Spring Group Run 2023 Carnage

[fabr]

Well for me it was minimal but a bit expensive. If Jerry is still open to letting me try his big tires.  We both have the oddball backset and 14x17 wheels so I can tell exactly how they act and if I like them. For now though a hundred bux worth of tubes will fix these leaky ass STU's that no amount of starch will cure

Then I had the alternator die on the last run ,nothing 300 bux didn't fix.  SO far 400 bux.Not bad I think.

THEN,I dug into the suspected wheel bearing I found the cv was in good shape and still well lubed.    Continued towards the wheel bearings and found dried out cv lube in the bearings.WTH?  Both bearings were running essentially dry.  I move onto the good side and find everything in perfect shape with wheel bearing grease where it belonged BUT there was an internal seal that the bad side didn't. Gray Area didn't care a bit ,wouldn't even offer to give me that seal at cost let alone give it to me free since I never got it and therefore I am now buying new bearings at $285  each. The seal was $57 and a spacer for 9bux since they now use different bearings than they had. 

I guess  thousand bux compared to what some trips have cost I should be     

[dsrace]

Are the stubs dry rotting? Like extreme tires used to do. I wonder why they leak that bad?

I knew you had an alt issue but didn't know you had a wheel bearing issue. When you pull all that apart to repair it.....take some pics. That would be interesting to see how its built and assembled.

Def a few pricier repairs for you and that sucks that they forgot the seals In That bearing. Anything leaving their shop today is prob far worse given the state of affairs In the world.

You'll get it all fixed and be running great again. I do not know Grant, the v8 rail. Which he said he bought Phil Jacksons personal rail. Nice guy and he said he had a user name of general q or something here on dts some time back. I thought mitch and Mike or Jerry knew him from somewhere.

[dsrace]

When you say very area and they don't care one bit.........I fully understand Nd have/ are dealing with companies like that. Speedway isn't one of them, they have proven to be. Stand up company or I got lucky. Maybe some carl luck rubbed off onto me 

[fabr]

No dry rot. they are probably 10 years old tho. I have leaks around the bead. Not the bead itself. It is pretty bad just beyond the bead where the sidewall just begins. You can see the cords just outside the beadlock/rim about 1/2 inch wide where sand has worn away the rubber.Starch will seal them but when running the leaks open back up. The 33-17 Sand blaster is a 4 ply tire and just doesn't like 580 at the wheel. Think I'll run them with tubes rest of season and likely buy ones like Jerry has for next year with the new engine.  The choice I'll need to make is one of the three 6 ply offers. I can use 36-17 Sandblaster( big brother to what I have) , DuneSport 14.50-17 like Jerry has or the biggest dog 35.5-17 Sand Master. Those are my 3 choices and are all 6 ply and better suited to my needs. If Jerry's offer is still good I'll try his out this fall assuming he makes the group run.

All midboard hubs are basically the same . I'll take some pics and post.

[fabr]

Honestly,if it were me,I'd give the customer the missing seal no matter what even if I didn't believe it in the interest of good customer relations .I mean the seal is $70 from Kartek ,$57 from Gray Area and can be had for as little as $8 from various internet sources. I know Gray Area likely paid the 8 bux type price so what would it have hurt for them to have said they were very sorry and given me one.Truth is that GA should have given me new bearings as well.    I didn't even ask for that.  They did give me a 10% repeat customer discount and waived the credit card fees. I guess something is better than nothing huh.  Soooo,due to their eff up it is only costing me $590 and a few hours to fix what never should have happened.