Post Your Strange Trail fixes That Work!

[Maverick4x4]

I broke the factory 465 to 205 mount 2 years ago. Replaced it with a stock one. Then broke it again last summer, 45 minutes into a trail at Moab. I had already replaced a couple cracked ones in previous years when I had the parts out for clutch replacements, drivetrain replacements or vehicle rebuilds. I have up on factory pieces this time and bought an aluminum one from Offroad Design. Hope it lasts.

Anyway, the fix, both times: Used 3 ratchet straps to strap it back together, basically mating the cracked pieces together. Limped off the trail in 2-hi (so that basically the 205 was just an extra long part of the driveshaft and didn't have to deal with torque)

 

[mpio13]

On a cold winter night miles from home in my daily driven K5, full of friends cruisin down the road, I suddenly started hearing a loud squeak that corresponded with the rotation of the tires in the rear. I got out and had a friend drive a bit so I could listen, it was definately in the rear but I couldn't tell which side it was coming from, so I brushed it off, assuming my rear shoes had gone metal to metal or something and I'd fix it the next day.
So we continue our joy ride, ignoring the constant squeak. (I was only like 17, so I was pretty clueless). Then we went over some railroad tracks and BOOM. Sounded like someone shot a gun off under my truck.
I got out with a flashlight to find a hole in my differential cover that was from the inside: out. I thought "OH DAMN!"
Got a bit panicked for a little while as it was slowly loosing fluid and I had no idea what damage had been done inside. (it probably would have drained completely had it not been 26 degrees out.

Solution: chewing gum. We all chewed some gum I'd had in the console, wadded them all together and I stuck it over the hole. It worked!
We were able to get it home (slowly) and the next day I found that a bolt for the ring gear had backed itself out, caught on the carrier and launched. Being 17 and broke, I just checked the torque on the rest of them, got the debris out and and new cover and ended up driving it for years, missing that bolt.

 

[Burbdood 74]

On a cold winter night miles from home in my daily driven K5, full of friends cruisin down the road, I suddenly started hearing a loud squeak that corresponded with the rotation of the tires in the rear. I got out and had a friend drive a bit so I could listen, it was definately in the rear but I couldn't tell which side it was coming from, so I brushed it off, assuming my rear shoes had gone metal to metal or something and I'd fix it the next day.
So we continue our joy ride, ignoring the constant squeak. (I was only like 17, so I was pretty clueless). Then we went over some railroad tracks and BOOM. Sounded like someone shot a gun off under my truck.
I got out with a flashlight to find a hole in my differential cover that was from the inside: out. I thought "OH DAMN!"
Got a bit panicked for a little while as it was slowly loosing fluid and I had no idea what damage had been done inside. (it probably would have drained completely had it not been 26 degrees out.

Solution: chewing gum. We all chewed some gum I'd had in the console, wadded them all together and I stuck it over the hole. It worked!
We were able to get it home (slowly) and the next day I found that a bolt for the ring gear had backed itself out, caught on the carrier and launched. Being 17 and broke, I just checked the torque on the rest of them, got the debris out and and new cover and ended up driving it for years, missing that bolt.

I used the same fix for a cracked t-case on my old 86 K-10. I backed into a rock one dark, stormy night, coming back to camp from a day of fishing. As I was watching the fluid drip...drip...drip onto the ground, my buddy suggested gum to plug the leak. I told him he was nuts, but to start chewing. By God, it worked really well too.

 

[marine_mike]

Not a K5 story, but a 94 grand cherokee. Had a lifted gran on 33s that was a DD/WW. I had bent the LCA on the passenger side previously, but kept putting it off. Well on my way to pick up my some from school, I hit the tracks a bit to hard. I got out when I got to his school to see the LCA and the bracket ripped off the axle. Handed off my son to a friend to drive home and rachet strapped the CA to the axle. I was doing the 5mph crawl the whole way home. No it wasn't a trail fix. I wish I had been on a trail. Probably would have been safer.

 

[eagle mark]

If you snap an axle shaft in a locked 12 bolt, and drop onto the backing plate, strap a log to the leaf spring and drive out. Like this guy did down at Tuttle. I have more pictures of this.

