McGyver stories

[Smax]

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 was a paper punch - baling wire underbelly fix.

We were coming back from Myrtle Beach. While getting gas I noticed the galvanized underbelly on my Holiday Rambler Alumalite was hanging loose due to rust. It was at the point it was going to tear off and had to be fixed.

I had baling wire. A nearby store had a paper punch. I punched holes the length of the tear on each side and sewed it back together with the baling wire. Got me home...

Max

[HiTech]

Lol!

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Pulled over for lunch in the toad, the something-or-other-tree restaurant on I-5 in California. Returned to the car, crank but no spark. Zero tools. Looked around found a rusty nail by the curb, scraped off part of the round head then used it like a screwdriver to unscrew the distributor cap hold down screws. No spark but rotor was turning. Noticed one distributor pickup coil wire was chafed. Used the bend in the nail to lift wire chafe away from the aluminum housing. Replaced rotor, cap, more nail screwdriver work. Got in fired right up, drove off. This happened summer of 1994.

[ReelTime]

booby trap, now that is funny, not when you first read it but when you realize what the words say. I 64 years old and there is a time lag between reading and understanding. Life is better each day!

[Smax]

Sounds more like a booby trap than a McGyver...:)

[brownieab]

I lost a fan belt when cars actually had them...now we have serpentine belts. Asked my girlfriend if I could use her Bra as a temporary fix. She did her thing, and I replaced the belt with a spare I carried. Once we got back home, I gave her the Bra back. She asked me what I replaced the belt with and I said a spare belt. She says, why did you need my Bra...and I said, I just wanted to see if I could get it off. I laughed like hell over that....over time she also thought it was " cute "

[j-d]

EGR valve failed old 460 during a trip. Installed a new one but found the control valving wouldn't release the vacuum to the valve at idle so it'd stall. Bypassing the control with a piece of vacuum hose provided so much vacuum the engine would surge. Noticed that the dead twigs on a nearby bush dried with a pinhole down the middle of the wood. Put a 1" piece in the hose as a restrictor and it ran just fine.

[shepcal]

All great ideas, except for the paper clip! Hate it when those zippers work; especially all the way up 😉
Don't worry, already slapped myself-

[Smax]

I would differentiate one being a temporary resourceful fix and the other being a cheapskate "permanent" fix...

[Just_Lee]

Ah yes how the times have changed I remember when "McGyvering" was called "Micky Mouseing"........ LoL

[phillyg]

Baling wire is great, but zip-ties can work wonders, too. I carry several sizes in my tool kit. My DW was amazed when I used a paper clip to replace the pull tab on the zipper of her favorite sweatshirt. I though it was a no-brainer for a quick fix so I'm going to remember to carry paperclips, too. After all, one atta-boy can erase ten p** sh**ts and I need all the atta-boys I can get.

[BrianinMichigan]

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

[Chuck_Gail]

Well likely nobody will believe it, but here's mine anyway.

Took a very nice lady for a drive to see New England foliage. Coming back late I blew a driveshaft U-joint in the middle of nowhere. Hadn't seen a car or house in a long time. Fortunately it was the rear U-joint, so the dtriveshaft beat up floor under the back seat/trunk, but did no real damage. No way the U-joint could be reassembled, it was toast.

I had a Bowie knife, so I found two limbs that look straight, and cut them to a bit over two feet. I also had a coil of nylon rope. Jacked the car up, put the spare under one wheel, rock under the other, let the jack down, and tried rocking the car. It stayed, one problem solved. Young lady and I crawled under from opposite sides. I put the limbs on either side of the driveshaft, covering the U-Joint. She held limbs while I wrapped the rope around limbs and shaft as tight as I could get it. Then had her start car and gentle try to move while I lay on ground and watched. Rope unwound of course, but car was still up. Grrr. Back under we go, and rewrap rope other direction. Jacked up car, remove rock, remove spare and put in trunk. Both of us were pretty dirty, but were hopeful. Got in car and drove to nearest town. Anything over about 5 mph was not possible cause the vibration got REALLY bad, but it beat walking.

Finally hit a town, stopped in gas station (that was back when gas stations all did repairs, for you youngsters). Asked if they could replace a U-joint. They said pull it on the lift and they'd look. I laughed and said see if you can get the part first. Turned out NAPA had one, so I pulled it on lift. You should have seen their faces, LOL.

We called her folks and mine so they wouldn't worry, as it was nearly 11:00 by the time the car was ready. I gave the repair people a nice tip for staying after closing to fix the car. We then drove back. I dropped her off, then headed home myself. Cleaned myself up, and made it in bed not much before dawn.

Funny thing was she still went out with me quite a few times after that. She was a special lady.

[SaltiDawg]

tratterboy1 wrote:
Good thing you are "good with your hands",just think,if you were also smart the things you could do!

Half of a Govt. Ball Point Pen Spring also works on the return for the Directional Signals on a 1956 Triumph TR-3 automobile - yes they had directionals... one brake light only, but yes directionals.

[HiTech]

Ok that is great to know. I have heard of using duct tape, but gorilla tape or eternabond are probably much stronger.

Jim