ghetto trail fixes... lets hear um!!!!

[brandon95]

whats the sketchyest most ghetto trail fix you have ever done that worked and you made it home with(or back to camp with)? WITH DETAILS
ill start

was in the Las padres national forest about an hour and 15 min from my house, was in my 89 exteded cab toyota with a V6 and the bolt on the bottom pully(crank shaft) worked its way lose, witch in turn striped off the alignment key, so the pullys wernt moving(no water pump) seen my truck was heatin up so i imidiatly shut it off, popped the hood and seen a large bolt sitting on my intake, so i started lookin arrownd and noteced my pully was almost off of the shaft. i bolted it back up (using a lug nut wrench the one time all my frends forgot there tools i break down lol). went about 1/4 mile down the trail and it heated up again, bolt was almost off again. i took it apart and noticed there was no key on it and figured out what was going on. all that we had to fix it with was a roll of electrical tape. i wraped the crap out of this bolt with the tape(worked sort of like teflon tape on air tools) put it all back to gether made it off of the trail and to my house with no more problems.
im really glad it did not jump time or somthin like that.

lets hear your ghetto fixes, who knows it might help some one else make it home!!!

[boggerunner]

i stripped out 1 knuckle stud and sheered the other 3 off  on my driver side knuckle.  i pulled it apart and took the one that pulled threade and put it in a different hole and wrapped a ratchet strap around it and drove home 10 miles away, i kept it low speeds on back roads.

ive had to drive home in 4wd with no rear drive shaft a couple of times, turning sucks on the street with my lincoln locker, and if u just lock one hub in it pulls u off the road.

[BLACKDOG]

I broke the center link of the IFS steering system right at the pitman arm in an off-camber (3 wheeling) spot at moonrocks.  I backed out of it, then went down a slightly easier section by having someone crank the drivers side wheel with a pipe through the spokes every few tire rotations.  Once we got it to a more level spot, we braced the broken section with a piece of pipe, and used baling wire, duct tape, and zip ties to attempt to secure it.  It kinda worked, enough to get me drug back to camp without my CV getting overturned by dragging the side.  I've got pics to put up later

[4RunnerChevy]

I have seen a high lift jack handle, turned into a tie-rod.  The original tie-rod took a hit and creased, every time we straightened it , it bent again.   We cut the ends off with a hacksaw, cut the High lift handle to length, stuck the ends of the old tie rod into the tube.  We finished it with a 7018 weld from two batteries, and jumper cables  .  Then the truck finished the second half of the Rubicon.

[KYOTA]

 sheared all 6 wheel studs on a rear axle. was like WTF why is my truck sitting so low back there and feels like its kinda dragging a bit  got out to look and my truck was sitting on the brake drum and the wheel/tire was back at the last big rock  (again). no spare axle (dumb) so locktup and I came up with the brilliant idea of pounding out the studs from the spacer that were still good and install them into the axle. heres the good part, the holes in the axle for the studs were now wollered out and the new studs wouldnt fit tight enough to hold themselves in. AH HA ! lets tape the studs in!!  we ran a couple wraps of electrical tape around the studs so they wouldnt push back out, and VERY carefully (read: doing it 3-4 times) lifted a 38" sx on a steel rim with thick ass steel beadlocks up to line up the wheel over the dangling studs without touching them. once the wheel was on succesfully, the lugnuts sucked the studs up tight enough to the axle to hold them.
made it  back out from Buck to Loon on that abortion

[Steve_925]

broke 2 studs from each steering knuckle  and rounded out the holes for the other two. welded it and ratchet straped it. got me about a hundred yards(i was at the top of walker on my way to loon) then it was night time. pulled my front axle apart, rode in the back of my friends truck in freezing temps back to pollock. found somone with two spare knuckles that lived in town. not that getto but it was hell.

i also punched a huge hole in my raditor on my last trip to the con. used an egg to fix it. work good and it smelled like breakfast the whole way out!

[bigarms23]

duct taped my front driveshft to continue through the tank trap

[Rocksurfer]

I broke an upper A-arm on my 4Runner in Santiago Canyon, it also just happened that we were the last of the last to ever wheel the canyon it was Sunday and they were locking the gate so leaving it to get another was not an option. We tryed welding it back and it just collapsed again. We then removed the upper bumpstop and welded the arm to the stop to keep it from moving. I ended up driving it all the way from Palmdale to Riverside that way. It was like driving a forklift.

