Broke Down 2.0

[xjeepguy]

F'N FICM

[Fixer 166]

Oh yeah it's easy to do.
Parts = $1000

[HoboJo]

While not technically a "broke down" story I did have an opportunity to buy a five year old car for $500. Ya, it was a Ford. An Escort hatch back in fact.

I bought it from a garage that acquired it from the owner who didn't want to replace the cracked intake manifold.

At the time I worked for a bottle manufacturer who also filled some of these bottles with oil or glycol.

I got four years out of that car. Fill the radiator (Water in the summer, glycol in the winter) and drain the oil every couple weeks (Near the end, twice a week) and all was good!

When it was cold outside the vapor trail was awesome!

(Never did actually break down but I took it to a wrecker when I switched jobs.)

[Graham Adder]

I was 4x4ing one time years back and got into the bush a good distance when I broke a rear main leaf spring.
Leaf springs support the vehicle off the axles...give it the bounce and suspend the weight of the vehicle...shocks keep the springs from bouncing.
I broke a rear main which sent the rear of the truck down to the point where the tire was resting against the wheel wells. Turn the tire was no longer an option. I was on a steep hill...stuck.
I strapped the truck to a tree up the hill...put pieces of wood behind all four wheels...then proceeded to jack the truck up on the broken side. Got the wheel and truck separated enough for the wheel to roll and started wedging pieces of wood I found trailside between the truck frame and the rear axle. Once I had a secure stack of wood bits (define secure)...I let the weight of the truck down off the jack and started wrapping coat hanger wire around the stack over the frame and around the axle.
I often carry a handful of old wire hangers with me when I go exploring.
After applying all of my wire...I wrapped the knot with a ratchet strap and cinched it very tight.
I managed to limp out of the bush that day without leaving my ride behind.
It got me home at about 5mph...slow trip...but it was part of the story...which ended well.

I was traveling the road to Bamfield on the island. If you've ever been, then you know the road has many tales to tell. It's desolate and unforgiving. Not as bad as the hellroad to Holberg, but not far from it. I was on a desolate stretch. Truck stalls as we're traveling along. I smelled gasoline. Got under and could see metal fuel line had a hole punctured in it from a flying stone. It was clearly squashed and leaking. It had stopped my fuel flow, and needed to be fixed.
I wrapped the metal fuel line (remember it's wet with gasoline) in paper napkins and used side cutter to cut the ragged ends off what it now two pieces of line. I had to cut them back half and inch or so on each end piece...thus creating an inch between them...can't stretch 'em, so had to splice them somehow.
I spotted the rubber line that feeds the squirt squirter squirty thing for my windshield washer...it was soft(ish) rubber hose and there was enough slack in the hose that I could cut a few inches out without losing the use of the wiper squirty thing.
I cut about three inches out and used that to splice the broken and cut fuel line and presto...back in action Mr Jackson. I sold that truck a decade later with that splice still in place.

Had an old AMC Concorde. Again...far back into the bush...and lost a front wheel. The front wheel rolled off into the bush (took awhile to get it back on account of where it stopped rolling), while the front of the car took a dive forward coming to rest on the front brake rotor.
The damage to the rotor was too much to allow it to turn past the brake caliper now...so essentially I had a front wheel that could not rotate.
I took off the brake caliper on that side...used a couple of pairs of vise grips to pinch off the front brakes (have to pinch both, otherwise if one front wheel brakes and not both, it will pull you into the ditch.) and away we went.
It was another slow drive out...but we made it without leaving bessy behind.

I've broken down and just plain been broken in some very nasty spots in my exploring travels, but have never left a vehicle behind. I've always managed to McGiver my way out of anything I got myself into.

Duct tape, coat hangers, bubble gum and thumbtacks will go a long way if you know what to do with them.

[HoboJo]

My dad and I where out in his '48 willy's jeep. By some truly odd fluke a stone got tossed into the glass float bowl, smashing it and leaving us stuck.

Having considered and rejected a few plans it occured to me that the wheel hub covers looked to be a very similiar size... A perfect fit! That was over 20 years ago and while the old willies doesn't get out very often anymore that wheel hub cover is still in place

[xjeepguy]

My dad and I where out in his '48 willy's jeep. By some truly odd fluke a stone got tossed into the glass float bowl, smashing it and leaving us stuck.

Having considered and rejected a few plans it occured to me that the wheel hub covers looked to be a very similiar size... A perfect fit! That was over 20 years ago and while the old willies doesn't get out very often anymore that wheel hub cover is still in place

Nice one !





Xjeepguy , a Willy's fan .

[HoboJo]

Out in the '72 Opel a couple years back. Missfires? I have heard of them but I became worried after a few seconds.

Idled over to the side of the road but before I shut off the ignition I smelled smoke. Key off and out but the smoke didn't stop. It got worse.

The fire was mostly contained under the dash and was easilly extinguised with a sweatshirt (Battery was promptly disconnected)

Not a huge fire (I did have to replace all those wires in time) and as it turned out all I had to do was bypass the (Dunno) big black thingy. That ("Capacitor" maybe) shorted out and the points where pretty burned but a little adjustment and I was back on my way.

I do love the new technology in cars but my grandchildren don't have a hope in ... don't have a hope of fixing things as they go.

[Fixer 166]

Four injectors & a fuel rail you say
I got one word for ya. It starts with a C & ends with a hevy.

