Starting the New Year with optimism - best "MacGuyverisms"

[PatrickY]

Most of us have been there - and if you haven't, you've been lucky, but keep an eye out because it's coming.

Murphy's Law says things happen at the most inopportune times. When on the road, we prepare the best we can, trying to prepare for the worst,, but there can always be something that pops up without anticipation.

When something goes wrong we have a couple of choices: we can call for assistance or we can take control.

If we have the ingenuity and enough wherewithal (and some spare parts) we can maybe make due and limp on down the road - the alternative is to cry "uncle" and wait for help to come.

I know that many on this forum have been in a tight space, between a rock and a hard place and had to make due with what was on hand … my question is "what was the best MacGuyverism you've ever made?

I have four that I felt stood out among the many.

1) A 1976 Olds Cutlass buried in the mud on a tent camping trip after a severe rain storm. No traction at all. I used an old Jeep trick - jack up both ends of the car with a bumper jack and push it sideways off the jack until I hit solid ground and could get traction.

2) On another tent-camping trip returning home in the same car (about an hour away from home) I blew the upper radiator hose on the same car. It was around 11:30 pm - no parts stores open, and being young, not enough money for a tow truck - what to do?

Simple - we have NEVER littered, so there were plenty of empty beer cans in the trunk - cut the top and bottom off one, slit it down the side, wrap it around the busted hose, secure it with duct tape, top the radiator off with what water we had (and a couple of beers) and go home.

3) Same car (I put that thing through Hell) we got semi-lost (semi because if I was truly lost I wouldn't be here now - it was a temporary situation) on a back country road somewhere in PA. On this "road" (which was not much more than a washed out creek bed going downhill) that was extremely rocky I bottomed out with the transmission pan, pushing up the middle and flaring the edges/lips enough to break the seal and causing a massive fluid leak.

I was probably 3 am. Fortunately I had some gasket sealer in my ever-present tool box in the trunk. I pulled up onto a self-built rockpile ramp so that I could slide underneath and access the tranny pan bolts, but when I dropped the pan the cork gasket shredded. Now what?

I took the beer cans out of two 15 packs of Miller Lite, glued them together with the gasket sealer and then sealed the makeshift gasket with the remainder of the gasket sealer, topped it off with the quart and a half of trans fluid I had on hand and limped to the first open convenience store to add more and drove home.

4) By far the proudest occasion that comes to mind. We were in the Adirondacks tent camping about to head home 10+ hours away when my buddy's 1997 Ford LTD radiator had a leak. Nothing he - just a pinhole in the side tank - but there was no way he would make it home.

Fortunately I had a hodge-podge tool box in my trunk (yes, of the '76 Cutlass) that happened to have an alligator clip, 6 inch piece of wire, and about a foot of solder.

I attached the wire to the alligator clip, and attached the other end to the positive end of a set op jumper cables. Using one of the girls' nail files I cleaned the area around the pinhole to remove the paint. I took a penny and centered it over the pinhole on the side tank and soldered it in place.

It made the 10 hour trip home without a hiccup.

The best part of this one was that about a year later he had another pinhole(we all forgot about the repair I guess), and when he took it to the mechanical shop the technician flipped out and said that the penny fix was the most ingenious thing that he'd ever seen.

The morals of this post are a) You CAN get by with some minimal things and some "outside the box" thinking, and b) drink beer and don't litter, the byproducts can come in handy.

(I'd love to tell you that in one of the radiator repairs we peed into the radiator to use as coolant, but that would be a lie - but it would be another good reason to drink beer - LMAO)

So my question to everyone is - what's you best MacGuyverism? What outback, off-road, unconventional repair did you make that worked (at least temporarily) to get you by?

[AceCombat]

On our old trailer the little latch thing for the hot water tank cover. The pin broke so i used a key ring. Key ring was perfect size it even slides through the slot give it a pull and twist and door is secured.

[omahagirl]

We had a chance to do a tiny Mcgyvering after the Hershey show. As we were hooking up our Jeep DH noticed the plug in for the Patriot 2 braking system some how had cracked open put back together something was still missing. I asked what. It was a small spring. Took a second and realized I had a click Zebra pen in my Jeep. It’s spring worked fine. DH ordered a new plug when we got home. I still need my spring back

[Iwritecode]

Originally Posted by PatrickY

4) By far the proudest occasion that comes to mind. We were in the Adirondacks tent camping about to head home 10+ hours away when my buddy's 1997 Ford LTD radiator had a leak. Nothing he - just a pinhole in the side tank - but there was no way he would make it home.

Fortunately I had a hodge-podge tool box in my trunk (yes, of the '76 Cutlass) that happened to have an alligator clip, 6 inch piece of wire, and about a foot of solder.

