Hello, thought I'd start a new topic on those "bubble-gum and duct tape" repairs that we all do--if only to get a reel working temporarily till parts can be ordered, or out in the field where parts are scarce...Off the top of my head here are three that I've done to start with:
1. Cut and shaped a piece of stainless bail wire to replace one of the ARB anti-reverse pins in a Fin Nor Megalite 3000..
2. Shimmed the spool of an old Olympic 3/0-sized reel using material punched from a piece of discarded Teflon drag washer..
3. Successfully plugged the leaking brake line of my old Ford F150 using Propaste--a type of rodbuilding epoxy..
(This was an emergency repair only done to limp the truck to the repair shop, definitely not a long-term fix)
Forgive me if this thread is in the wrong forum, I'm a newbie here and still learning how to navigate my way around.. ;)
Chad
Dumped a can of pepper in the leaking radiator to stop a leak?
I was following a friend who was towing a 12,000# boat on a triple axel trailer when he had a brake caliper stick and smoke started billowing out. We were on I-5 in horrific stop and go traffic, which likely caused his issues. (Exactly why I hate surge brakes).
We both pulled over and right away I find out he has no spare brake parts, but I carry extra for my trailer. Ha ha, wouldn't you know it, my caliper was the wrong model.
So here was plan B, remove his stuck caliper and remove one of the brake pads, which allows just enough room for a small piece of 2x4 stud to slide in and zip tie around the caliper, then found a good spot where it could just hang off the frame, and zip tied it to the frame. So basically, the bad caliper is still connected to the brake line and has a piece of wood inside so when he stepped on the brakes the caliper has something to push against so it wont blow out. He still had brakes on 5 wheels and we made it safely home without issue (80+ miles).
BTW, I do keep those parts in my truck at all times just for this reason. Never had to use it on my own trailer, ...yet !!!
Quote from: Max Doubt on January 09, 2016, 02:51:22 AM
I was following a friend who was towing a 12,000# boat on a triple axel trailer when he had a brake caliper stick and smoke started billowing out. We were on I-5 in horrific stop and go traffic, which likely caused his issues. (Exactly why I hate surge brakes).
We both pulled over and right away I find out he has no spare brake parts, but I carry extra for my trailer. Ha ha, wouldn't you know it, my caliper was the wrong model.
So here was plan B, remove his stuck caliper and remove one of the brake pads, which allows just enough room for a small piece of 2x4 stud to slide in and zip tie around the caliper, then found a good spot where it could just hang off the frame, and zip tied it to the frame. So basically, the bad caliper is still connected to the brake line and has a piece of wood inside so when he stepped on the brakes the caliper has something to push against so it wont blow out. He still had brakes on 5 wheels and we made it safely home without issue (80+ miles).
BTW, I do keep those parts in my truck at all times just for this reason. Never had to use it on my own trailer, ...yet !!!
Sounds like a good Macgyver solution!
On a hunting trip to Wyoming (from CA) I had bought a used travel trailer to use for camping. We had used it often and had taken it to some very remote areas. We were on our way home and the wind was terrible. About the time I got on I-80 I noticed the front of of the trailer was coming apart--literally!! We had left Rock Springs about 15 miles ago and the next towns of any size were more than 15 miles. :o ::) We made an illegal u-turn on I-80 and limped back to Rock Springs where we found a hardware store. I had a portable dc electric drill and lots of screws. We bought a few rolls of plumbers tape and about 5 rolls of duct tape. Using rope and ratchet tie down we went around the trailer and pulled the front end back together with those tools. Then we started using duct tape going across the whole front of the RV and about 2' along each side. Each length of tape we hand pressed and got as perfectly flat tape that had no air bubbles. Then we half lapped it. And did this across the whole front of the RV. We tried to make sure that we had no loose ends as the wind was blowing constantly about 50 mph and with gusts up to 70-80 mph. We drove it all the way home. Every time we stopped we checked our repairs and added more duct tape as necessary. AND every time we stopped we got lots of attention and many people even took pictures of our repairs. After I had been home about 3 weeks, I finally had unloaded everything off the trailer. I hooked up to it again and hauled it about 2 hours to my daughter's place in the county. Needless to say I received many "duct tape" tee shirts and comments from family & friends.
