I didn't know this could happen!

I had a similar "I didn't know this could happen" moment. I went to downshift to stop at that rest area in Arthur City, TX just past the state line and had my shifter swing sideways. The bushing that connects the shift lever to the shift tower on the transmission had come loose somewhere between the last toll booth on the Indian Nation Turnpike and the rest area. My trucks owner/mechanic called a road rescue truck who installed a bolt to hold it together until I got back to El Paso. The owner's daytime job is a mechanic at Central Transport here in El Paso and says that's something they come across maybe 4 times a year in the company trucks he services. Seems worth taking the half hour or so it takes to remove and replace the shift boot every few months cover to check that sucker now that I've experience a shift lever failure, lol!

 

I have seen a mudflap rub a hole in a fuel tank.

My old Int tractor has a piece of steel right in front of the tank, and guess what the mudflap hit? ( the truck is a 1991) maybe they were not all stupid back then . lol

 

Guess I should check my prostar?? Never thought of even looking for tat kind of damage..

 

Friction has been causing problems for many thousands of years. You just got a leaking fuel tank, the rest of us get KIDS.

 

I was told the same thing and tried it, the hole was too big...Mine was right on the edge of the tank...And like you, the flap and tank appeared fine until the area failed...An old timer showed me how to use a screw and piece of rubber to seal it and it worked perfectly...

 

I used to get old mud flaps out of the dumpsters and also old pieces of rubber hose. I would cut up the mud flap into strips or cut the rubber hose in half and used to wrap anything and everything on my truck that had potential to rub against something and wear. You just use zip ties to hold it on there. Works really good and keeps stuff like that from happening. After driving thousands of miles of bumpy roads and such something is bound to wear and bust no matter how well it was secured or designed from the get go!

 

Sounds like the fuel tank should be rubber and the mudflap should be aluminum.