Martin

My 3/4 ton axles on Blazer never do that!

But we have done that twice to dana 30 jeeps to get them out of the trail...

 

[82355]

You mean your full floater never does that. A 14 bolt semi floater would still do that. Which is why I don't understand why people upgrade to them.

Martin

 

[eagle mark]

Can't break an axle in it either?

 

[2INSANE]

I parked on a steep hill deep in the woods over night and woke up to find that the 6.2L Diesel wouldn't start. 50+ miles deep in the wilderness with my girlfriend and her son. Some how air got in the fuel lines while parked over night on the steep hill. After many attempts to start it with no luck and I started to hear the batteries going dead...

Solution:

I put it in nutural and slowly rolled the truck down the pine tree covered hill until it was flat. Pulled the windshield wiper hose from the wiper motor pump and blade line. Just enough hose to siphon fuel out into a camp pot and added a little fuel in the intake after taking the air filter top cap off. She fired right up after holding the manual glow plug override switch I put in years ago.

 

[Blue85]

You mean your full floater never does that. A 14 bolt semi floater would still do that. Which is why I don't understand why people upgrade to them.

Well it takes a lot more to break the 9.5" axle. Add a set of disc brakes to your S/F and you've kind of got a built-in trail fix for a broken shaft.

 

[StreetshocK]

Heres an embarrassing story.

I was about 17, and we were "wheeling" in an old Baja bug, rolled over and snapped the carb right off the intake. No parts, no tape, nothing but a few cans of carb cleaner.

It was on it's wheels so we pushed the bug down the hill to the fire road.

Now, picture my buddy hanging out of the now non-existent back window, squirting carb cleaner in a totally open intake hole. Pssst, pssssssst, VROOOM!, diiiie, Pssst, pssssst, VROOM!!, diiiiie.... The best part was he had to stay off to the side for the occasional Whoosh of flame if it got lean, spraying flaming cleaner past his head. He did get pretty good at getting the "mix" right!

With the ups and downs in the road, and two full cans of cleaner we got to about a 1/2 mile from the road! But still had to walk home

I'm amazed we didn't die In fact, I haven't heard from him in awhile

 

[StuGutz]

Zip-lock sandwich bags. LOL . watched a guy do a field repair on his diff and he drained the oil into the sandwich bag. sealed it and when the repair was done he put the bag (full of oil) back in the diff and threw the cover back on and drove away. Was quite amazed. Never would have thought of that one.

Also used a very large ratchet strap on a buddies truck to hold the front knuckle together after a blown u joint seperated both ball joints. what a mess that was, down in a dry river bed. had to pinch the torn brake line with vise grips also. made it back to pavement then called for a tow.

 

[diesel4me]

Heres an embarrassing story.

I was about 17, and we were "wheeling" in an old Baja bug, rolled over and snapped the carb right off the intake. No parts, no tape, nothing but a few cans of carb cleaner.

It was on it's wheels so we pushed the bug down the hill to the fire road.

Now, picture my buddy hanging out of the now non-existent back window, squirting carb cleaner in a totally open intake hole. Pssst, pssssssst, VROOOM!, diiiie, Pssst, pssssst, VROOM!!, diiiiie.... The best part was he had to stay off to the side for the occasional Whoosh of flame if it got lean, spraying flaming cleaner past his head. He did get pretty good at getting the "mix" right!

With the ups and downs in the road, and two full cans of cleaner we got to about a 1/2 mile from the road! But still had to walk home

