[HO455]

Originally Posted by Steeveedee

Wheel studs. I had acquired a really nice '54 Chevy 2 door post as payment for some work for a farmer (in Idaho). I was towing it behind my '66 Le Mans on a tow bar, and felt it wiggle behind me. I stepped on the gas and it straightened out. I ran out of gas and was thumbing a ride into Wells, NV with a can and got a ride. The guy told me I had a flat tire on the car I was towing. Great. Got into town, got a gallon of gas, thumbed a ride back out. No, not a flat tire, the left rear wheel was gone, along with the fender skirt. Unhook towed vehicle, go into town, get lug nuts and studs. The only thing I had to get the old studs out was an 8 ounce ball peen hammer. There I am, tink tink tink, when a road worker pulls up and lets me use his 8 pound maul. Studs out! I pushed the new ones in as far as I could and then used the nuts to draw them tight, stopping every few miles to re-torque them. Dragged that '54 up through Montgomery pass. I used the spare out of the Le Mans. If I had gotten a flat, I guess I would have taken the spare off the '54 and left it at the side of the road. I had barely enough money to get home to California, as it was, no money for more tires. Good times!

Speaking of middle of nowhere "Wells Nevada". My mom spent half her childhood there. It was bustling then as the Great Northern was still running steam trains. Once they switched to diesels and shut down their repair facility the town pretty much died.