[Graham Adder]

I had a 78 Dodge many years ago.
It had a 360 V8.
Drank like a fish and mean like a badger.
Used to backfire up through the carb now and then.

Went to start it one day and sure enough it backfired like a cannon.

BOOM!

Smoke started to billow under the hood and I knew I had a fire.
I continued to crank it over and it started up.
I shoved my foot to the floor and revved the hell out of that tank, sucking all the fumes and flames back into the carb and extinguishing the fire before it burned too much.
No wiring got toasted...just the black liner under the hood.

Sure freaked a lot of people out in that parking lot.
Sure freaked me out that in my panic, I actually did the right thing.

[xjeepguy]

I had a 78 Dodge many years ago.
It had a 360 V8.
Drank like a fish and mean like a badger.
Used to backfire up through the carb now and then.

Went to start it one day and sure enough it backfired like a cannon.

BOOM!

Smoke started to billow under the hood and I knew I had a fire.
I continued to crank it over and it started up.
I shoved my foot to the floor and revved the hell out of that tank, sucking all the fumes and flames back into the carb and extinguishing the fire before it burned too much.
No wiring got toasted...just the black liner under the hood.

Sure freaked a lot of people out in that parking lot.
Sure freaked me out that in my panic, I actually did the right thing.

I had a Power Wagon from about the same era and it did the same thing
Built Ram Tough baby lol .

I also had to start it with a screw driver under the hood on most days , usually when it was stalled in the mud or it was pissin rain .

[Graham Adder]

I had a Power Wagon from about the same era and it did the same thing
Built Ram Tough baby lol .

I also had to start it with a screw driver under the hood on most days , usually when it was stalled in the mud or it was pissin rain .

Yep...mine was a metallic brown power wagon.
It also had the typical dodge issues in damp weather.
Dry or cold days it ran fine.
Damp days it ran chunky.
A screw driver and a hammer were the starter requirements on many a day.
Spark a flyin'...lol...

Damp days I'd cup my hands over the carb the best I could to try to choke it more.
It would sometimes backfire into my hands...so I learned to keep a thick pair of leather mittens stuffed under the seat.

I had it geared low and my 360 was juiced up a bit.
If I popped it in 4low I could play with the clutch and get it to hop off the ground about a foot. All four tires off the ground roughly 12 to 14 inches high.
I have a pic of that somewhere.
Used to freak some of my buddies out to see that.
I was (still am) hard on gear.

[xjeepguy]

A screw driver and a hammer were the starter requirements on many a day.
Spark a flyin'...lol...

Nothing better then 4x4ing in the middle of the night and stalling and jamming that screw driver in the general area of the starter , sparks flying every where and usually with a hint of gasoline fumes around the engine
Talk about good times ( actually they were )

I had it geared low and my 360 was juiced up a bit.
If I popped it in 4low I could play with the clutch and get it to hop off the ground about a foot. All four tires off the ground roughly 12 to 14 inches high.
I have a pic of that somewhere.
Used to freak some of my buddies out to see that.
I was (still am) hard on gear.

Ya that would be a cool pic for sure

[Woodenhead]

A few years ago my fuel pump quit...



...right in the middle of the Harvey / Hwy 33 intersection. Rush hour.



I did manage to push it out of the way relatively quickly, but talk about a log jam! hahaha

[Graham Adder]

Nothing better then 4x4ing in the middle of the night and stalling and jamming that screw driver in the general area of the starter , sparks flying every where and usually with a hint of gasoline fumes around the engine

That's the ticket.
Jump it from that post to...ZAPPP!...
OUCH my elbow hurts!

I still have a misshapen thumb from flicking my bic to see what I was poking my steel rod into. lol

That truck was a bit of a cow, but it never left me stranded...and it always performed no matter what insanity I put it through.

It could kick out on wet pavement in third gear without much effort.
I was a drifter before drifting was given a label.

When it was time for the ol' beast to die, we put a handful of mothballs in the tank...topped it up with av-gas and roasted the beegeesuz out of it.

We flew down an airport runway at I'm sure 120+ mph in that hairy ride.
I didn't take my eyes off the lane to look, but I know it was always able to do well over 90 even geared low. The last day of its life we went much faster than burying that needle I'm sure. No way to ever know. Sure did float a lot at high speed though.

[dirtybiker]

I had it geared low and my 360 was juiced up a bit.
If I popped it in 4low I could play with the clutch and get it to hop off the ground about a foot. All four tires off the ground roughly 12 to 14 inches high.

A bud of mine had a short box 360 4x4 pushing upwards of 450hp that would jump,
if he hit it just right, straight up like it had hit a trampoline.....sweet!!!

Another pal had a '76 Power Wagon, 440 and warmed over.
Blew out a 35.5 steer tire upwards of 90mph on the highway in Northern Sask.
6 people on board with only the two bucket seats.
It did a straight flop over and we slid on the roof, ya know, the fiberglass removeable one?
right down the middle of the highway, just before we came to a halt we nudged the
edge of the shallow ditch and gently, ever so slowly (it seemed) it
caught and we rolled back onto it's wheels.
The only injury was a gal that got a broken pinky finger!!!!
We jacked it up, put on the spare and drove a somewhat battered and beaten
war wagon to our rented cabin for our 2 week vacation!
Ever Thankful!!!!