Bush Mechanics

Stopping outside down town Hawker at 10pm to held someone race tap there camper trailer tarp up.

I supose having a Nissan you have seriously think about break downs don't you because one day it will come to reality!

Regards Richard

What a good idea Luke, change is as good as a rest they say.

The repair I am proudest of was done just south of Lake Eyre, between the Mulloorinna camp-site and the lake.

The drag link on the old GQ decided to let go, no steering, got a bit exciting for a while.

The castle nut on the ball joint had stripped, sheered off the split pin and the ball joint jumped out. Needless to say the nut could not be found.

We looked through my tool box and my mates tool box and found a piece of 3/4" copper pipe and a 3" nail.

We cut the copper pipe to length to act as a sleeve over the thread on the bottom of the ball joint and used the 3" nail to hold it in place. Worked a treat until we got back to camp-site where with a little help from the station owner we made more permanent repairs.

The copper pipe and nail are hung on the map of Oz as a reminder of the adventure.

Duncs

On a GQ Patrol, we removed a split rim lock ring with a star dropper and a stick somewhere near Magnetic Hill after a blowout. Took a while and lots of sticks but it worked. Tried to duct tape a hole closed that appeared in my engine block in my old S3 Landie (202 holden & auto) near Parachilna years ago. Didn't work!

EO Gathering at Murra Sunset , were sick Paj jumped the dry dam and busted top ball Joint , ripped out bottom ball Joint, ripped apart the brake line , ripped apart all the abs wirring .

Bellted thebottom ball joint in, found some odd bolts to bolt top ball joint in. Vise grips on brake line and zipped tied it to the chassis , Belted the CV back in place . Not only did it get him home , but the clown drove around like that for 3 weeks lol .


I believe the are some pics lerking somewere lol

This is some thing i would not recommend.
A mate of mine was towing and old caravan out to a farm behind his old FJ55 Landcruiser, And lost one of the caravan wheels about 20 klm
from his destination on gravel road late at night.
The wheel nuts had rusted through the rim.
So he got out the chain saw and cut down the best suitable tree
to make a skid.
Then tied it under the van to replace the wheel.
Needless to say he only got about 100yds down the road
before the stump was worn out.

Perhaps not mechanical but just a bit of bush improvisation.

Was working with my two offsiders out near Lake Johnston, then on the way back to camp about 20kms out in a cruiser ute when I fet a strange vibration from the rear right wheel.

I stopped to check and the wheels nuts were not tightened after a previous puncture that morning. My fault for not checking my workers handywork (ie. asking if they did the wheel nuts up), but their fault for not checking the job in the first place.

Most of the wheel nuts and threads were damaged and could not be undone with the equipment we had. The wheel nut holes were already started to elongate. Any further driving and there would be further damage to the wheel and the drive.

I found a suitably long dead tree and secured it to the back of the ute sticking way out to the left had side. I then got the guys to secure some of our load to hang from the tree essentially to force the rear right hand side of the vehicle to be raised in the air.

We got home having to avoid all obstacles on our left hand side.

At camp we still could not get the wheel nuts off. We welded the wheel to the wheel nuts and waited for our replacement vehicle from Perth. It was lucky for the driver he didn't get any punctures before he got to Perth.

Hi Luke, Often thought about this myself, The old vehicles where a bit more robust, you could hammer a stick into a leaking radiator tank, a couple of tubes in the core could be pinched off with long nosed pliers, fencing wire could be used for a multitude of sins!, These Days!!, if a new landcrusier died on you for some reason, unless it was life threatening, you would not be game to touch the bloody thing,....Lol

Cheers Axle.

I castrated a bull I had that used to chase me out of the bottom paddock all the time.
That was done on the side of the road.

I think that is the sort of change of discussion direction you had in mind as I noticed you said nothing about trucks/trailers/caravans.

But seriously, most people should be able to weld, and turn a spanner.
If they got hold of the service manuals for most electronically injected diesel/petrol engines they would find it is challenging but not impossible to fix a great range of potential problems.

Cheers

Hi All,
Bloke I once worked with bent and totally destroyed the rear axle assembly on an old Landrover110 (the one with the Isuzu diesel donk and constant 4wd).
No major problem except that he was with mates somewhere miles off the Gibb River Road.
Solution:
Empty the trailer contents into the other vehicle,Jack up rear of Landy, Drop the entire axle assembly and tailshaft and jamb the trailer in backwards under the R-Send of the Landy. Secure it with rope and load binders. Tie the buggered axle assy to the bull bar. Jump in, engage centre diff lock, start motor and drive out (slowly) using Front wheel drive only.