I'm amazed we didn't die In fact, I haven't heard from him in awhile

Reminds me of a friend who had his fuel pump on his old Ford pickup croak one morning on his way to work,a 390 with a 4 bbl....he dumped out his windsheild washer fluid tank,and siphoned some gas out of the fuel line at the pump into the tank--he then pulled the hose off the "squirters" at the wipers and shoved one onto the air cleaner stud,and tied the other hose to the carb's venturi close to the air vent pipe for the fuel bowl.........................................................................................................he used the windsheild washer pump to fill the carb's bowl,then drove it away--every time it started to die again,he'd push the washer button and it'd "catch" and start again,he found he could go almost a mile on one "bowlfull" of fuel!....we heard him come into the junkyard I worked at with the engine racing,then bogging--we found another fuel pump for him on another truck we had gotten in for scrap a few weeks before.................................................................................................One night I stopped to get some gas,and a woman i an older Ford diesel pickup was "stuck" at the pumps--she had run the truck very low on fuel,and the gas stations pumps were at the top of an uphill driveway--while waiting in line on the "hill",the fuel ran back to the rear of the tank,and airlocked the fuel lines--it almost re-started after she got some customers to help push it up to the pump,but the batteries were about dead from prolonged cranking.....I asked if she had any starting fliuid,she didn't--and the station manager didn't like the idea of using any near the pumps....if I was in my diesel truck I'd have had some starting fluid with me,but I was in my car--I got two guys to help me push it away fro the pumps,and I asked the woman if she had ANYTHING in a spray can in the truck--she said "Um,I think so--I just went shopping,and I got some hair spray!...I looked at the label and it said "Danger--extremely flammable".....I sprayed some into the intake after hooking my jumper cables up,and I was suprised that it fired right up,and I was able to eep it from stalling by spraying some more in every few seconds,until the injectors bled themselves,and it ran on its own!....bet no one else has used Alberto VO-5 hair spray to get a dead deisel running......another guy I told this too said he would have had a long walk home,if he hadn't found a can of black spray paint behind his seat after his diesel refused to fire up on a very frigid morning too!..I guess anything flamable will work??....

 

[eagle mark]

Hair spray starting fluid, now that's great!
Probaly better then todays starting fluid. I don't know what EPA reg ruined starting fluid but it's no where near as good as it used to be.

When using starting fluid (or hair spray) you should really have engine cranking and give little squirts. One big shot before cranking can damage an engine.

That windsheild washer bottle trick has been around a long time. One good trail fix over that is instead of carrying a gas can, carry a gas can from a boat with the fuel line and black rubber bulb pump, they have them now in plastic with handle like the old metal with handle. Extend the fuel line on it so it reaches your carb with tank in truck and pump the bulb to fill carb. I have one I use to start old cars, just remove fuel line from carb and use it instead of pumping out gas and crud from tank before clean and flush, if you want to see if motor is good.

 

[Blue71Chevy]

about 11 years ago when i was in high school i had a 79 Plymouth Champ 1.4l 4 banger. Had couple friends with me and late at night we went out to some old forest service roads in the backwoods of Washington state miles from anywhere. I decided to wrap up the engine and dump the clutch and as soon as the clutch hit i lost all engine power and the car would not restart. cranking it sounded like 2 cylinders were out for the count. i had a basic 200 pc tool kit in the back. my friend pulls off the valve cover and we find the intake rocker shaft had snapped in half because it stripped the bolt out of the aluminum head. we are all standing around as how royally screwed we are sinks into our brains, one of my friends grabs the survival knife (cheesy one with the compass and hollowed out handle) i had in the toolkit and runs off into the woods. not even sure what hes doing we just stand round and wait he comes running back with a tree branch about 1in in diameter cuts it about 5in long shaves all the bark off of it sticks it on top of the busted rocker shaft jams the valve cover back on and tightens down the cover. engine fires right up running on all 4. used the valve cover to push on the stick to hold the broken rocker shaft in place. drove everyone home, went to bed woke up the next morning drove it to the junkyard bought a used head drove it home. drove about 200 miles with a damn stick holding my valve train in place. that stick is still in my tool box today.

 

[jgcoastie]

Keep a few tubes of 3M cold shrink in your toolbox to patch ruptured hoses.

For those that don't know, cold shrink is a thick rubber sleeve/tube that is held open by a long piece of spiral plastic inside. Once you start peeling the spiral plastic away, the sleeve of rubber contracts very tightly against whatever you're patching. It's mainly used for weatherproofing electrical connections on ships and such (which is where I first used it) but it came in handy when I sprang a leak in a radiator hose on the ALCAN last summer. It held for 800miles until I made it to a parts house in Shelby, MT.

