I should point out I am useless. I always liked the idea of campervanning and since buying my converted bongo at the beginning of 2009, we have actually used it more than I anticipated we would. With the exception of the cooker that is... we can't have that getting all dirty!!
So what I am saying really is I know nothing about shafts and bearings and techie stuff and to put it bluntly if you put an alloy in front of me and a bicycle tyre, I couldn't tell you which was the alloy!
Anyway, waffling already. Sorry if the below is a bit drawn out and disjointed (even more than above) as I am copying it from my own web site full of poker players where they naturally want things to be exagerrated to help the story. Anyway, I am hoping the symptoms described might help someone point me in the right direction as to what is going wrong and what I ought to do.
Incidentally, this was only my second journey of any great distance. The first time I had a blowout I was travelling 80mph and this time maybe 65mph. I don't know if having bigger wheels fitted would help or the speed is completely irrelevant?
Thanks in advance...
As I turned onto the motorway, the bongo started to feel a little sort of bouncy and slidey. I thought the road was all bumpy at first, but then remembered the Poker Million party and figured I better check the tyres. On that occasion, I had been on a TILT spring up the A303 so it was understandable. But I now never speed anywhere so surely not? I pulled on to the hard shoulder and was relieved to see nothing untoward. But still felt uneasy about my future. Not a good sign.
Back on route, things felt worse than ever. They musta done some serious roadworks on this road 'cos the bongo is bouncing around like a goodun. So it must be something wrong with the engine and as soon as I started thinking this I noticed a yellow warning light on the dashboard. I peered forwards and squinted at the symbol and it said something like ABS. Now even I know this means the brakes and I thought oh my gawd, are the brakes working? I was soon to put that to the test. Bang, flap, crash, flip, slide, etc and I noticed my tyre flying all across the motorway. The bongo was skidding from side to side amongst the lorries and speeding cars and avoiding them was like getting thru a Scandi freeroll. Eventually, I scraped to a halt on the hard shoulder.
My second contingency plan was to bring my air compressor. I don't think it was gonna pump up!
So now we are in trouble. I had a 3rd contingency plan by bringing my breakdown policy with me The only problem is the iphone isn't working, the nokia is pretty much dead and I have no idea where I am or what to do. It crossed my mind to move the sim from iphone to Nokia but of course there is a special little tool needed to extract the sim and little chance of ever finding that thing again. So I guess I gotta wander the motorway looking for a breakdown phone. A few hundred yards down the road and a little post had a phone symbol on it and an arrow. So where is it then? I looked all round it and even inside it. There was no phone. Someone musta nicked it
A few more posts and the phones were missing from ALL of them. Lot of thieves around here. Eventually of course, I realised that the little arrows were all pointing me in the direction I had to walk to get to the main phone. On this occasion, approx. 2 miles in the opposite direction. The freezing rain helped sober me up but a nice cup of coffee could have done the same thing I am sure. After finding the phone and spending some time trying to hear anything due to the rain, wind and thunderous traffic, they eventually got in touch with my recovery service and said they would be there within an hour and to stay out of the vehicle. Yeah right!
True to their word, they arrived probably 59 minutes later!!
Now getting the bongo fixed was one thing. Getting home on a bicycle wheel was another. That's pretty much what the spare wheel is on the bongo and I was advised travelling 120 miles on this wheel to stick to 40mph. My God it was painful and actually felt like I WAS on a bike as all lorries and even smart cars and joggers were overtaking me.
By now I was completey wrecked. I have no idea how long the journey took but I know I spent most of it holding apart my incredibly stinging eyelids. I actually enjoy driving. Today may have scarred me for life.
I'd get it to a bongo friendly garage (list in the members area) to get it checked out properly, I guess it could be malfunctioning with disastrous results.
If you've been running your rear tyres at 30psi, they are well under-inflated and may well overheat and blow 
