Capt.D
1/2 ton status
I've used tire repair plugs to fix a hole in radiator hose......
CK5
Register an account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members.
Post Your Strange Trail fixes That Work!
- Thread starter Metrodps
- Start date
75GmcJimmy4x4
1/2 ton status
JB weld stick putty .... Note to all keep a stick in your tool box.....
SUPER'BURB
1/2 ton status
Had to take my wifes pantyhose for this about 10-12 years ago.
They started to melt about the time we got to a parts store (10-15 miles).
I tried the pantyhose trick for an alternator belt once in my dad's sub. It lasted for a little while, but I ended up driving most of the way home in the middle of the night without headlights (luckily it was a 6.2 so it didn't die when the battery ran out of juice).
dstrbdxp-AK
Registered Member
Used the spring from a pen as throttle linkage. return spring once.
my exhaust hangers broke on the freeway, the entire exhaust was just hanging off the headers, I pulled over and had nothing, so I undid the speedo, pulled the metal cable out, and used it to hang the exhaust by the muffler to get me home.
broke73
1/2 ton status
broken throttle cable
My throttle cable broke in the sand dunes last weekend. Ran a piece of wire through the firewall to the carb. Used it as a hand throttle to get me home.
My throttle cable broke in the sand dunes last weekend. Ran a piece of wire through the firewall to the carb. Used it as a hand throttle to get me home.
BUDDY
1/2 ton status
I always keep a wire hanger in my truck for that reason.
Met a strange & smelly guy when that happened down at the river. Sheesh!!
Later,
Buddy
73redblaze
1/2 ton status
vice grips for broken brake line.
if one side is broken or torn clamp your vice grips above the cut. it will prevent your brake fluid from dumping out and it will keep pressure in the lines. you can drive with it clamped, but i wouldn't recommend it for long distances.
if one side is broken or torn clamp your vice grips above the cut. it will prevent your brake fluid from dumping out and it will keep pressure in the lines. you can drive with it clamped, but i wouldn't recommend it for long distances.
wfo163
1/2 ton status
heavy duty floor mats can be used as traction aids when stuck in a snowy area; mostly an on-road trick but I used it on my truck when I was stuck in an open field.
Used a windshield washer pump as an inline fuel pump when the mechanical pump on the engine failed. I think that one was mentioned before.
Used a windshield washer pump as an inline fuel pump when the mechanical pump on the engine failed. I think that one was mentioned before.
K5dreamer
1/2 ton status
had a battery come loose on the trail and took out the radiator level sensor fitting on the radiator.
First attempt to fix, cut the foam rubber handle off of an ice scraper, rolled it up and jammed it in the hole.... kinda worked, would have gotten me down the street at least. but i was worried about it melting and gumming up the cooling system.
Second fix, took a synthetic wine cork from the picnic basket.... fellow passengers finished the bottle of wine before we were underway....while i was fixing the truck of course, and it fit perfectly. the only rub was that there was a slow drip out of the center of the cork where the wine openers screw went through. i took a spare screw from inside the truck and screwed it into the hole. the plug held for the two days till i got a replacement radiator, and showed no signs of giving out.
First attempt to fix, cut the foam rubber handle off of an ice scraper, rolled it up and jammed it in the hole.... kinda worked, would have gotten me down the street at least. but i was worried about it melting and gumming up the cooling system.
Second fix, took a synthetic wine cork from the picnic basket.... fellow passengers finished the bottle of wine before we were underway....while i was fixing the truck of course, and it fit perfectly. the only rub was that there was a slow drip out of the center of the cork where the wine openers screw went through. i took a spare screw from inside the truck and screwed it into the hole. the plug held for the two days till i got a replacement radiator, and showed no signs of giving out.
