Took the Wood in for routine service today, 10K miles.
Porter that gave me a ride to my nearby store noticed the right rear tire was almost flat so I told him to get it fixed and bill me. I was having the tires rotated anyway.
Went to pick up the truck and there was no charge for fixing the tire. Short story, the kid forgot to tell the service writer.

By this time it is 5:30 and all the techs are gone and the service writer and I are "discussing" the fact that I really do not want to drive home with that tire on the truck. The lube guy re-inflated the tire but it was already down to 20 lbs of air. It would surely be flat tomorrow morning and the temp here is in single digits.

The two lot boys were just checking out and I conned them into putting the spare on since we had a lift available.

BE AWARE!!!!!!!!!!!! Our spare tire/wheel is the same Michelin and aluminum wheel as the rest. And...........if you have not read your owners manual the spare mount is fitted with a lock. Took us 20 minutes of fiddling to realize this. Read the manual and it says there is a "key" and it is in the glove box. NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Went through the cab with a fine tooth comb. No Woods left in stock, what to do? In a burst of brilliance, I said let's check the bed cubicles and there was said lock key in one of the side bins.
Mission finally accomplished. We pumped up the suspect tire to 50PSI and it leaks all around the bead so I guess I have a casting fault in the wheel.

Other item. I had mentioned earlier a surging on heavy acceleration as in merging onto an interstate and also a heavy vibration at idle. The idle vibration may still be the Gator motor mounts which are a known problem, but anyway I had them change the fuel filter which is something I did every 5K on my Lightning. Interesting that the surge is now gone and the idle vibration is about halved.

That's the input for today.
Bill

 

God input bill. Maybe I'll mention to them to check the fuel filter when my wood goes in. I'm almost at 5000 myself.

Katy (didn't feel like changing who was logged in)

 

For those of us who were wondering (I know we discussed this before), you CAN drive w/the lid open. I had to test this over the weekend while picking up last minute supplies for Veronica's bday party. So with a cab full of balloons, a kid & cakes the only place her gym set would fit was the bed & there was no way the lid was closing w/that thing in there. So I drove (gently) the 6 miles back home w/my side mirror adjusted to watch the lid for excessive bouncing.

Now I know I could have avoided this by driving the 250 but w/Roni with me, not knowing what this crapping weather was going to do, & the fact that I had to go to some small parking lots I decided to take a chance w/the wood. I figured if anything screwed up, I'd have them fix it when I go for my scheduled maintanence.

Ok back to the topic, drove home ok, lid closed first try & reopened the next day when I had to put stuff in there again. The door ajar light does stay on the entire time it is open but I didn't notice any other internal lights on while driving. Also, the doors do not auto lock (w/the lid open) when you put it into gear & go forward.

 

Morning RDY:

Thanks for the heads up. I took a pass on buying two deck chairs yesterday because they would not fit in the bed. On reflection, if the mechanism on mine could survive my excursion into the ditch it will probably also survive a relatively short drive in the open position. I'll check how to tie it down against the load and give it a shot. I do assume the mechanism sort of locks in whatever position it gets to when it encounters the load but I'd rather keep it completely stable.
Bill

 

Yes it did try to close & held it at the stopping point, but it did have some bounce while driving. I did have to raise it back up to get the box out once I got home. I also thought of tie downs, but I was already half way home & didn't have anything except a purse or diaper bag strap that I could have used. I was just glad that the rubber bands & chewing gum held their ground.

 

rdy:
Passing thought. Do we know if the electric motor/motors are still "hot" when they encounter resistance to closing or is there a sensor or something that will open the circuit and shut the motor down?
I would hate to burn up a motor/motors if this is not the case.

While we are on the subject of the bed/trunk, have you tried to leave the barn doors open with the lid down? I have not but will look at that possibility tonight. That has also stopped me from hauling a few items. Used to do that all the time on my 1998 Suburban but of course that was just doors.
Bill

 

I also thought of the motors overheating while driving home that day. I didn't realize that the lid was down some until I started unloading, pushed the bottom to open the lid & it raised up quite a bit. As fas as the back doors go, I don't think it would close well due to the fact that the lid wraps around them when closeing.

Katy