The REAL Chipper Story!

Jim just made it in time to meet me at church last night for All Saints Day services.  It was so good to see him.  :o) 

 

But then he told me the story of his ride home.  He had told me on the phone that about 300 miles into the trip, just north of Charleston, WV, I-77 North was totally closed and all traffic had to exit and detour to side roads (narrow, two-lane, windy roads with ravines and ridges along the side).   All of a sudden, the right fender came off of the trailer.  The chipper ran it over and yanked it off completely, jerking the car backwards.  At first, Jim thought he had lost the whole trailer.  Becaue of the road conditions and traffic, he couldn't pull over for a quarter mile or so.  When he was able to, he looked all over to find the fender but couldn't - it must have gotten thrown down a ravine.

 

Apparently, the 4 bolts that fastened the fender to the mount vibrated loose.   Jim had even stopped and checked the hitch, the chains, kicked the tires and visually checked the machine every 50 miles or so for the first 200 miles.  He had no clue that the fender was loose.   It appeared that as the fender became loose, it rubbed against the tire because the inside of the tire was badly chafed.  He thinks that the fender pivoted forward when only one bolt remained.

 

I was able to nurse the chipper the rest of the way home.   He was worried that the shock of the event might have damaged the axle or hub since that is where the fender is connected.  So we are now in the market for a fender and tire.

But his guardian angel was certainly looking out for him.  After the event, you think of all the things that could have happened.  If he would have been traveling 70 mph on the highway and it came off, it could have flown back and hit cars behind him, the higher speed could have caused more damage to either the truck or the trailer or both, the list is too scary to think about.  He was only on that detour for about 8 miles and to think this happened then. 

All home...just missing a fender!

 

Thankfully he's home and with only a few minor issues.  It was still such a bargain - a new fender and tire won't change that.  Jim was showing me smaller models that are selling for thousands more!  He's going to contact Bearcat to see if they can help with the repair.