MacGyver fixes

Kraut_n_Rice

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I know we used to have one.

With the season looming, rookies abound...let's start another to help peeps get home. Most think that once it's "broke" you hook up a strap. F'that, I will do everything I can to not suck dust back to camp.

What was the best MacGyver fix you pulled off in the dunes/dez that worked to get you back? Under your own power....

Something you didn't have spares for...
No going back to camp for a welder.
No rescue help
Had to use what was at hand to get you going.
Nonspecific shit from a friend's ride bag is OK. Cannibalism isn't.

GO!
 
One of my best ones was from my Honda TRX250R.

Fired up fine at home. Hauled out to the dez to ride. Wouldn't run for shit. ugh? Fiddle, fiddle, fiddle.? Next to no tools as we were just to be out for a bit by my bud's house. Pulled the top off the carb and the needle clip was MIA. Well, that will do it. No clip, not throttle. F! F! F!
,
Where to you find a needle clip in the middle of nowhere that is universal fit? The tab on the beer/soda can you brought....

I crossed my fingers hoping it would work. Boy did it. Like a charm. I rode it like that for years in G, totally forgetting about it...LOL

Lesson learned, always have an "extra" can tab around.
 
Bailing wire is my new duct tape. We've done quite a few repairs on my buddy's old ATC90 with wire. Especially on hot parts like pipes and silencers. Always keep a couple feet in my bag.
 
I had a "freeze plug" come out of a weber carb on my 2286 VW motor in the dunes, it was spewing gas out of the carb. Unscrewed a spare spark plug tip, smashed it a little bit with a hammer, then JB welded it into said orfice for a plug. This ended up up being a permanent fix.
 
Fuel pump relay got hot and melted on my buddies car and we were in the dunes behind Olds. Towing it would have sucked. I carry a few feet of #10 wire in my tool bag. I wired the fuel pump directly to the battery so he could drive it back to camp.
 
Three of us went up behind Lake Pleasant on our Quads/ Three Wheelers to a set of Indian ruins. We got to the ruins walked about had our lunch and start to head back. My buddy on a three-wheeler throws a chain. We go to put the chain back on and notice that the rear sprocket is toast. Come to find out it was brand new, reason why it was toast all but one of the bolts holding it on the hub are MIA. We then notice a six-foot piece of rusty barbed wire sitting there. Only tools we had were the stock tool kits from my Banshee and his three-wheeler. We unwound the wire, used the spark plug socket and a couple of rocks to cut the wire into small pieces. Wrapped it thru the wallowed-out bolt holes. It barely held but it held to the point where we could see the trucks.
 
Buddy wadded up his cr500 on Devils Gate in Moab. Sent his clutch basket through the cover.
Headed back to camp and pulled the clutch out of my cr500 and hauled ass back on another buddies bike and fixed his 500.
No one in our group had a pickup that could make it back to him.

Another Buddy punched a hole in his crank case on his 1hr old KTM 450. We were an hr or so from the trucks down some crazy moab single track.
2 guys head back to truck. Grab beers, fast set JB weld and some oil. Got him all patched up. He road it like that for 5 years.
 
Pretty sure everyone knows about starting fluid or gasoline to get a tire to set back on the bead.. I got a video somewhere of me doing it on my kids ranger 150
 
I have done a few MacGyvers in my time. Cut out the power wire to my whip to hot wire a friends fan on his buggy, used the honda Oddyssey as a tow truck for a quad to get out of the dunes by tieing it to the back of the cage, welded some wrenches to a broken frame to stitch it back together using jumper cables on a battery and welding rod, bought a can of beans from the store and dumped out the beans and used the can to patch an exhaust header, stuffed a dozen plugs in a paddle side wall to get it back to camp, Ziptied a sidewall together and shoved a tube in the tire to get back to camp.
 
So I posted one day about how I found a broken bolt on my receiver, and Screaming Ian says...

How the hell do you catch all this stuff??

I check Everything before I leave. On all my stuff. Fixing stuff in the driveway, a LOT easier than fixing it off road!

But for when shit does happen, I almost always wear this thing out riding. I've bailed lots of peeps out with tire plugs and CO2 cartridges.

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Pretty sure everyone knows about starting fluid or gasoline to get a tire to set back on the bead.. I got a video somewhere of me doing it on my kids ranger 150
Have done both to get cars out of the dunes. My buddies thought I was crazy when I suggested the gas, but it work like a charm!
 
I carry a lot of spare shit. Tools, jumper cables, tow strap, towels, tp, zip ties, clamps, spare CV, spare plugs and some generic hardware, bunch of other stuff. With rebuilding my car, I have a lot of extra spares now to sort through and see what I'll add to my trunk.

I did prerunning, pit and chase in Baja. I've seen some shit...I've done some shit. I hate getting stuck without a way out.

A couple impressive things I saw in Baja...Prerunning with Perry McNeil in Baja. He burnt his clutch. He freaking made on out of his Lexan side window and a leatherman. Stunk and smoked like a bitch but he made it out.

Another was a Blazer locked up the rear ring and pinion. We could not break it free so smashed the ring with a rock and put it in 4 wheel drive and got him out.

Welded a breaker bar together to make a new A arm on our race car...it oddly worked very well.
 
Fuel pump relay got hot and melted on my buddies car and we were in the dunes behind Olds. Towing it would have sucked. I carry a few feet of #10 wire in my tool bag. I wired the fuel pump directly to the battery so he could drive it back to camp.
I did exactly the same thing in Dumont, but the failure was the starter/fuel pump toggle switch on the dash that failed.
 