TomT
Quote from: TomT on January 09, 2016, 04:49:19 AM
Every time we stopped we checked our repairs and added more duct tape as necessary. AND every time we stopped we got lots of attention and many people even took pictures of our repairs. After I had been home about 3 weeks, I finally had unloaded everything off the trailer. I hooked up to it again and hauled it about 2 hours to my daughter's place in the county. Needless to say I received many "duct tape" tee shirts and comments from family & friends.
TomT
I would love to have seen a photo of the silver conestoga wagon when you pulled into the driveway..;)
Sounds like your story would make a great commercial for duct-tape!
Chad
My neighbor has a big 30'+ Toy hauler trailer that he bought used that was coming apart. He had to reskin the front, work on the roof, weatherstripping around Windows and more. It's now in good shape for trips to the desert with his Polaris side by side and a couple of motorcycles. They can be fixed up!
Duct taped a water drainage pipe on a camper.
Joined sausage with a twig as me and my brothers would cut a chunk at a time as they would hang to dry so our dad wouldn't kill us.
At some point he did scratch his head trying to figure out why the sausage loops were getting smaller. ;D
Fixed a leaking toilet drain pipe with a palpation sleeve. Mike's gonna love this one. While still in school our upstairs toilet drain pipe developed a leak. It was just above the kitchen and toilet drain water was dripping into the kitchen cabinets. I pulled the toilet and there was a very small hole in the lead pipe. We were poor. This was gonna cost a lot to call a plumber and tear up the kitchen ceiling or the bathroom floor. In case you don't know what a palpation sleeve is, it's basically a shoulder-length glove that veterinarians don to feel the insides of a horse or cow - so basically you can go shoulder-deep into a cow's butt, feel the internal organs (I only practice dog and cat medicine) and know something more about the patient than you did before. It's used a lot in reproductive work. I cut off the glove at the wrist and had a long, clear plastic sleeve left over. I put the sleeve into the drain pipe as a liner, anchored at the wax ring. The sleeve collapsed when not in use, but opened up to allow water to pass past the hole in the drain pipe. That repair lasted years and was still there when we sold the house. I should win some kind of prize for that one.... it might still be there, I have no idea. I forgot about it after a few weeks with no problems.
Sid
Very Nice Very Nice
So this is why that I had Hot Dogs in stead of Steak tonight.
Had a freeze plug on a boat motor let go offshore. Hammered in an 4 oz egg sinker to get back.
Quote from: bluefish69 on January 20, 2016, 12:14:13 AM
Very Nice Very Nice
So this is why that I had Hot Dogs in stead of Steak tonight.
I'm looking for a "like" button to click on....
Quote from: bluefish69 on January 20, 2016, 12:14:13 AM
Very Nice Very Nice
So this is why that I had Hot Dogs in stead of Steak tonight.
Yeah yeah...plumbers make a fortune over a lifetime. ;D Steak is cheap try Halibut. :D Dominick
We don't mind getting our hands dirty either. I also worked deck for 10 years.
While getting ready to fish the Russian river in Alaska for sockeye, I close the car door on a rod ~ 18" from the tip and snapped it. Luckily, the ID of the rod was clothes hanger size. Clipped a 6" piece and inserted into both open ends and superglued it, followed by duct tape. Actually caught a few sockeye until a good-sized one bent the rod 90 degrees at the repair site but I still landed it. You should have seen the looks and heard the chuckles when it happened(combat fishing on the Russian river means anglers every 10'). The next year, I brought along UV cured epoxy!
I once repaired a pin hole in a fuel tank by rubbing a bar of soap over it. Lasted until I got home. For some reason gas didn't wash out bar soap, Ivory I think. My grandpa told me how to do that one to get home. I always called my grandfather for advice when I got into these situations.
I had my boat in Seward, AK on the trailer fixing to leave for home on Sunday night. On my walk around noticed one of the hubs was broken and bearing shot. I didn't have an extra hub and nothing was open. I took the rest of the hub and tire off and then jacked up the axle and tied it up with some winch rope I had for a 4 wheeler. I drove 110 miles on three tires and had no problems. Took my time and kept it under 55 but the one bearing on that side never got hot. That is why I spec'd my trailer oversize. Not sure why the hub broke in the fist place but there were some major pot holes in the side road. I now carry a complete hub assembly and bearing attached to my spare.
