Costly Mistake tonight!

Larry, First of all glad no one was injured. I didn't know what to expect when you set the scene about unloading the gas. After you got that put away I figured you were gonna say you left the saw at the log pile out in the woods. Doesn't seem that by the time you get all those little pieces of glass picked up it feels like you are cleaning up a store big store front window rather than something from your vehicle. I,m still finding glass in my car from a window that broke two yrs ago. I wouldn't worry though. My son owns a truck accessory biz and sells Leer products. Like steddy says, they should be able to get you a new one. My son has replaced a good half dozen this past summer. Two to the same guy. He shoved a ladder into the back of his truck both times. Boy, some people sure do rush when it's quitting time.
MikeC

Ouch! Been there, done that too... Woulda been about 1997. Our old fridge died, and we'd just gotten the brand new one. Rather than having Sears haul away the old one for us (which they would have done for free with our purchase, if I recall correctly) my father-in-law (well, ex-father-in-law now) said he wanted it out on the farm to store tools in. Okay, we'll just throw it in the back of my GMC S15. Being young and inexperienced at hauling big things I asked my BIL "Should we tie it down or anything?" "No," he said, "its heavy, its not going anywhere! Besides, you have a cap!"

First stop sign we got to, the ex popped the clutch to drive away from it, and I was out $205 for a new lift gate glass. My MIL felt pretty bad, and slipped us money without my FIL knowing, to pay for at least part of it.

I'm now a huge believer in ratchet straps for everything!

I have a stop block on the floor to stop me from going too far back. As you can see in the pic I took this morning it's close anyway, with the hatch open it didn't stand a chance. I called a place this morning that handles Leer caps and he's checking for me.

My wife and i both back in the garage because there is a curve in our road just south of our drives and sometimes a car comes out of nowhere when you're backing out of the drive so we like to pull out because of that. sometimes these cars that come out of nowhere are not obeying the speed limit.

We all have "senior moments"--even if your still under 30!..

Just last week I went grocery shopping--the market gives away the cardboard boxes the food comes in ,if you want any to put your food in,or for other uses..

I saw a pretty good sized one that was "double thick" and was heavier than the usual single walled ones,and I need some to store stuff in my garage,so I took it..

I wheeled my groceries out to my pickup,and loaded them on the front seat and floor ,because it looked like it might rain any minute,and I do not like putting food in the bed period...

I placed the cardboard box,that was about 2x3 feet ,on top of the toolbox in the truck bed,right behind the rear window on the passenger side..then I put a case of bottled water and a bag of cat litter in the bed...and..

I drove home completely clueless that box was still on the tool box !--and there was a lot of traffic behind me,no one honked or tried to warn me it was there--and I hit 45 mph on my way home too,a 5 mile ride...

I was feeling pretty stupid when I got out to bring in the groceries and saw the box sitting right where I had put it--it never moved one inch!....

Another bungle I pulled last winter was when I opened my garage's overhead door and got in the truck to drive it out at a good clip,so I could plow a good 2+ feet of snow away--my driveway is slightly uphill from the garage,and if you dont get a running start,you'll risk the truck stopping halfway up the hill,and we all know how hard it is to get a big pile of snow to move again,once you stop!..

I gunned the truck,it leaped forward,then I heard a horrendous crash--I slammed on the brakes and got out,to see my plow beacon on the roof was now smashed beyond repair,hanging by the wires ,halfway in the truck's bed..

The stupid overhead door had sneaked back down just enough to clear my sun visor and windshield--but not the rotary beacon...needless to say I was pretty mad !..luckily the door only suffered minor damage...

At my friends auto repair garage,his shop is a rather small 1 bay one with a 2 post lift..the overhead door is only a couple of feet away from a vehicle's rear end when it is on the lift...he often has to use vise grips to leave the door open half way,so he can lift it up all the way..if he left the door all the way up,the vehicle hits the door,and he's broken a few rear antennas..almost took the door right off the tracks a few times too!....

The other day a customer came in the shop,and instead of using the office entrance with a walk in door beside the work bay--he decided to duck under the overhead door,and in the process,he lifted up on it...and it smashed the rear hatch glass on a mini-van that was up on the lift!...he said it sounded like a bomb going off--he was working under it too,and nearly had a heart attack,thinking the van may have fallen off the lift...

My friend had to call the owner of the van and tell him what happened--luckily the guy was not that upset,its an older 90's model and not that great of condition..he just said "I hope you are insured for such accidents"--he was,but he said "I'd rather just buy you another rear hatch and install it free,rather than have to file a claim,send it to a glass shop,and have my rates go up,or the insurance cancelled,etc"..the customer said that would be OK with him..

He lucked out and found a rear hatch in a nearby salvage yard the same color (white),and it had NO rust on it--the original was dented and rotted along the bottom,so the customer was happy...it cost my friend 75 bucks though--more than his "profit" on the job he did on the van...

He now uses 2 pairs of vise grips on the door track--one to keep the door from drooping,and another to prevent it from being lifted UP now!..and he has a sign outside that says "Do Not Enter !--use SIDE entrance!"...

I was there yesterday though,and sure enough--another guy tried ducking under the door,and lifted up on it!--lucky he had both pairs of vise grips on the door track..I guess people cant read!...the guy got a good reaming too..

Looks like a bigger garage is needed. Hope that dosn't cost too much. Now I'll add mine. I had a 2000 Caviler and needed a bunch of 1/2" 12' pvc pipe for a Wife project. At Lowes I started loading the pvc into the caviler by lowering the back seat, and feeding the 12' pipe to the front windshield. The pipe was 4" longer than the Front windshield to the trunk lip, so I applied a slight bend in each one so they would fit and allow the trunk to close. I think I had around 25 of the pipes, and around 18 I heard something groan, then BANG, the front windshield shattered. (Darwin Award was rendered). :lalala:

I guess we all have those moments. :sidelaugh Not so funny at the time though. Like was mentioned earlier, no one was hurt and my perspective is a little different this morning. Nothing to do but fix it and move on.

When I was still working I had a good manager that always tried to keep things in perspective.
Sometimes you have one of those days when everything seems to go wrong and i would come in at the end of the day and begin to tell him about my bad day and most times he would stop me and say, did anyone get hurt? I would say no, then he would say, good, then whatever happened we can fix and hopefully have a better day tomorrow. Great guy to work for. And he would most of the time let me vent anyway!!! :fing32:

I ordered the new piece today. $395.00 complete with new hinges and new shocks. They have changed the design of the latch/lock since this was build 15 years ago so i also have to buy new strikers for $20..00. I didn't like the old latch system anyway. These are not in production anymore so they said 5 to 7 days to make a new one then as long as two weeks to get it unless I want to pay shipping which is expensive. I'll wait the few weeks. This place gets an order of new truck caps every 2 to 3 weeks and this will ship with them at no extra charge.