I attached the wire to the alligator clip, and attached the other end to the positive end of a set op jumper cables. Using one of the girls' nail files I cleaned the area around the pinhole to remove the paint. I took a penny and centered it over the pinhole on the side tank and soldered it in place.

It made the 10 hour trip home without a hiccup.

The best part of this one was that about a year later he had another pinhole(we all forgot about the repair I guess), and when he took it to the mechanical shop the technician flipped out and said that the penny fix was the most ingenious thing that he'd ever seen.

Funny because I just saw this on Facebook the other day.

[nayther]

Originally Posted by PatrickY

Most of us have been there - and if you haven't, you've been lucky, but keep an eye out because it's coming.

Murphy's Law says things happen at the most inopportune times. When on the road, we prepare the best we can, trying to prepare for the worst,, but there can always be something that pops up without anticipation.

When something goes wrong we have a couple of choices: we can call for assistance or we can take control.

If we have the ingenuity and enough wherewithal (and some spare parts) we can maybe make due and limp on down the road - the alternative is to cry "uncle" and wait for help to come.

I know that many on this forum have been in a tight space, between a rock and a hard place and had to make due with what was on hand … my question is "what was the best MacGuyverism you've ever made?

I have four that I felt stood out among the many.

1) A 1976 Olds Cutlass buried in the mud on a tent camping trip after a severe rain storm. No traction at all. I used an old Jeep trick - jack up both ends of the car with a bumper jack and push it sideways off the jack until I hit solid ground and could get traction.

2) On another tent-camping trip returning home in the same car (about an hour away from home) I blew the upper radiator hose on the same car. It was around 11:30 pm - no parts stores open, and being young, not enough money for a tow truck - what to do?

Simple - we have NEVER littered, so there were plenty of empty beer cans in the trunk - cut the top and bottom off one, slit it down the side, wrap it around the busted hose, secure it with duct tape, top the radiator off with what water we had (and a couple of beers) and go home.

3) Same car (I put that thing through Hell) we got semi-lost (semi because if I was truly lost I wouldn't be here now - it was a temporary situation) on a back country road somewhere in PA. On this "road" (which was not much more than a washed out creek bed going downhill) that was extremely rocky I bottomed out with the transmission pan, pushing up the middle and flaring the edges/lips enough to break the seal and causing a massive fluid leak.

I was probably 3 am. Fortunately I had some gasket sealer in my ever-present tool box in the trunk. I pulled up onto a self-built rockpile ramp so that I could slide underneath and access the tranny pan bolts, but when I dropped the pan the cork gasket shredded. Now what?

I took the beer cans out of two 15 packs of Miller Lite, glued them together with the gasket sealer and then sealed the makeshift gasket with the remainder of the gasket sealer, topped it off with the quart and a half of trans fluid I had on hand and limped to the first open convenience store to add more and drove home.

4) By far the proudest occasion that comes to mind. We were in the Adirondacks tent camping about to head home 10+ hours away when my buddy's 1997 Ford LTD radiator had a leak. Nothing he - just a pinhole in the side tank - but there was no way he would make it home.

Fortunately I had a hodge-podge tool box in my trunk (yes, of the '76 Cutlass) that happened to have an alligator clip, 6 inch piece of wire, and about a foot of solder.

I attached the wire to the alligator clip, and attached the other end to the positive end of a set op jumper cables. Using one of the girls' nail files I cleaned the area around the pinhole to remove the paint. I took a penny and centered it over the pinhole on the side tank and soldered it in place.

It made the 10 hour trip home without a hiccup.

The best part of this one was that about a year later he had another pinhole(we all forgot about the repair I guess), and when he took it to the mechanical shop the technician flipped out and said that the penny fix was the most ingenious thing that he'd ever seen.

The morals of this post are a) You CAN get by with some minimal things and some "outside the box" thinking, and b) drink beer and don't litter, the byproducts can come in handy.

(I'd love to tell you that in one of the radiator repairs we peed into the radiator to use as coolant, but that would be a lie - but it would be another good reason to drink beer - LMAO)

So my question to everyone is - what's you best MacGuyverism? What outback, off-road, unconventional repair did you make that worked (at least temporarily) to get you by?

Whenever making temporary radiator repairs leave the cap loose so it doesn't build up pressure, if it gets warm you may have to top it off a few times but it will keep from blowing up the repair again. Trick I got from my late father (learned SOOO much from him, RIP Dad).

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by nayther

Whenever making temporary radiator repairs leave the cap loose so it doesn't build up pressure, if it gets warm you may have to top it off a few times but it will keep from blowing up the repair again. Trick I got from my late father (learned SOOO much from him, RIP Dad).

If you have a leak in the radiator add a raw egg to the coolant. Will get you many miles down the the road.