This is something I posted in DuneSafe a LONG time ago. I'm just gonna copy and paste it with no edits...


San Diego Off Road is a great magazine! You can find their web-site here: http://www.sandiegooffroad.com/ They recently featured a great article written by one of the guys at Rescue 3. You can find the their web site here: http://www.rescuethree.com/index.html DuneSafe felt is would be worth re-printing so we got permission from Kevin Shutt at Rescue 3 to re-print what he wrote. I hope you find it as informative as we did!

Basic survival tools

This month’s Safety Check will list some basic items that should be in every backpack or camelback. We’ve also included a few helpful tips about how to use those items, and a few items that are nice to have with you. Whenever you leave camp for a long ride, or a short one, you should always be prepared to spend a night alone in the desert. Even simple, local events such as poker runs or fun rides can sometimes leave a rider lost or broken down. As the sun goes down and the temperature drops, you could find yourself in real trouble if you’re not prepared.

Every desert rider should carry:

Water
- When half of your water is gone, turn around and head back to camp.
Waterproof matches - Know when it's safe to use them, and discuss the same with the kids.
Light stick with a string attached - When you hear a vehicle or a helicopter, activate the stick and swing it in a circle over your head.
Whistle - 3 quick blows on a whistle means you’re in trouble. You can whistle for a lot longer than you can yell, and it will carry much farther.
Space blanket - These come in very small packages and have multiple uses such as a rain guard or a sun shade, in addition to the main function of preventing hypothermia. They are also highly visible in daylight, from the ground and the air. Some blankets have survival tips printed on them.
Signal mirror - But not made of glass. Carry an old CD to use as a signal mirror.
High calorie food - A small bag of nuts, or protein bars. Carry a few of these so you can treat yourself to a snack on a long ride, but remember to replenish your supplies.
Cell phone - Make sure you have a freshly charged battery and the phone numbers of some friends in camp that can help you without launching a full search and rescue.

Items that are nice to have if you’ve got room in your backpack:

GPS
- small GPS units are available for around a hundred bucks, and you’ll be glad you have it if you need to call rescuers to a remote area.
Fire Ribbon - check with your local sporting goods store or camping website for a product called fire paste or fire ribbon. It comes in a squeeze tube and holds a flammable paste that provides quick, odorless fire starting without flare-up or splashing. This can really help to get a fire going in the cold, thin air of the desert. Remember that windy conditions are not ideal for safely managing a fire in the high desert.
Jacket - A brightly colored windbreaker can be used for warmth and signaling.
Tools - Carry the tool kit of your choice, and check it frequently as your needs may change. An extra spark plug and wrench, and a CO2 kit to refill tires, are a few simple items that can help others as well. Racers may want to carry a hack saw blade to cut off a flat tire if necessary. These take up very little room in a backpack, and can be used for many things out on the trail.
Bright colors - you may want to save your camouflaged riding gear for the track. In the desert, bright colors and flashing of mirrors or metal in the sun may be your only hope of being seen.

If you want to be seen make yourself visible. Climb to high ground, as near as possible to your bike or quad, and use your tools to help rescuers find you. Pass this information along to friends and riders who may be new to the desert.

The example that you set may save a life someday.
 
Came up on a couple of guys on dirt bikes flagging us down. One of them lost a motor. Took his bike and strapped it down to the back of the engine cage on my buggy and towed it out like a trailer.

@Deviantduner lost a rear hub/bearing/axle waaaay the F out there. MaxxTraxx for a "wheel" and another friend's pre-runner with a LOT of throttle got it out.

Typical dead transaxle/CV rescues where you remove axles and tow out.

Other typical dead/broken front corner where you put all the fat guys on the opposite rear corner and tie-down strap the suspension to full-bump.

Repaired broken tie-rod with a file, endwrench and hose-clamps. Take the file and cut a chamfer the width of the hose clamps on either side of the break. place end-wrench(s) across the break and use hoseclamps to hold it all together.

Saw someone lawn dart off of a huge dune and shear both tie-rod bolts in the steering rack. After calling in Life Flight for the driver (who was pretty hurt, but recovered), went to repair the buggy to get it out. Removed steering rack and bolted tie rods to steering rack holes in the chassis (no steering). Used turning brake to drive out of the dunes.
 
Here is a story from the old days for you.
Buddy welded his steering shaft onto the splines of the steering gear on his beam front end. NO UNIVERSAL JOINT. Kid took car out and smacked the left front and bent frame and beam back. We straightened the frame best we could, got it about 95% back in shape. Steering shaft was no longer straight and after a few turns the metal fatigued and broke. NO STEERING WHEEL.
We weren't ready to quit and wanted to go to comp hill and run. SO, we took motorcycle die down straps, one for left, and one for right. We hooked these where the tie rods attached to the spindle third arm, ran the Parrell with front beam around an upright between upper and lower side rails and back, one to right seat, one to drivers seat. Then we sat in car and when driver pulled his for left turn passenger would relax tension and opposite for right turn. "Rope steering". It worked so well we went down and raced other cars at the hill. Scared the crap out of those who saw what we were doing. Think there was some beer was involved.
 
Buddy broke a UCA on his sand car, only one side of the “V” (with the base of the V being at the spindle).
We duct taped a socket halfway inside the tube on one side of the break to sleeve the break, slid the other broken piece over the socket, and used a ratchet strap from spindle to frame to hold it together.
 
Broke a spring plate one side was bottomed out. Sent friend to olds comes back with piece of half burnt firewood lift car wedge it and strap it tight limped back sand hwy.
another at pismo broke tie rod heim. Strapped wheel tight to stay straight came back slow car steered enough to get back to camp.
 
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