that the tires are supposed to wear on the inside and not evenly across the face of the tire.

In May we had stopped at a Goodyear dealer in Fernley, NV to have the tires checked out.  (We purchased the Goodyear G614 RST tires last August).  The tech at Goodyear suggested we have the alignment checked as well as having the tires flipped on the rims and cross rotated to put the wear pattern on the outer edge of the tires.

We put the tire issue on hold for the summer while we were hosting in Oregon and the rig was stationary.

On our way to Antelope Island, Monte had noticed a billboard for Les Schwab.  He gave them a call and found out they could do the work we required.  The tech that takes care of this type of work is only available on Wednesdays so we made an appointment.

We arrived at 11AM. 

Monte’s report on procedure: The first thing they did was to remove all the wheels and flipped the tires on the rims.  Before the tires were removed I noticed that when they jacked up the rig the rear tire on the left side of the rig had a lot of wobble in it.  NOT Normal-This tells me that there was a problem with the axle bearing being too loose.  I checked all the tires and every one had wobble play in all the mounted wheels on the axle spindle.

I called attention to this and Kenny, the alignment tech, suggested that all of the wheel bearings be repacked.  Then they removed all the rotor hubs and repacked the wheel bearings.

 

 

At the same time they installed metal valve stems that have a higher air pressure rating on all of the tires.  They didn’t have the needed seals in stock so they had them ordered and delivered.

 

 

 

 

Next, they proceeded to reinstall all the hubs and tires.  I moved the rig inside the garage (not an easy task with having only a few inches clearance on each side.)

 

 

Kenny started the alignment.  He used a Hunter Alignment System and was unable to do both of the axles.  He was only able to do the rear axle so the front axle is still questionable.  The biggest problem is actually the extreme wobble in the driver rear tire and this was corrected.

I believe that the disc rotor assembly was not installed or adjusted properly.  I reported this to Mor/Ryde and am waiting to hear what they have to say about it.  This oversight could have been devastating possibly causing major damage to our HOME.

While Monte remained at Les Schwab, I found a nearby Laundromat and checked off one of our chores off our list.

Our original plans had us continuing on route leading us to a campground in Moab but we didn’t end up leaving Les Schwab until 6:30PM.  Normally we would have just stayed at a Walmart (there was one located less than a mile away from Les Schwab) but being that the rig was under a overhang all day we did not get a full charge.  So I pulled out my trusty Passport America directory and found Wasatch View just 6 miles away.