Quick fixes/ emergency repairs/ jerry rigging/ inovations that will get you home.

[kentuckycucv]

Seems like we all run into the same problems with our vehicles. Here is something I came up with to keep my girlfriend from falling through the floor.

"The Ol' 2X4 under the seat trick".
I posted these pics in another thread and I thought I would see if any of you guys had some fixes for my future problems.

I do plan on replacing some sheet metal but its going to be a while. This seat bracket looks like it was made for a 2X4 to fit through. Was it designed that way or did I just get lucky?

 

[84cucv1009]

very nice
wood will never rust

 

[CCATLETT1984]

You got lucky dude

Get some sheetmetal its cheap and the sooner you do it the less you will have to replace.

 

[kennyw]

Do you care about the safety of your passengers? If it was only to get home, that's OK, but to leave it that way for a few years until you get around to patching up the sheetmetal is putting anyone who sits in that seat at serious risk during an accident. It would be very hard for a seat belt to restrain a person when the seat is no longer attached to the floor.

 

[kentuckycucv]

kennyw your such a party pooper.... Yes I am going to weld the sheet metal...
This forum is for quick fixes. I think the 2X4 is a pretty clever Idea. I hammered it in and it locked the seat in place. No more wiggling.

 

[doghead]

I know a joke about tieing a 2x4 to your A$$ !

 

[corelokt]

Here's something I've done in the distant past. Drive around and inspect your local road signs until you find the right size to fix your hole. Nothing says class like seeing "No Parking" when you put it up on a lift.

 

[kentuckycucv]

I have a 4ft X 8ft sheet of aluminum. Could I use that to fix my rotting floors?

 

[CCATLETT1984]

How thick is the aluminium? It would have to be 14ga. or thicker to support the weight, unless you can put ribs in it to strengthen it.

 

[Bobert]

You should put in some new seats. I had a similar hole. I just welded a plate over it and it seems to work.

I put new seats in mine and made my own brackets that seem just as sturdy or more so.

 

[kennyw]

kennyw your such a party pooper.... Yes I am going to weld the sheet metal...
This forum is for quick fixes. I think the 2X4 is a pretty clever Idea. I hammered it in and it locked the seat in place. No more wiggling.

After cutting up my old family Suburban I realized that 10 out of 12 body mounts were rusted out and no longer held the body onto the frame... I'm lucky I didn't get into an accident with that rig or my entire family (or whoever was riding in the rig at least) would no longer be here. I swore off rusty trucks after that, but it helps I don't live in the rust belt anymore too.

I tend to push things when I'm the only one in the vehicle and need to get home, but I wouldn't put my kids into a rig I've patched together with a 2 x 4 lumber.

 

[kentuckycucv]

I used another quick fix method I found from someone on here. I tried to replace the gasket in my leaky fuel pressure switch..did'nt work.
I didnt have time to sit around and wait for a new filter base to come in the mail. No part stores had them.... I needed to go deer hunting.
So I took the switch out , tapped the hole with a 1/4 tap and put a screw in the hole with lock tight. So far so good. No drips, no air leaks, no hard starts.

 

[kendelrio]

Not on my M/V, but I have a 69 Chevelle and was driving one day when the tranny linkage came apart. 1 bread tie later, I was on the way to O' Reilly.

 

[randyscycle]

I had an old Honda CB750 and the ignition switch died on the side of the road. I got home on $1.10.

The square plug of the ignition switch had four contacts in a square pattern, and using a dime, I jumpered the contacts so it would run, then wrapped a dollar bill around it for insulation to get home. Worked like a champ for about 15 miles or so back home.

 

[superburban]

OH BOY! I could keep this thread alive for years!

I had a 79 Toyota pickup back when I was single and living in squallor. I had just enough money to pay for the safety inspection, insurance and licensing. Problem was that the horn didn't work, and the tail light lense was busted open. I pulled the steering wheel and found that the brass brush in the the steering column was worn out. I dug around on the floor and found a spent .22 casing, slid it over the top of the brush, and reinstalleded the steering wheel. The horn worked great. For the light, I found a cereal bag in the trash that a big chunk of red printed on it. I cut a piece of it to fit over the lense, glued it on, and passed the safety inspection. Those fixes stayed that way for many years.

My brother was on a hunting trip with his friends, when the fuel pump on their jeep quit. They were miles away from civilization with very little along the lines of emergency tools, food, and clothing (they were dumb kids). In that part of Montana, you could wait for weeks for another living soul to come by, so they had to get themselves out. The Jeep would run if they kept the rpms down, but they got to a point where they needed to climb a fairly steep hill to get up on a road. Try as they might, they could not get it to stay running up the hill. They finally came up with an ingeneous procedure for getting up and onto the road. They took turns walking next to the Jeep huffing air into the gas tank! This created enough pressure to force the fuel through the lines for them to get the rpms needed to climb the hill and slowly drive home!

That same brother was driving "Pete", the 65 Chevy farm truck one day, when the steering wheel popped off in his hands. He grabbed hold of the stub and wrestled the truck to a quick stop. For some reason, he couldn't get the wheel to work, but as he was miles away in the country and didn't feel like walking home, he rumadged up a pipe wrench. He clamped it down on the steering shaft, and drove home using it a wheel.

I have so many more of these type stories that I could go on for pages! (But I wont)

 

[dependable]

To get a a old 1008, that I bought third hand and heavly plowed, though one more landscape season( and inspection), I fabricated rocker panel with copper flashing and riveits.( It is easy to work and make look right) Zinc works to and is cheeper, but harder to shape. Filled in gaps with water based cold patch roof cement. Spray with primer .

 

[docfarmall]

okay my turn as i was driving home from work one day when i grabed 3rd gear the shifter came off in my hand opps as always i had my trusty vice grips and went on my way course its hard to shift old ford four speeds with a pair of 5 inch vice grips

 

[kentuckycucv]

Great stories.... I was hoping you guys could tell me CUCV stories...

 

[kentuckycucv]

Finally I removed the 2x4 that was holding my passenger side seat up. I got a nice thick piece of galvanized steel that fit almost the whole floor area of the passenger side. I ground out the rust. Painted it, and drilled all the bolt holes in the new steel, glued it, bolted it, put the seat back in. made a bracket to hold the broken weld, and used sheet metal screws to secure the edges. No welding was done but it worked great. Oh I also glued plastic patches over the rust hloes so no water will get in between my new metal and old metel.

 

[12vctd]

Thou not a CUCV on my last trip in the great sand box, about 10 clicks across the boarder I blew a hose on my M1114, and we fixed it enough to keep moving with some 100 mille hour tape, a foil and plastic wraper off a MRE and 3 sticks, later on same deployment some 550 cord was used to keep us moving after breaking the belt.