Mental Attitude when you break down?

First thing I think about is HOW MUCH ??? lol

Beer from the chilly bin, light a cig, identify the problem, show the missus what has to be done,sit back and relax.

Whats hard about that.....lol.

Cheers....Lionel.

limp it to the nearest car yard and trade it in :)

In the mid 70's I can remember putting a Lantrover down to the belly near the Wenlock River, the first thing that was down was to get out, sit down and have a beer, we had so many beers I still don't know if we got it out.

Have a good one and always remember, that a good 4wd goes a lot further into the bog before it gets bogged.

Get out a pack of cards and start playing Solitaire.

Pretty soon some clown sticks his head over your shoulder and says, "that red 7 will go on the black 8"

Grab him and get him to give you a hand to fix the problem.

This method also works when you are lost.

My mate sounds like you, he's always in a panic about whether his car has broken down or is about to break down.

Me, I couldn't give a rats.

He can't work out why he's always having trouble with his vehicles and I have very little trouble.

It's to do with a little known component of all machinery, "The Critical Detector"

If it's absolutely critical you get there and you're a worrier The Critical Detector kicks in to disable you.

It was designed and installed in all man made equipment by Murphy Manufacturing.

I do hope this helps,

Geoff

Hi Axel,
Not a pleasant thing to have happen :(
First thing that goes through my mind is, 'Why the hell did I get out of Bed this morning?, that's right I thought it was going to be a good day'.
Dolht

Yeap, then comes the swear words. Get the rant out of the way blow a bit of steam off and decide whats the best way about around this mess.
Heads clear by now and then I tackle the problem. It works for me ;-)
As you said Axel, 'Every body's different i guess'

The first solution to the problem is usually not the simplest and easiest.
Takes a while for me to work out what to do, need to think about it a bit.

Hi, it is funny as I was talking to some mates today about this and we realized we all did the same thing when we are with others. If one car has a problem the others look for it and fix it with the owner realy not doing to much and we decided that this was a good system. It is realy hard to be objective when broken down on the side of the road.

Have fun

Craig

Axle

While I would like to say I am cool calm and indifferent when it hits the fan, I am not.....lol

Storyline:

Nice warm sunny April afternoon in 2003 on the Birdsville Track. I am on my own driving me old G60. Recent rain has caused numerous little washouts and I find that riding with one wheel on the windrow a good comfortable thing at 50kmh. Trouble is I get into a state of mind and the speed eventually creeps up to 80.

Then I see it...a nice big wash-out right in front of me. Stand on the drum brakes which are wet anyway and we slide at speed into the hole...CRASH!!!. I hit the roof with my head and everything inside the truck repositions itself. We come to a stop askew down the road but the startermotor is cranking over and won't stop. WTF!!! Luckily the old truck has a dead switch and I kill the noise. Get out and kick myself and then the tyre for being so unattentive. Switch on again.

Crank,crank,crankinnnnnggggggg. Bugga!!!

Now what?

Bugga!....again.

Oh well I'll wait for help. One hour goes past. Not a scrap of oncoming dust in sight. I calm down and have a coffee and a biscuit or two. Engine cools down. Get the hammer out and climb under truck. Hit the started motor with an almighty blow. Switch on...Brmmmmmmmmmmmm...ticking over sweetly again. Whew!!!

Drive on the Birdsville and see only one other vehicle along the way.

T'was a simple fix in the end but I spent a whole day rooting around with the wrong things......LOL


Cheers

My mental attitude depends upon
How much money is in my account
How badly I'm stuck
How remote I am from help
And if I am in any danger from passing traffic eg road trains at night.
How stuffed I am from the drive.
Even changing tyres can be a worry if you're at the side of the Motorway.

But best not to panic under any circumstances. (easier to say than do).

When it's me in trouble I panic and it takes a while to calm down and think straight.

When it is someone else I, Clark Kent ( mere mortal ), am transformed into SUPERMAN and I become a pillar of strength to aid them in their time of need...LOL

Been there more than a few times.... : )

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Gday Axle,
I reckon your mates right.
Whats happened has happened....
No point worrying about it.
Relax.
Work out how to fix it with a practical and level head
Usualaly the cost and reason is irrelevant.

Cheers

Depends a lot on the situation. Here are two of my extremes:

A. Away with the mates, one has a broken suspension u-bolt that holds the front diff to the leaf spring. Guys have a laugh, get a few tools out, have a smoke, find a length of threaded rod at a local scrap shop (Jameison, Vic). Try to bend it into a U-shape. Of course it snaps. 'haha' we have a laugh. Get the jumper leads out and weld up our own out of 3 stright bits of threaded rod cut to the right length. Time taken .... about an hour and a half, no big deal, no stress, just part of the trip being away with the boys. Patch up juob lasts all weekend, and we still laugh about it.

B. Away with the Mrs. Do a rear wheel bearing. Satruday arvo about 4pm, middle of summer on outskirts of Melbourne. Limp to nearest carpark. No shade, still 40 degrees, blaring sunshine. No worries, I have a spare bearing kit on me at all times.... Jack the truck up, tell the mrs 'no, you cannot sit in it with the air-con running while I am underneath'. So she has to sit sulking on a milk crate on the black ashphalt. My promised 1 hour job turns into a 3 hour nightmare when i cannot get the inner bearing cone off because the heat has pretty much welded it to the axle stub. The whole handbrake assembly and brake dust guard have to come off so i can get a decent angle at it. After lots of swearing and tapping with the hammer and cold chisel, I get it off. By this time we are nearly diviorced (only been married 6 months) and it had maybe cooled to 39 degrees. I had offered the mrs $200 to get a taxi home as it was worth it to get her out of my hair, but she stuck by me, bless her :) Anyway, finally got the thing assembled about 30 minutes later and we were on our way. Took a few days, but she started to see the funny side of it and what a 'bonding' experience it turned out to be. We laugh about it now.

Moral of the story, the deciding factor to my first reaction to mechanical failure ...... Am I:

A. Away with the mates
B. Away with the mrs

Cheers,

Wazza.

Well have to say a breakdown would put me in a spin to say the least.

Most probably swear and wonder WHY ME, have a quick look for obvious reasons for the stoppage. Nothing found I would have to put the shade up and have a drink and wonder WHY ME again with mild panic, I'm no mechanic so its want be be VERY simple I carry a host of spares just in case someone knows how it to fix it :).

I guess more importantly I would hope I have phone coverage so I could call my mate to point me in the right direction to fix it.

But as usual Murphy would be in my hip pocket to simple spice up my life and there would be NO phone coverage, no beer, and I'd be up some track hardly used simple so Murphy could have a few more laughs at my expense.

To avoid all this distress I get my vehicle serviced regularly in hope I avoid a breakdown. Funny enough had my 100000 service a little while back which is a timing belt replacement, just as well I never said she be right cause the bearing was just about to say its goodbye's.

Now if that had gone I would be in more than a mild panic state, and damn sure I would run out of beer lol.

Just hoping I don't find out how I would react :)

Brian

My retired parants were concerned about driving to Cape York on their own. I said you wont be on your own, there will be 2000 other vehicles up there! If you can't fix something pop the bonnet & sit back with a cold drink. Before it's finished I bet you'll have a few very experienced travellers stop to give you a hand. As it turned out on 3 occations he was the one lending a hand.
I find when well prepared & travelling in good company there is very little to panic about even on remote trips.
Cheers Craig..........