[Tallchevy]

Not a trail fix, but fordh8r & I went to Wyo-Tech in Wyoming. He followed me on Hwy 80 from Cali. My 1st gen was giving me problems on the way there cause all the smog equipment had been removed & it had some other engine mods. The higher we got in altitude the worse the engine would run so we must have pulled over about 15 times to try to adjust the valves & carb. We finally got it to run decent & got the truck up to 75 mph when I heard a bang & the back of the truck jumped up. Since fordh8r was behind me, he saw something like a torpedo shoot out from under the truck & smelled gear oil. Found that the pinion shaft broke flush with the bearing & it had not pinion seal to keep the oil in. I didn't have a complete front shaft, only the cv end (Truck was built for show, not go  ). We removed the slip shaft from the back of the transmission & used it up front & drove the the next exit & it had a truck stop there. We had to buy gear oil cause alot of it blew out. We also bought some hose clamps. We filled the diff with oil & used the round 1 qt gear oil bottle to seal the pinion (fordh8r's idea). Being a student with no job I didn't have money to fix the pinion & get a new rear driveline. We made it to school then fordh8r's car broke down (I forget what was wrong with it) so we just drove the truck everywhere & put 5000 miles on the front end.

[Steve_925]

Not a trail fix, but fordh8r & I went to Wyo-Tech in Wyoming. He followed me on Hwy 80 from Cali. My 1st gen was giving me problems on the way there cause all the smog equipment had been removed & it had some other engine mods. The higher we got in altitude the worse the engine would run so we must have pulled over about 15 times to try to adjust the valves & carb. We finally got it to run decent & got the truck up to 75 mph when I heard a bang & the back of the truck jumped up. Since fordh8r was behind me, he saw something like a torpedo shoot out from under the truck & smelled gear oil. Found that the pinion shaft broke flush with the bearing & it had not pinion seal to keep the oil in. I didn't have a complete front shaft, only the cv end (Truck was built for show, not go  ). We removed the slip shaft from the back of the transmission & used it up front & drove the the next exit & it had a truck stop there. We had to buy gear oil cause alot of it blew out. We also bought some hose clamps. We filled the diff with oil & used the round 1 qt gear oil bottle to seal the pinion (fordh8r's idea). Being a student with no job I didn't have money to fix the pinion & get a new rear driveline. We made it to school then fordh8r's car broke down (I forget what was wrong with it) so we just drove the truck everywhere & put 5000 miles on the front end.

haha thats great. when did you go to tech

[Toymin8r]

Isn't every trail fix kind of "ghetto" ?

[brandon95]

most of them, i have seen some really nice fixes with welders tho

[Duffil]

most of them, i have seen some really nice fixes with welders tho

even BM has had his share of ghetto fixes WITH a welder.

I have never really broken anything while wheeling, but I had a buddy of mine snap the camshaft dowel way out in BFE one day snow wheeling. Used a #2 Craftsman Phillips screwdriver to make a new one, which is still in service today.

[Steve_925]

i gotta get a porta welder. my buddy broke his coil on his 2.5 king coilover. welded it back together in camp, and then did some rock racing around little sluice, among going all the way througg the con. never even broke the weld.

[Tallchevy]

haha thats great. when did you go to tech

Both fordh8r & I were there in 89.

[Ramrod]

hyena has some pics of a high steer arm held onto a d44 all the way out of the con with duct tape and zip ties

[Steve_925]

Both fordh8r & I were there in 89.

oh that was a while ago haha.

hyena has some pics of a high steer arm held onto a d44 all the way out of the con with duct tape and zip ties

gotta see that

[fordh8r]

Not a trail fix, but fordh8r & I went to Wyo-Tech in Wyoming. He followed me on Hwy 80 from Cali. My 1st gen was giving me problems on the way there cause all the smog equipment had been removed & it had some other engine mods. The higher we got in altitude the worse the engine would run so we must have pulled over about 15 times to try to adjust the valves & carb. We finally got it to run decent & got the truck up to 75 mph when I heard a bang & the back of the truck jumped up. Since fordh8r was behind me, he saw something like a torpedo shoot out from under the truck & smelled gear oil. Found that the pinion shaft broke flush with the bearing & it had not pinion seal to keep the oil in. I didn't have a complete front shaft, only the cv end (Truck was built for show, not go  ). We removed the slip shaft from the back of the transmission & used it up front & drove the the next exit & it had a truck stop there. We had to buy gear oil cause alot of it blew out. We also bought some hose clamps. We filled the diff with oil & used the round 1 qt gear oil bottle to seal the pinion (fordh8r's idea). Being a student with no job I didn't have money to fix the pinion & get a new rear driveline. We made it to school then fordh8r's car broke down (I forget what was wrong with it) so we just drove the truck everywhere & put 5000 miles on the front end.

