wheel cover tragedy...

[airstreamers]

while bringing our baby home yesterday, we hit a chuckhole and trashed a wheel cover. the previous owner had paid quite a bit of money to add the remote filler valves through the wheel covers so you could put in air without removing them. unfortunately, when the wheel cover comes off, it literally rips the valve and hose into shreds! after this i watched (i was following in my car) the wheel cover take off like a rocket. when we went back to find it, it was mangled beyond repair. we had to go to another exit and have a tire repair person come and put new valve stems on, etc. the ditch it landed in was completely full of wheel covers and on passing it twice, both times different vehicles were looking for lost wheel covers. it is about mile marker 18 or 19 on i65 northbound. beware, it is hidden under an overpass. does anybody know where we might possibly find a wheel cover to match ours. it is for a 1979 excella motorhome. i don't know how many different wheel covers airstream used, or if they are all the same. so far my total time in our new baby has been two times to get gas. one for regular gas and one for propane. after almost three weeks in another state working on her, i'm going to do my first camping in her in our driveway. sad i know, but i'm excited nonetheless! thanks for any help...

[overlander63]

Those are pretty much standard wheelcovers, IIRC 19.5" wheels. You should be able to get replacements from most hubcap shops, and truckstops.

[airstreamers]

terry, you are my hero! i'll start looking tomorrow. thanks a million!

[overlander63]

Originally Posted by airstreamers

terry, you are my hero! i'll start looking tomorrow. thanks a million!

See if you can pick up an extra one, that way you will never need it!

[airstreamers]

how true that is. it never fails that if we have extra of something it just ends up taking up needed space. i think i may take that advice, though. i can still feel the way my heart as i watched it literally shoot off the motorhome. i'd be interested to know if anybody else has thoughts about those remote valves. it sure seemed like a good idea, but we are considering removing all of the ones on ours. it just isn't worth the risk. if it hadn't been on the tire, it most likely would have just lost the wheel cover and not flattened the tire. anyway, thanks again...

[Lumatic]

auxillary-equipment that takes up room when not needed and can not be located or does not work when needed

[str8strm]

sorry to hear about the accident. We hit a major pothole in Mexicali and it blew out a valve on the tranny. Luckily we limped into the US and got it fixed at a local mechanic. Have fun on your driveway camping and try all the systems. There will probably be a lot of simple fixes you will find to do.