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Hook and bullet club - Tired bad luck

Trailer tires and I just do not have a good working relationship right now. After leaving deer camp last season and shredding a tire before we were out of the driveway, I decided to rectify the problem over the summer.I replaced the smaller tires that came with the trailer with a 12 inch tire that would last longer. Well, it didn’t last too long. Evan and I had loaded the wheeler on the trailer and filled up the truck with boxes to go out to the shack one night last week.With the dog riding in the back, we were just about to the end of the blacktop when an all too familiar noise could be heard. Flop. Flop. Flop.Sure enough when I looked at the rear right tire on the trailer, it was deja vu all over again. Another flat tire. But it didn’t look that bad. And I had a portable air compressor in back of the truck. So, maybe this time things would go better. The tire filled up with air from the compressor in no time and I stopped at 32 pounds. But there was a noise still coming from the tire after I removed the hose. Sure enough, air was leaking out of the stem. I put a cap on it and figured at the rate it was leaking I could check it a little ways down the road and use the compressor again if need be. A quarter of a mile later Evan yelled out that the tire was flat. I didn’t have to use the compressor since the tire and the rim were no longer connected. Toast. Now came decision time. Keep going slowly up to the shack? Take off the wheeler to remove the weight from the trailer? Call home and have a tire brought out? Or, take off the wheeler and ditch the trailer in the woods after dropping everything off at the shack?We took the last option, tucking the trailer down a trail out of sight. It would take another trip to town to resolve this problem. We came back with the 14 year-old in tow and changed the tire in record time.But now it was a question of why did it happen? Was it a faulty tire? Had I ran over a nail or a sharp rock? Nope. All of the pieces came together when I thought back to the first time I stopped. When I kneeled down to hook up the air compressor, I had to put the end of a ratchet strap in the trailer. The strap had come loose from holding the wheeler in place. Further inspection of the tire revealed that the stem was broken right at the rim. So, it’s possible the hook on the strap that was hanging over the side of the trailer hit the stem and caused the flat tire. Or, it could just be plain bad luck and I should refrain from pulling a trailer unless a spare tire is at the ready at all times. I think I’ll keep that spare trailer tire in the truck…just in case.

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