Haha, yeah that was fun! I especially like when we washed all the timing cover parts from my car in the bathtub in our dorm room.  And then there's was the time with your alternator and the zip ties on our way back from CO in that lightning storm that one night. 

[brandon95]

Both fordh8r & I were there in 89.

lol i didnt even know wyo tech was arrowned back then. man you guys where going to wyotech a year after i was born!!!

[brandon95]

hyena has some pics of a high steer arm held onto a d44 all the way out of the con with duct tape and zip ties

ya X2 on seein the pics

[fordh8r]

lol i didnt even know wyo tech was arrowned back then. man you guys where going to wyotech a year after i was born!!!

So what are you trying to say?     NAH J/K....



That's when WTI only had a school in....guess where? That's right, Wyoming. Before they got all big and fancy like they are today. They were a much better school then. 

To top it all off we drove there and back a few times with...get this...no cell phones.   

[brandon95]

That's when WTI only had a school in....guess where? That's right, Wyoming.

one of my buddys went to wyo tech in wyoming then 2 years latter a couple more went to wyo tech in sacramento. so i had to ask wouldnt that make it like sac tech or somthin? they didnt get it lol...
in my opinion the ones that went to wyo tech in sac came back dumber then when they left...

[brandon95]

...no cell phones.   

i dont see how yall managed back in the day... how did you meet up with frends? did you all just know where and when to show up some where? i asked my dad hey they did it but he still doesnt use his phone (leaves it in his truck turned off lol).

[Rocksurfer]

It was called pre-planing things, used to go hang out at a pool hall on Friday's with some friends. Everyone knew the when and where.

[fordh8r]

It was called pre-planing things, used to go hang out at a pool hall on Friday's with some friends. Everyone knew the when and where.

I can't tell you how many times I go places and purposely leave my phone behind. That's probably why kids can't remember these days cause they don't have to memorize anything, like phone numbers or addresses or even plans for that matter. It's all taken care of with some electronic device to hold their hand. Heck, someday they'll forget to wipe because some gadget will be doing that too...   The next trail fix will be having to change the battery in their cell phone.  I'm not raggin on the kids these days for the way their social habits are I just think it's funny that they believe we're the ones (old guys) that aren't the intuitive ones. I'm sure our parents thought very much the same about us. 

.....and they think it sucks to be old.  8)


Carry on...

[Hawk Thor]

My 4x4 club was building an extension to our hut. Since I didn´t have a rig at the time I agreed to drive an old Nissan Patrol pickup with a flatbed, the thing was loaded with sidewalk blocks, timber, hardware, galvanized roofing sheets and misc. items.

I went to the owners jobsite to get the truck. He showed me a 80´ something Patrol with a 3.3L NA diesel, 38X15.5 R15 Gumbo Mudders and the filthiest interior I´ve ever seen.

I had the thing loaded at the building supply store and started driving to the hut. I went alone, the others came the following day. I drove there, crossed the river and everything worked fine.

On the way back I was driving back over the river and the right front wheel caught a rock. As a result the tie rod broke from the TRE and I barely made it to the other side.

We thought about leaving the truck but then someone found some leftover concrete iron in the bed of his truck. We then welded the rod and link together with 2 batteries and some universal welding rod. They started by welding the rod and link together and then welded iron bars all the way around the rod and link. It held for the 3 hour drive home.

[Toymin8r]

...get this...no cell phones.   

Kids these days can't grasp that concept.  Do they even know what a phone booth is?  Heck back then all you had on the road was a CB radio.

[Rocksurfer]

...or a Call Box.

[fordh8r]

Kids these days can't grasp that concept.  Do they even know what a phone booth is? 

HAHA, really?! They probably thought it was just something you see in the movies. 

Heck back then all you had on the road was a CB radio.

Yeah, if you AND your friends could afford one. 

[Shamb]

I don't have many stories that I can think of personally but wheeling with the Rock Zombies up at the Con a few years back saw a guy weld a 9/16" wrench to his broken heim joint and the other end to the frame just to keep the link up "kinda"

doesn't get much ghetto'r then that..