Quick hose fix
I experienced a overheat engine of a road trip home one time and found the alternator pulley had actually put a small cut in the upper radiator hose. Just enough to cause it to loose the cooling capability. But to fix it I use some double bubble. This is military grade two part epoxy. I have used it on everything from electrical repairs to fixing propellers and rotor blades on aircraft. It is great stuff. I keep some of it always in my truck. Preston
I experienced a overheat engine of a road trip home one time and found the alternator pulley had actually put a small cut in the upper radiator hose. Just enough to cause it to loose the cooling capability. But to fix it I use some double bubble. This is military grade two part epoxy. I have used it on everything from electrical repairs to fixing propellers and rotor blades on aircraft. It is great stuff. I keep some of it always in my truck. Preston
George_Pimpdaddy
1/2 ton status
On my 89 k5 when it was my dd I had the throttle cable break in rush hour traffic on my way home. Had limited tools on hand so I used an old cell phone car charger and ran the cable up the cowl and kept the hood popped up a bit just had to have my arm out the driver side window pulling on the cable by the mirror, haha worked great too for a 8 min drive to the dealership.
75GmcJimmy4x4
1/2 ton status
man thats just ganster ......... i had that happen on in a mud mark once i removed the hood and a friend sit on the fender and just do the carb by hand ... we felt
after cause i could have just turned the idle up a bunch and just driven that way like 2k idleK5dreamer
1/2 ton status
The cool thing about the string throttle out the window, if you roll the window up and pinch the string, youve got cruise control too 
live and learn, i wouldnt have thought of the idle adjustment either. thanks for posting that up.
man thats just ganster ......... i had that happen on in a mud mark once i removed the hood and a friend sit on the fender and just do the carb by hand ... we felt
live and learn, i wouldnt have thought of the idle adjustment either. thanks for posting that up.
supersize75k5
OrganDonorRacing.com
The cool thing about the string throttle out the window, if you roll the window up and pinch the string, youve got cruise control too
live and learn, i wouldnt have thought of the idle adjustment either. thanks for posting that up.
you guys are doing it wrong..
I took some 10 gauge black wire..black to make it not stand out..
put one end on the carb, removed the facroty throttle cable, slid the black wire through the fire wall and double tied it to the peddle..
Drove it that way forever.. a year after I sold it was still on there
K5dreamer
1/2 ton status
Drove it that way forever.. a year after I sold it was still on there
ill assume that the buyer was informed of this setup before taking delivery..........
but ingenious non-the less. have to store both methods in the memory banks. wire throttle makes more sense, but if i dont have a spool of wire handy, i always have a screwdriver to adjust the idle speed.
I drove my VW beetle home 20 miles using a 10' peice of clothesline ,when the throttle cable snapped one cold night--tied it to the carb lever and out through the louvers above the deck lid,and over to the side mirror on the drivers door..my hand was frozen stiff in about 1 minute,it was 30 degrees out!..but I made it home OK..later when it broke again a year later,I jammed a matchbook in the throttle linkage to keep it wound up about 2500 rpms,I wasn't risking frostbite twice!.
I like the idea of using the chain saw to spin the altenator!..just pray the battery has enough juice left to excite the field so it'll charge!..
One day I was playing off the road in my VW Bug,and it died way out in the woods at the end of a fire road as I was turning around..battery went dead,(6V!--not completely dead,but dead enough so it wouldn't crank over fast enough to get it started..we couldn't push start it since we were in a tight spot,and I had read about a guy jacking his car up and using the lug wrench to spin one wheel with his car in gear ,so I decided why not try it..took us half an hour using the POS VW hack,and it ripped the thing out of the car it went into,but we finally got one tire off the ground--we tried using the lug wrench,but it was futile..in desparation my friend and I both grabbed the tire ,and yanked as hard as we could,with the key "on" and the car in second gear..to our amazement the engine spun over abd fired up!..and we drove it home ,taking care not to STALL it again!..
I later saw another guy use a 1/2" ratchet and a spark plug socket start his VW Bug by turning the generator pulley not quickly with it!...I couldn't belive it started,and he says "yea,it works ,but if the ratchet decided to catch after it started .my arms will get ripped off!..he then showed me another trick--starting it with his BELT,wrapped around the generator pulley,just like an old lawnmower!..it almost looked like the pulley was made that way "just in case"..
You'll do whatever it takes to get home without walking or hiking or sleeping in the woods!..I once had a wire fire under the dash of my '56 Chevy truck one night,and all the wires were burnt ,and it stalled..after I was sure it wasn't going to burn to the ground,I ended up tearing the wires to the stepside tail lights off and ised my lighter to melt off the insulation and wrapped them onto the coil and battery terminal to hot wire it,and I was able to crank it by jumping the solenoid with some keys!..I got home,but no lights!..
