I think the wiring is sort of okay. It will take a bit of work but it looks like there is something usable there.
It happened really fast! Bang, and some fishtailing in an instant! I think I caught a glimpse of rubber and fender in the air as I took a quick peak in the rearview, but my focus was keeping us straight and getting off the road as quickly as I could. It was exciting for a few seconds -- then it was over.
Some little car caught the fender under their car. They stopped in front of me and I was sure we were going to have to exchange insurance information, but we walked to meet each other and assured each other that we were both okay. He handed me my fender. It was unrecognizable, but there was only one thing it could be. And then he drove off.
Really glad to have had my mini-floor hydraulic jack and a DeWalt 1/2" impact driver. (Man, that thing is the best! Not something most people usually carry, but for changing tires it is fantastic.) And, mostly for airing back up after 4-wheeling on sand, I carry a regulated tank of liquid CO2, so I had plenty of "air" to top up the spare. Getting back on the road was relatively quick and easy.
The spare still had the new-tire sticker on it, from about 8 years ago. It's been covered, and it looks pretty good. This was my first flat ever, in over 30,000 miles on the Pod, so I wasn't too worried about having another flat yesterday and not having a spare, but I sure didn't like not having it. Of course it was Thanksgiving, and now I really need 2 new tires, maybe 3, but there was almost no way that was going to happen.
I knew about this, but one thing that was emphasized by this experience is that the spare wheel is different than the road wheels. The spare wheel will fit on the spare tire carrier, but the road wheels will not. So I had to throw the bad tire in the Pod. I guess I could have strapped it to the roof rack on the FJ, but it would have been so much simpler, and more logical, to hang it on the Pod's spare tire carrier. I guess my Pod was probably $3 cheaper than it might have been due to the savings on the spare carrier.
TT