Bush mechanics - what have you done ?
Submitted: Sunday, Sep 26, 2010 at 15:10
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Beddo
Just wondering what others have done along the way to get you
home ?
Myself during a trip to
Cape York, the stock rear
suspension sagged just a little too much. In
Weipa I looked into getting
the springs upgraded or getting a pair of air bags; anyway both options were going to extend the trip by 3 days atleast.
The local mechanic then said go down to Woolies & buy a few bags of tennis balls !!! Fifthteen minutes later I was back jacking up the rear end & pushing as many tennis balls as I could in each rear coil.
It worked & we then went to Chilli beach & our friends could work out which way we went as an occasional tennis ball would be left on the side of the road. I had to replace a few, but it did the job.
Reply By: Bushranger1 - Sunday, Sep 26, 2010 at 15:22
Sunday, Sep 26, 2010 at 15:22
Best bush mechanics I ever did was for a
young bloke that had borrowed his dads Land Cruiser, taken it up the Victorian high country & ripped out the rear axle & tailshaft.
Got out my chainsaw & made up some mounts & frame for the axle assy then used his front mounted winch to keep tension on the axle against the wooden frame I made. Re attached the tailshaft & he drove it out very slowly!!! Did not get to see the look on his dads face when he got
home but I guess it beat walking out & having to call his dad to come get him & the broken truck.
I like the tennis ball idea. Will keep that one in my memory bank!
AnswerID:
431466
Follow Up By: Beddo - Sunday, Sep 26, 2010 at 15:42
Sunday, Sep 26, 2010 at 15:42
Bushranger1 that is a pretty full on fix up - Dad would not be happy.
I saw the Bush Mecahnics TV show & saw the fellas rip a front wheel off. They got a bit of Mulga wood & attached it to the chassis as a sled, then he drove
home in reverse; this made his neck sore, so they ripped out the front window & if I remember they used a brick on the accelerator & steered by lying on the bonnet & looking out the back window.
The best I saw though was the fella that used a windscreen wiper water pump to become a fuel pump.
FollowupID:
702241
Reply By: nsngood - Sunday, Sep 26, 2010 at 15:42
Sunday, Sep 26, 2010 at 15:42
Had the head off one of my lada's.Refitting after work one day the boss went
home i had everything i needed,locked the workshop seeya later etc.
End off the job mmmmm wheres the coil lead. Nowhere to be found.Bit of fencing wire wrapped in insulation tape.
Beautiful job. Stayed this way for a week as i went
home to the bush and no parts available and it ran so good why bother.
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: Beddo - Sunday, Sep 26, 2010 at 15:44
Sunday, Sep 26, 2010 at 15:44
Wish I knew that one back a few decades ago with my old XA falcon.
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: nsngood - Sunday, Sep 26, 2010 at 15:46
Sunday, Sep 26, 2010 at 15:46
Another Lada. Snapped the accelerator cable half way between
perth and
esperance.Midnight mmmm Bit of baling twine from throttle out the bonnet through the quarter window hey presto cruise control as
well.
FollowupID:
702246
Reply By: Bushranger1 - Sunday, Sep 26, 2010 at 16:19
Sunday, Sep 26, 2010 at 16:19
One of the most amazing feats of bush mechanics I have seen was done by a mate of
mine.
We were camped on a deep sandy river bank & when he went to start his landcruiser in the morning the starter motor had totally died. This car had been fitted with a V8 incidentally. Anyway there was no way my 4 cyl 4X4 had any hope of a tow start to his vehicle due to the deep sand.
Well my mate reckoned that if he could jack up 1 rear wheel & put the car in 3rd gear 2WD 2 guys could wrap a rope around the jacked up wheel & pull start it like a mower! (cant do this with an LSD). I could not stop laughing at this stupid suggestion.
Well for a laugh I went along with it & said I would sit in the drivers
seat & look after the clutch & throttle.
Well me being a bit of a comedian I pressed the clutch just as the guys put tension on the rope & they went flying backwards into the sand. Ha Ha.
Anyway I decided to play ball & can you believe it on the third attempt they started the engine & we were able to drive it out. Unbelievable I had to eat humble pie!
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: Beddo - Monday, Sep 27, 2010 at 08:24
Monday, Sep 27, 2010 at 08:24
Thats pretty good, I wouldn't believe it could be done also.
FollowupID:
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Reply By: Rod - Sunday, Sep 26, 2010 at 19:32
Sunday, Sep 26, 2010 at 19:32
My vacuum pump died and I had no booster for the brakes and was towing a CT. I plumbed the suction side of my onboard air compressor up to the booster and periodically ran it. Drove 3 days through the desert till I could pick up another that i had flown in.
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: harryopal - Sunday, Sep 26, 2010 at 21:34
Sunday, Sep 26, 2010 at 21:34
Out on
the Tanami track in 1969 there was a car up ahead under a tree with the bonnet up. A group of Aboriginal people sitting around. I pulled up and asked if they needed any help.
No, everything under control. They had a stone cold battery. Overnight they had a good fire going. In the morning they scraped back all the coals and hot residue, dug a hole, put a layer of dirt around it and then packed all the hot stuff around and over that. Later the battery was warmed up enough to have some life.
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Reply By: Member - MYPRADO - Monday, Sep 27, 2010 at 02:06
Monday, Sep 27, 2010 at 02:06
My back 4wd tyre got a
puncture, put spare on and got another
puncture with a half horse shoe in it with a 2 inch cut. Went to tyre repairer fixed good tyre and bought plug kit. At
Coolgardie good tyre blew up, used a dozen plugs to fix 2" tear and drove all the way back to
Perth, reckon a bit of horse shoe Luck.
AnswerID:
431540
Follow Up By: Beddo - Monday, Sep 27, 2010 at 08:29
Monday, Sep 27, 2010 at 08:29
I had a similar experience, I lived at
Tibooburra for 3 years & driving along the
Dingo fence east from
Warri Gate I destroyed one tyre with a Mulga stake, the spare got a stake aswell & I managed to put 5 plugs in it; i had to stop every 1/2 hour to add more air as it still leaked.
FollowupID:
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Reply By: Road Warrior - Monday, Sep 27, 2010 at 11:29
Monday, Sep 27, 2010 at 11:29
Shifter in my old Mitsubishi Sigma kept coming off so I used fencing wire to strap it to the gearbox extension housing, that kept the bastard in there
AnswerID:
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Reply By: Outbacktourer - Monday, Sep 27, 2010 at 12:30
Monday, Sep 27, 2010 at 12:30
When I was up at
Cape York if ound out that a set of Commodore coils wound down the guts of a set of standard Patrol ones turns them into raised heavy duty!
OBT
AnswerID:
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Reply By: cycadcenter - Monday, Sep 27, 2010 at 14:38
Monday, Sep 27, 2010 at 14:38
The three
tools of a bush mechanic:
1. a pair of long nose fencing pliers
2. Donaldson wire strainers with 3m extra chain
3. a few coils of good 8g fencing wire.
These three things can fix a lot of things.
I was out the back of Quilpe in a L/C trayback and broke the chassis rail near the spring mount.
Used the wire strainers to pull it back into place, "borrowed" a couple of steel posts to brace it and held it together with some cocky's twitches with the fencing wire. Drove back to
Moree like that.
It did crab about 100mm to the side.
Bruce
AnswerID:
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