McGyver stories
A recent post inquiring about tools we carry has inspired this. I think the better part is the ingenuity of members... Got any good on the road "McGyver" stories? One of my more memorable ones w...
Forum Discussion
This is from one of my post's 2 years ago
A real long weekend and story.
We did 1700 miles in less than 7 days. We left Michigan on Wednesday the 25th. We Headed for Indianapolis for the evening. About 25 miles North of Indy we ran into a hail storm. The hail was about the size of a quarter. It busted holes in the bathroom vent and the refrigerator vent. The hail was coming down so much it was deafening inside the MH. I was shocked that the windshield did not break. After finding replacement parts in Indy we headed out on Friday morning for Pittsburg State University where my son was competing in a BAHA competition. We drove all day to get there for the next morning. Just North of Carthage MO. With the wife driving I start hearing a ticking noise from the engine. I jumped up to look at the oil pressure gauge and it was all over the place. We shut down the engine and pulled over on the freeway. I discovered that oil had blown all over the underbelly of the MH and all over the passenger’s side and rear of it also. I checked the dip stick and there was no oil on it. While I was waiting for the tow truck my son borrowed a car and brought a few gallons of oil. It took 6 quarts of oil to fill it back up. ( it takes 7.5 to fill it.) When I started the engine oil came blowing out of a switch assy which the oil pressure gauge is also a part of. ( a brass tee that ties into the engine oil port has this switch and pressure gauge sending unit on it) Well I thought that this was going to be an easy fix. The tow truck got me into Lamar Mo about midnight. While it was still up in the air on the tow truck I attempted to unscrew the switch. I had to use a pair of vise grips to grab it and it was tight, with a little more force and SNAP, the brass “T” that the switch was screwed into broke off flush on the engine block. After a few + words I gave up for the night. The tow truck driver was hooking up the driveshaft and he managed to break the bearing cup on the “U” joint. It was not a good night. He went into Joslin the next morning to get parts and all they had was the “U” joint. Once he got back he had brought a set of easy outs with him and proceeded to remove the broken off brass. After a few minutes he is cussing up a storm because he broke off the easy out. By now my nerves are shot and so are my wife’s. Well the easy out broke at the top and not flush like I was expecting. He tried to get out the easy out but the vise grips kept slipping. After a half an hour I gave my hand at it. I tapped on the side of the easy out while I was trying to back it out and it popped right out. So with that out he pulled the drive shaft and took it to the shop to put in the “U” joint. I attempted to pull out the brass piece with the next bigger easy out but it was not budging. I finally made the decision to thread a bolt into the brass so I could get home with it so I could fix it there. In my case of parts and pieces I found the perfect bolt and pushed it in hard while I was turning it with a ratchet. It threaded in with no problem. I backed it out, put a couple of steel washers on it and then a rubber washer, wrapped the heck out of it with Teflon tape and screwed it back in. I had the wife start the engine while I was looking and no oil leak. RELIEF! I ran the engine for 5 or so minutes and still no oil leak. SUCCESS! The driver showed up with the drive shaft installed it and by about 3:00pm Saturday afternoon we were back on the road. I had no oil pressure gauge and the switch that blew was for turning on the electric fuel pump. The mechanical pump worked fine all the way home except for the hills where the carb was a little starved for fuel. All of the way home I kept checking for an oil leak and nothing. Made it home with no more problems, What a shakedown trip for the first one of the year. Thanks to Jim Elliot and Randy/High5 for their support and advise because otherwise I would have went nuts. Brian
A real long weekend and story.
We did 1700 miles in less than 7 days. We left Michigan on Wednesday the 25th. We Headed for Indianapolis for the evening. About 25 miles North of Indy we ran into a hail storm. The hail was about the size of a quarter. It busted holes in the bathroom vent and the refrigerator vent. The hail was coming down so much it was deafening inside the MH. I was shocked that the windshield did not break. After finding replacement parts in Indy we headed out on Friday morning for Pittsburg State University where my son was competing in a BAHA competition. We drove all day to get there for the next morning. Just North of Carthage MO. With the wife driving I start hearing a ticking noise from the engine. I jumped up to look at the oil pressure gauge and it was all over the place. We shut down the engine and pulled over on the freeway. I discovered that oil had blown all over the underbelly of the MH and all over the passenger’s side and rear of it also. I checked the dip stick and there was no oil on it. While I was waiting for the tow truck my son borrowed a car and brought a few gallons of oil. It took 6 quarts of oil to fill it back up. ( it takes 7.5 to fill it.) When I started the engine oil came blowing out of a switch assy which the oil pressure gauge is also a part of. ( a brass tee that ties into the engine oil port has this switch and pressure gauge sending unit on it) Well I thought that this was going to be an easy fix. The tow truck got me into Lamar Mo about midnight. While it was still up in the air on the tow truck I attempted to unscrew the switch. I had to use a pair of vise grips to grab it and it was tight, with a little more force and SNAP, the brass “T” that the switch was screwed into broke off flush on the engine block. After a few + words I gave up for the night. The tow truck driver was hooking up the driveshaft and he managed to break the bearing cup on the “U” joint. It was not a good night. He went into Joslin the next morning to get parts and all they had was the “U” joint. Once he got back he had brought a set of easy outs with him and proceeded to remove the broken off brass. After a few minutes he is cussing up a storm because he broke off the easy out. By now my nerves are shot and so are my wife’s. Well the easy out broke at the top and not flush like I was expecting. He tried to get out the easy out but the vise grips kept slipping. After a half an hour I gave my hand at it. I tapped on the side of the easy out while I was trying to back it out and it popped right out. So with that out he pulled the drive shaft and took it to the shop to put in the “U” joint. I attempted to pull out the brass piece with the next bigger easy out but it was not budging. I finally made the decision to thread a bolt into the brass so I could get home with it so I could fix it there. In my case of parts and pieces I found the perfect bolt and pushed it in hard while I was turning it with a ratchet. It threaded in with no problem. I backed it out, put a couple of steel washers on it and then a rubber washer, wrapped the heck out of it with Teflon tape and screwed it back in. I had the wife start the engine while I was looking and no oil leak. RELIEF! I ran the engine for 5 or so minutes and still no oil leak. SUCCESS! The driver showed up with the drive shaft installed it and by about 3:00pm Saturday afternoon we were back on the road. I had no oil pressure gauge and the switch that blew was for turning on the electric fuel pump. The mechanical pump worked fine all the way home except for the hills where the carb was a little starved for fuel. All of the way home I kept checking for an oil leak and nothing. Made it home with no more problems, What a shakedown trip for the first one of the year. Thanks to Jim Elliot and Randy/High5 for their support and advise because otherwise I would have went nuts. Brian