No Bull! I've seen the photos (taken in 1993) and knowing Bob that's the sort of thing he would come up with.

Disco.

Was in a group that had a radiator fan near come off a 4Runner at Mitchell Falls in the Kimberly. The shaft that mounts the fan had flogged out so we used an aluminium coke can to shimm it out. A section was then cut out of a large spring washer to make a key to lock it place filling the void with Liquid steel. The bull bar, grill & radiator all had to be removed to get access to the front of the engine. Parts were ordered on the HF picking them up in Halls Creek but with the repair still holding headed back to Melbourne. He never did get around to fixing it properly & the car was sold 8 months later.
Cheers Craig...............

Luke,

Good post!

Broke both front engine mounts on a Toyota FJ45, and the fan was hitting the radiator shroud. Poked 2 crowbars under the sump, one from each side, and "Cobb & co'ed" them into position, with engine raised an inch or two. Managed to limp back to the station.

Another time, was grading firebreaks at night, on Barkly Tablelands, and lights began to get dim. Checked the battery, and it was low on water. Didn't have any, so piddled in a tin, and poured that into the battery.

Best lights I'd had all night!!

On another occassion, was doing a bore run, and found the tub of a trailer mysteriously dumped on side of the road, with lots of footprints, and vehicle tracks at the spot. Followed these tracks, and later found a group at our outstation. They'd done the rear Tojo axle, and like the previous post, had used the axle out of the trailer, and drove along in front wheel drive.

These days it's a drama just to get a flattie...

Hooroo...

Gday,
Has anyone made spinafex resign?
Thats handy gear for fuel tanks radiators and anywhere you can secure something with an epoxy like glue.

Cheers

Replaced a clutch by the side of the road on a Corolla in the 1970's when I was a student.

Was on the NSW coast, clutch started slipping. Called into a wreckers and they sold me a 2nd hand clutch. Further down the road there was a banging sound as the diaphragm spring broke, so pulled off the highway, parked the car in a ditch, slipped the spare tyre under one front tyre to jack it up, scissor jack on the other side. The two of us pulled the gearbox out, with the prop shaft still in (to keep the oil in).

Bolted the clutch in, but only tight enough, so the clutch plate could be aligned; put the gearbox in, then pulled it out again, so shaft was aligned, and tightened pressure plate bolts; Put it back together and drove off 3 hours later.

Leaf sping 60 - tore out the (rusty) front fixed mount out of the chassis off the the rear RHS sping on the lower Telegraph track - cape york. Rear hanger/shackle pulled spring and axle back and wheel into arch. Jacked car up, inserted 2 old star pickets into gap in rear shackle to hold it "upright". Let more air out of the tyre to reduce work for the suspension. Drove to Punsand bay for next 3 days and welded it up.

Sellys Knead it for radiators and Fuel tanks (roughen the steel first)

Pepper or pliers for damaged radiator cores.

Several axles / tailshafts / front drive caps for stuffed driveline issues.

Paul

Don't know much mechanics but I was pretty proud of getting us out of strife once. Couple adults and kids had borrowed one of the old farm bombs to go for a drive round the back blocks. Clutch went about 15K from the homestead. No fluid. I found an old shotgun shell and cut it in half. Got some old wire and made a dip. Managed to dip into the brake fluid to transfer a wee bit to the clutch master cylinder (or is that slave?). Anyway, we got the clutch pumped up enough to get the car into 2nd then struggled back to the homestead through about 15 gates. Couldn't stop so we did circles either side of the gate while the passenger leaped out to open/close. Hilarious day in the end.

Obee,

Torana clutches are legendary at my place.

I had a 253 LH that used to snap the clutch pivot bolt all the time.

Mate worked for Caterpillar and used to scam the right size bolt for ma so I always had a couple of spares in the tool box.

Coming home after Easter down the coast one time, crawling up the hill towards Kiama with everyone else from Sydney when I felt it go.

Now I could drive the Torana without a clutch but crawling up that hill in all that traffic. I decided to pull over. I straddled the gutter and dived under the car, replaced the bolt and rejoined the line of cars. Only lost 2 places.

Duncs