Good morning Oregon and everyone everywhere else. Overcast and 59, but it is pretty humid.

Get to go to town today and talk to Point S (Tire Factory) and see why two of the wheels I got from them a few years ago have cracked. One cracked when I was hauling brush out to the burn pile at the farm and the other one cracked on the way home from our trip. I guess it is possible something happened to both at the same time and it took one longer than the other to start leaking. The Warden nor I don't recall hitting any pot holes or anything rougher than the gravel road...which we've been up and down a thousand times. The usual hay truck washboards are showing up on the road again, but that is an occurrence that is present about 9 months out of the year.

 

Good morning. At work today.

 

Have a look at the tire. Make sure it's not a directional tread, and on the wheel backwards.
Pep boys did this to one of my trucks a few years back, cracked 3 wheels before I figured out what was going on.
They ended up replacing all 4 wheels and tires.

 

Good evening Oregon and Visiting Ford Fans.

 

Second Cracked Wheel in 3 weeks. First occurred while hauling brush, essential a no weight load. This one was noticed 2 1/2 weeks later, about 185 miles into the 235 mile trip back home while hauling the camper and pulling the boat. I'm kind of thinking something must have happened that affected both rear tires at the same time and one just started leaking a couple of weeks before the other one.





Howdy Charley! Everything seemed to be good as far as those concerns go. They are non directional and can be mounted white lettering out or reversed with black letting out and white lettering in..



Ended up at Les Schwab after Point S fell flat on their faces and were rather rude. So now I'm thinking that Point S, (the Old Tire Factory), and I have had pretty much so a permanent parting of the ways. When I got there, they wouldn't even look the wheels up and were not interested in ordering them. Didn't want to even talk about the Tire Factory Warranty that supposedly covered them when I got them. Essentially, if I didn't want to buy 4 of what ever they had in stock, I could go down the road. They even actually suggested that I go down to Schwab and see about getting another OEM wheel and put it on the back to match the one we got during the trip and leave the two Ultra 62's on the front. So I departed Point S and unless something drastically changes in the management/employee roster there, I shall erase their location out of my GPS.

The only thing Schwab said was that they, (Tire Factory), put the wrong valve stems in and the wrong center hubs on the rear wheels. Schwab checked the max weight for the wheels and they didn't see where that was the problem either. It's the same wheel that is used for the F350 SRW and has sufficient weight reserve for our application under maximum weight loading. Schwab did mention that if I had bought the wheels from them to start with, they would have been warrantied out at full replacement. (In my defense, I did saved $50 by getting them at The Tire Factory, but sure rub it in!)

Schwab did not have to order them. They told me they are one of the most popular wheels for the "grown ups" pickups in this area. (I did not ask what he meant by 'grown ups') He couldn't believe that Point S did what they did. Then he told me that they had them in stock and there was no need to order. He also told me they put the wrong center caps on them as well.

These tires apparently come with a small center cap or a large center cap. Our style of Ford pickups should be ordered with the large cap specified. The caps Tire Factory put on were some kind of cheap after market caps they got from somewhere that didn't even go with the Ultra 62's.

I am now set up they way I should have been to begin with.




Sitting here thinking about it, I should have had Schwab check to see if I actually have / had the Ultra 62's (still have two of the Tire Factory 'Ultra 62" on the front, or if they are cheaper knock off imitations. They want me to stop by in 100 miles so they can check the lug nut torque. Apparently their torque wrench is more important than mine, but if it keeps the warranty happy...It is on the way to Papa Murphy Pizza!

 

Morning All

 

Morning Andy and those to follow.
Box truck is stuffed!

 

Good morning everyone. Off to work

 

Morning all. This not working thing is easy to get use to that's for sure. Although I now understand how a guy can retire and be really busy. Seems like I'm not getting near the stuff done I had hoped as other things keep popping up. HAHA.

Jim - I have a love hate relationship with Schawb. They are way over priced compared to Discount tire and I've received the same service. Last set of tires I bought for my dually, Schawb wanted $1200 more for a set of 6. Yes $1200! I still go to Schawb sometimes for trailer tires. About a month ago we were headed to Bend and the trailer had a leak. Stopped at Schawb to get it fixed. I expected to pay but didn't. I suppose that is what you're paying for but that's a lot of extra money for something that's rare. On the other hand Discount would have done the same but they don't have as many locations. If I can save a few hundred bucks, I'll go elsewhere knowing I may or may not have to pay for a service.

 

Good morning guys, I'm back from the One Page G2G in the Tetons and Yellowstone. We had a good time and seen lots of cool stuff. Here is my favorite photo of the week, and of all things I took it with my cell phone.

Grand canyon of the Yellowstone

 

Good morning Oregon and everyone everywhere else. Overcast here at 62.


I wish Discount Tire had more locations. If we have a problem when out on the road, it seems Schwab is about the only choice. Just like on the way to Diamond Lake, Schwab in Corvallis essentially saved the first couple of days of our trip. On the other hand, their prices have increased over the years to where they are in the category of the old Major Brand dealerships like O'dell's Goodyear Tires that used to be in Mac.

My relationship with Schwab in McMinnville has been more hate than love. The old manager of years ago is long gone, and the "new" crew is great - including giving Military Discounts, but for a long time I would go to Dallas Schwab instead of Mac. And there is no argument that they are of the most expensive shops around. I had priced these Ultra 62 wheels at Schwab 4 years ago when I got them. They were almost exactly twice as expensive as Tire Factory. When you can go to Cheatin' Charlies and get tires (mounted and balanced) for $600 less than the comparable tires at Schwab, it really says something. (Colvin was only $20 more than Costco for the exact same tire and I didn't have to drive to Salem).

The 2 wheels I got yesterday were 2/3rds the total price I paid for all 4 at Tire Factory four years ago. That seems ridiculous, but they had them in stock, did not give me the grief that Point S did and I was out of there in under an hour with the new wheels on. I also looked these wheels up on the internet and Schwab prices I paid seemed to be about middle of the road

 

Good afternoon Oregon. Been awful busy at work lately! Went to the evening shift this week, finally have a quiet evening here tonight, since we're not running.

 

Good evening Oregon and Visiting Ford Fans.
Only a couple of close calls will tourists not paying attention today.

 

Good evening everyone. Mason and Owen are camping at the coast with my parents, so Jackie, Gavin, and I went out to a nice dinner. Picked up something else to have this evening, too.

 

Good evening Oregon and everyone everywhere else. Took the boat down to the secure storage area, unloaded it and covered it up. Now we have a pickup load of stuff to unload in the morning.

Well now, that sounds like a dull boring day.....