Fishing with father in law pulling the boat out of a unimproved dirt ramp in NM. He spun the tires and broke the lugs off of one axle, I still don't know how he did it but he did. Took a punch and knocked out the broken lugs and took one lug off the other three axles and put them on that axle. This was while the rear tires were in about 6" of water and then we limped home on three lugs on that tire, with the boat. Sounds simple enough but took about 4 hours. I was in shorts and no shirt and burned to a crisp. I almost got an article 15 for destruction of government property as I was in the Air Force at the time.
I didnt do it but explained to my son via cell phone how to.....he blew a radiator hose in the desert somewhere between Victorviile, CA and BFE....it split longwise about 3 1/2 inches....he had a 1/2 roll of duct tape and electrical tape.....I had him cut open a soda can to get a sheet of aluminium, wrap it around the split hose, start wrapping duct tape and electrical tape over that, had his buddy go start filling a gallon jug from a vacant house, the repair lasted for a 45 mile drive to the nearest auto parts where he did a parking lot repair and went along his merry way.....I would have had him use bailing wire also, but hay bales are now tied with nylon twine.....my dad always kept a wire coat hanger in the truck for such repairs..
I did something similar to TARFU's repair in the summer of 66. We were on our way to Vegas for our 5 yr anniversary and also our honeymoon as we could not afford one we got married. About 1/2 way to Vegas the upper radiator hose literally blew out on our "56 Merc. I was a lineman with a utility company and a good lineman NEVER goes anywhere without a couple of rolls of electric tape. After everything cooled off a little bit I was able to assess the problem. In those days, (at least in my Merc) the radiator hose had an internal coil spring. I centered it to the split in the hose and had (fortunately) just emptied a couple of beer cans waiting for the hoses, etc to cool down. ;) Cutting the cans to fit over the split was harder for me as the beer i was drinking still came in steel??(tin) cans. Lineman always put on electric tape under pressure so we would stretch the tape while putting it on to about 1/2 its size. So it it was 3/4 inch wide, we would apply it at about 3/8" wide and then stop about 1 lap at each end so you wound up with a tapered splice that had most of its strength in the middle. I did this in the summer heat and thought I would replace the hose after I got to Vegas. Remember I was 25 yrs old and drinking beer and our main venue was to see the "Supremes". Once that was done, I forgot about that radiator hose. We went to 2 different walk-in "Lounge" shows that you did not have to pay to see--well you did need to buy a drink each and since my wife didn't drink it meant I HAD to drink 2 drinks to see Joni Mitchell in one show and then Waylon Jennings in another show. In fact, Waylon & his band came over to watch Joni and he sat right in front of me--been a fan of both ever since. Waylon had a song that I said described my life, "I've always been crazy, but it kept me from going insane!!" The crazy, insane part is I did not remember the radiator hose repair until we had been home a week. The repair was still good when I replaced the hose. I always regretted not saving the "repaired" hose as a souvenir of our 5 year anniv/honeymoon!! ::) ;) :D
TomT
Broke the last and only shear pin on a 10hp Evinrude . Cut off a piece of wire from a crab pot for a replacement . Started off slowly , increased throttle until my brother and i were flat chat and thumping through large blue jellyfish and made the three miles back to the ramp , laughing our heads off.
I lost one of the cotter pins that holds up the deck on my riding mower this past summer.
I got out the metal detector and couldn't find it where I started to scalp the lawn.
I used a piece of #22 toothproof wire. Its still holding. ;)
On my first car, the throttle cable mount broke on the carb. I fastened a tie wrap to hold it on the throttle lever.
I was stationed in California when this happened.
I sold that car in Kentucky after I was discharged and it still had that tie wrap on there. :D
I once borrowed a school bus to travel 300 miles to a bass dam with a whole lot of friends. In this part of the world pot holes are more like craters, so vehicles take a pounding.On this trip the bracket holding the fuel tank came detached, and the tank was dragged along a narrow tar road for sometime before I realized there were sparks coming from the rear of the bus.
Like AlasKen mentions, I was able to repair the whole underside of the tank with bar soap. Was a lot more than a few pinholes, but the soap worked. It was something that I had heard about from my father, who used it in WWII. Got us to the destination some 20 miles away, and we were then able to empty the tank and send it back to the nearest town to get it brazed.
They say necessity is the mother of invention.........and no where else in the world does it apply more than in Africa, where basic essentials are often non existent, rather than scarce :o