Back in business...
Thanks everyone for the helpful advice re: my rear tire falling off...it happened last Saturday late afternoon, and is fixed as of about an hour or so ago...all covered under warranty.
For anyone that is interested: The repairman from the dealer managed to use a special drill bit (reveresed threaded I think) to pull out in the one bolt that broke-off, took a matter of a couple of minutes, I was pretty impressed...the theory is that it is drilling into the broken off bolt in the reverse direction do that when it finally gets resistance it is actually unscrewing the other bolt...I may just have to pick me up a set of those special drill bits. For the remaining bolt holes, he had a kit called a re-threader...basically a superhardened bolt that you work back and forth (from both sides) until it cleans out that bad threads, they weren't nearly as bad as they could have been and only one gave him any trouble at all.
The real hard part was manuvering the tire into place, w/out any equipment to help move it....keep in mind these are HEAVY. 16.9 X 30's filled with calcium chloride, easily over 1000 punds I would guess...but between the two of us, a wrecking bar, and a lot of wood, we were able to get it back on...so I am back in business.
Just wanted to let anyone know in case they were interested.
(BTW: The mechanic who came out kind of indicated that the guy that worked at the shop "is not all there" so he was not at all suprised that the tire came off...perhaps that was why the dealer was so accomodating to cover this under warrantly...you can be sure I will go over the rest of the machine with a fine tooth comb for now on...)
Thanks everyone for the helpful advice re: my rear tire falling off...it happened last Saturday late afternoon, and is fixed as of about an hour or so ago...all covered under warranty.
For anyone that is interested: The repairman from the dealer managed to use a special drill bit (reveresed threaded I think) to pull out in the one bolt that broke-off, took a matter of a couple of minutes, I was pretty impressed...the theory is that it is drilling into the broken off bolt in the reverse direction do that when it finally gets resistance it is actually unscrewing the other bolt...I may just have to pick me up a set of those special drill bits. For the remaining bolt holes, he had a kit called a re-threader...basically a superhardened bolt that you work back and forth (from both sides) until it cleans out that bad threads, they weren't nearly as bad as they could have been and only one gave him any trouble at all.
The real hard part was manuvering the tire into place, w/out any equipment to help move it....keep in mind these are HEAVY. 16.9 X 30's filled with calcium chloride, easily over 1000 punds I would guess...but between the two of us, a wrecking bar, and a lot of wood, we were able to get it back on...so I am back in business.
Just wanted to let anyone know in case they were interested.
(BTW: The mechanic who came out kind of indicated that the guy that worked at the shop "is not all there" so he was not at all suprised that the tire came off...perhaps that was why the dealer was so accomodating to cover this under warrantly...you can be sure I will go over the rest of the machine with a fine tooth comb for now on...)