Saturday, 23 April 2011
Monday, 18 April 2011
Gatherings and Changing Wheels
So the SLAY Radio Gathering has been announced for the first weekend in August, which is Friday August 5 through Sunday August 7. This will be the seventh year that we've done it which is pretty good going. It's always good to catch up with some of the regulars and to see some new faces, something that happens every year.
More information on this year's Gathering can be found on this link.
Sweden, like some other Scandinavian countries, has a law stating that you should swap to Winter tyres if the weather calls for it and I think it's fair to say that the passing winter qualified with snow and ice for something like 5 months. But it was time to change back to normal tyres, a job that I'm starting to get used to. It helps to have a decent jack and, thankfully, Linda's dad bought us a pneumatic jack a few years back (you know, you pump it up with a handle and then turn a valve to lower again).
The trouble is, with so much snow this year, there was a lot of grit and, more importantly, salt on the roads. This causes a rusted bonding to occur between the wheel and the hub. Boy did I find that out this time around! To change four wheels usually takes me about an hour at a relaxed speed. This time it took me about four hours because of the damned rear wheels. I thought I'd write about how I finally got the wheels off in the vain attempt at helping anyone else that has this problem next time they swap over.
In the end I resorted to loosening the nuts slightly - one or two turns - and then driving around the block a couple of times. If you like, you can unroll a window and listen for a little 'clang' when the wheel has loosened.
This worked for the rear-right wheel, but for the rear-left, I had to resort to raw unadulterated violence! I jacked the wheel up (and made sure it was on a sturdy surface), laid on my back and then alternatively kicked the shit out of the left and right sides of the wheel! Eventually the wheel started moving a bit, at which time I could rock it with my hands and it eventually came off.
So that's my advice - don't be afraid to get violent with the wheels! Remember that whatever your hands and feet do to the wheels aren't half as bad as the pummelling they get from driving over potholes and farthinder (speed bumps).
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