One day I came upon a lady broken down on the side of the road--she was crying her eyes out--she'd run out of gas,her gauge didn't work--but another good samaritin went and got her a 5 gallon can of gas--only problem was she had a filler that was under the license plate,and no spout or funnel!..she'd already spilled about half the gas on the ground and on herself ,and was nearly hysterical..she kept saying "I should light my lighter!..I was like NOOOOO!..I looked everywhere in my truck and her car,and saw nothing that would work to get the gas in her tank..
Then I remembered I had bought some magazines the day before,and they were in my console!!--I grabbed one and rolled it up into a cylinder,and got the rset of the gas in her tank,then followed her to a gas station..I never did get to read that magazine..it was a "Hot Rod" magazine!...
I try to keep duct tape,zip ties and J-B "waterweld" putty in my vehicles now..the J-B stuff is all thats keeping the oil in my K2500's rotted oil pan since January of .08!..--oh yeah,aluminum foil is handy too,great to wrap around leaky hoses,then cover with duct tape..I avoided blowing a TH400 when my tranny lines developed rot holes when plowing one snowy night ising that trick!..
I like the idea of using the chain saw to spin the altenator!..just pray the battery has enough juice left to excite the field so it'll charge!..
One day I was playing off the road in my VW Bug,and it died way out in the woods at the end of a fire road as I was turning around..battery went dead,(6V!--not completely dead,but dead enough so it wouldn't crank over fast enough to get it started..we couldn't push start it since we were in a tight spot,and I had read about a guy jacking his car up and using the lug wrench to spin one wheel with his car in gear ,so I decided why not try it..took us half an hour using the POS VW hack,and it ripped the thing out of the car it went into,but we finally got one tire off the ground--we tried using the lug wrench,but it was futile..in desparation my friend and I both grabbed the tire ,and yanked as hard as we could,with the key "on" and the car in second gear..to our amazement the engine spun over abd fired up!..and we drove it home ,taking care not to STALL it again!..
I later saw another guy use a 1/2" ratchet and a spark plug socket start his VW Bug by turning the generator pulley not quickly with it!...I couldn't belive it started,and he says "yea,it works ,but if the ratchet decided to catch after it started .my arms will get ripped off!..he then showed me another trick--starting it with his BELT,wrapped around the generator pulley,just like an old lawnmower!..it almost looked like the pulley was made that way "just in case"..
You'll do whatever it takes to get home without walking or hiking or sleeping in the woods!..I once had a wire fire under the dash of my '56 Chevy truck one night,and all the wires were burnt ,and it stalled..after I was sure it wasn't going to burn to the ground,I ended up tearing the wires to the stepside tail lights off and ised my lighter to melt off the insulation and wrapped them onto the coil and battery terminal to hot wire it,and I was able to crank it by jumping the solenoid with some keys!..I got home,but no lights!..
One day I came upon a lady broken down on the side of the road--she was crying her eyes out--she'd run out of gas,her gauge didn't work--but another good samaritin went and got her a 5 gallon can of gas--only problem was she had a filler that was under the license plate,and no spout or funnel!..she'd already spilled about half the gas on the ground and on herself ,and was nearly hysterical..she kept saying "I should light my lighter!..I was like NOOOOO!..I looked everywhere in my truck and her car,and saw nothing that would work to get the gas in her tank..
Then I remembered I had bought some magazines the day before,and they were in my console!!--I grabbed one and rolled it up into a cylinder,and got the rset of the gas in her tank,then followed her to a gas station..I never did get to read that magazine..it was a "Hot Rod" magazine!...
I try to keep duct tape,zip ties and J-B "waterweld" putty in my vehicles now..the J-B stuff is all thats keeping the oil in my K2500's rotted oil pan since January of .08!..--oh yeah,aluminum foil is handy too,great to wrap around leaky hoses,then cover with duct tape..I avoided blowing a TH400 when my tranny lines developed rot holes when plowing one snowy night ising that trick!..
hunter29078
1/2 ton status
Starter fluid, lighter, and a compressor can get a tire back on the wheel if the seal is broken.