 

[Cruz89K5]

Cruising back roads in BFE at about 4 in the morning with my buddies. Topped a big hill at about 45, hit a bump, heard a bang, lost steering. Hard on the brakes, shut it down in a ditch. Tie rods had been replaced 30k miles prior. Right rod end dropped out. Right rod end connects steering on left side. Needless to say we used what we could find. Cut the top wire off a barbed wire fence to wire it up, taped it up with electrical tape and zip tied it. Drove 20 miles home at a decent clip. Excuse the rust, its a 5 year old Dodge that's been in the south its entire life.

 

[B.N.Z.MTNS]

I almost went on our last trip w/ out the come-a-long but remembered to throw it in at the last minute. It saved me at about 13,000 feet elevation and 6 miles from the nearest paved road.

I was wheeling with my new crossover steering setup and my steering box brace thinking all is well. When on an uphill climb my steering began to feel too loose. I could turn my wheel a full turn before feeling any drag link or tie rod pressure. When I got to a safe spot, this is what I found. My steering box flange broke and 2 other bolts broke / stripped...it was flopping on the frame like a dying fish. Only one lower bolt was even hilding it from dropping off the frame completely.




After some head scratching I remembered my come-a-long. I wrapped the hook over the top lip of the frame rail and around the input area of the steering box. I ran the other end to the passenger side tow hook and cranked it tight against the frame. I used some other rachet straps later to help hold the lower end of the box a bit more secure.

After a few tight turns and a few extra cranks on the handle, it felt pretty good. I was able to make over the next 3 passes and down to the highway. In fact, it felt so good that I drove it another 40 miles home at 55 MPH.








The hardest part of this fix was explaining to my wife that I now needed Hydro assist steering...but that package from PSC and ORD just arrived in the mail .

 

[mpio13]

Thats awesome! Yeah, for some reason the women never understand when something breaks, it not only needs to be replaced, but upgraded!

if she broke the vaccuum, i think i'd offer to buy her a nicer one, ya know?
haha

 

[Deuling]

I broke 2 exhaust hangers at the dunes. The driver side pipe was resting on my axle lol. I walked around and asked if anybody had any wire. Guy gave me 2 metal coat hangers. Damn things more solid now than when i had the welded hanger on it lol. So a handful of metal coat/shirt hangers shall now be in the back of the blazer with my other tools.

 

[diesel4me]

Not sure if this qualifies as a trail rated fix,but when my diesel pickup's gas tank decided to start leaking recently,I tried various products to seal it without much success,it was dam near impossible to get the fuel away from the leaking area by parking it uphill and jacking it up...I wasted $$$ on J-B weld putty and other stuff because the diesel kept weeping ,preventing the stuff from sticking even slightly--I'd have had to yank the tank out to have any sucess with that stuff..........................................................................................................................................................................................................I read a long time ago in an old book my dad gave me about car repair that bar soap isn't easily dissolved by gas or diesel,and makes a good temporary stop leak for fuel tank leaks...so I tried rubbing some into the leak..it slowed the constant drip,drip,drip,into an ocasional drip about once every 30 seconds or so...it helped,but wasn't a complete cure--the next day though,it was dripping more slowly...the soap had congealed and was working better..............................................................................................................................................................................................................When I told a friend about my tank leaking,he said "stick a magnet on the leaky spot"...I had done that before on a vehicle with a rusty gas tank that kept clogging fuel filters,it keeps the rust in one spot,and keeps it from being sucked into the fuel inlet and sent on to the filter ....he said "the leak was probably due to water and rust in your tank--putting the magnet there will attract all the silty red rust in the tank,and make it "clot" and at least slow the leak down some...............................................................................................................I got a junk speaker and pried the magnet off it,a good sized one off a subwoofer that fried I had ,and I stuck it on the tank at the leaky area...drove the truck back and forth in the yard to get the fuel sloshing around,and sure enough,it now barely weeps enough to dampen the bottom of the tank....might not last long,but its better than watching 4 buck a gallon fuel getting wasted,dripping on the ground and polluting...I couldn't use the old self tapping screw and rubber washer trick due to the leak being right on the corner of the tank,I've used that method before with good sucess...