If no egg handy and a pasture is near a "road apple" aka horse turd will work just like Stop Leak".

If you have a big radiator you may need two of either one. [emoji57][emoji57]

[nayther]

Originally Posted by TitanMike

If you have a leak in the radiator add a raw egg to the coolant. Will get you many miles down the the road.

If no egg handy and a pasture is near a "road apple" aka horse turd will work just like Stop Leak".

If you have a big radiator you may need two of either one. [emoji57][emoji57]

Never heard of the cow patty, good info. Also regular ground pepper works to plug small radiator leaks. Most important is to keep the temp below boiling if you can so pressure increase is lower.

[AFDON]

Back in the sixtys we were about 25 miles from nowhere driving down an old ranch road. Driver misjudged a rock, punched a hole in the gas tank. We stopped to look under the car to see if we had any damage, I saw the gas running, plugged it with my finger, told someone to go cut a plug of mesquite drove it up tight with a rock, cut it flush with a knife and we drove it for another two weeks.

[1000 sportsman]

Back in the early 80's my Dad was sick with cancer. My younger brother was stationed in the Marines stationed in California. When Dad's condition deteriated we had to contact my brother to get home (Va.). He jumped in an old Mustang with a buddy going on leave and started across country. They drove for 48 hours straight just stopping for fuel and to change drivers. After dropping his buddy off my brother broke down in Bristol Tenn. called home (250 miles away no cell phone back then, phone booth to house phone)and explained where he was and that he was dead tired and needed help. Jumped in my truck with my uncle and drove to Bristol arriving at roughly midnight. Checked out the breakdown and found the throttle cable had broken. Nothing open but a grocery store, found some braided picture hanging wire and was able to connect to carb. And fish through firewall to operate by hand. Had to redo twice due to rubbing on firewall but got us home.

[marinerjoe]

In Saudi Arabia during Desert Storm after we began our redeployment back to Camp LeJeune, I was a Navy Lieutenant serving with 10th Marines coordinating our airlift at the Al Jubail airfield. Two USMC Captains and I were sharing a HumVee as we drove ourselves from our camp to the airfield. One afternoon I was on the road and the hummer started blowing steam. Opening the hood, I saw one of the 2” long hoses going into the heater core had ruptured. Using my K-Bar, I cut a branch from a tree lining the road and shoved it into the hose, and with the help of a couple of Marines driving a LVS wrecker who stopped, we tightened it up and put on a hose clamp. The fix worked as long as you didn’t turn up the temperature on the heater.

The next morning, the captain who worked the night shift at the airfield came in the hooch and told me and the other captain about the problem he had with the hummer. It was cold and he turned up the heater and hot coolant sprayed all over. We broke out laughing because we didn’t mention our fix. He wasn’t happy but got over it.

I’d like to have seen the look on the face of the mechanics after they got the hummer when they saw our “fix” with that chunk of Saudi tree and that it only had two of the four fan belts left.

[D W]

Originally Posted by 1000 sportsman

Back in the early 80's my Dad was sick with cancer. My younger brother was stationed in the Marines stationed in California. When Dad's condition deteriated we had to contact my brother to get home (Va.). He jumped in an old Mustang with a buddy going on leave and started across country. They drove for 48 hours straight just stopping for fuel and to change drivers. After dropping his buddy off my brother broke down in Bristol Tenn. called home (250 miles away no cell phone back then, phone booth to house phone)and explained where he was and that he was dead tired and needed help. Jumped in my truck with my uncle and drove to Bristol arriving at roughly midnight. Checked out the breakdown and found the throttle cable had broken. Nothing open but a grocery store, found some braided picture hanging wire and was able to connect to carb. And fish through firewall to operate by hand. Had to redo twice due to rubbing on firewall but got us home.

Had a similar experience many years ago while stationed at Ft Bragg, NC. We were coming back from Dillon, SC and the throttle cable on my '68 Road runner snapped at the carb. Found a coat hanger in the trunk, straightened it out and fished it through the accelerator cable grommet in the firewall and up to the carb lever. Coat hanger hook was even with the front of the console. Drove all the way up I-95/US 301 controlling the throttle with my hand. Got into Fayetteville only to find Dodge & Plymouth dealerships were closed (Sunday). Stopped at K-Mart on Bragg Blvd and purchased a $1.00 bicycle brake cable and a $1.99 lawn mower choke repair cable. Pulled the old cable out from the housing under the dash. Pulled the wire cable out of the bicycle brake cable and fished it through the old housing. Used the little brass cable clamp from the choke kit to secure the wire to the carb throttle lever. Worked like a charm! The next day I went to Autry Chrysler-Plymouth to check on a new cable. They wanted $40 and change for a new one! I drove the car for another two years and then traded it in with the bicycle cable controlling the throttle!