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Best/wost cobble jobs

C

C.R.

Member
OK,we have all seen them , we have all dealt with em,we have even resorted to the quick and dirty repair job now lets hear about them the good the bad and yes,the fugly Im counting on you guys what have you all seen out there?
 
I don't know how long my grandpa used a bungee cord to keep his PTO lever engaged on his 1960 Ford 631. A twisted pto shaft tried to disengage it every time you used it. Nothing ugly, but this quick temporary repair lasted for a long, long time.

Kevin
 
just funnin.... but your spelling would be one of many!

I have seen cobbled up garbage that worked that AMAZED me. Pretty hard to knock what works regardless how it looks. this should be an interesting thread.
 
I'd say the best one is a tie, both done by myself. (Hope I'm not bragging too much!) The first was when I was on a National Guard weekend out in the field. The Sergeant Majors jeep was about out of gas and no one had brought out a nozzle for the gas cans. I knew there was an old pile of rubbish where we were so I looked though it and there was an old glass 2 liter bottle (remember those?). I was a mechanic at the time, so I had my tool box with me. I used a triangular file to etch a line around the bottle at the bottom, then I held it up to the exhaust of a generator to get the glass hot. then I poured some cold water on it and the bottom of the bottle broke off clean. Instant funnel to fill the jeep with gas!
The other one was that I used a small hose clamp to connect a broken link of square drive chain on a manure spreader. It held for two years until I quit using the spreader.
The worst cobble job I've ever seen was when someone tried to plumb a drain line in a house for a bathtub. They used ABS sealed with roofing tar. It was discovered when the pipes fell apart taking the kitchen ceiling with it.
 
As a very young boy, I saw my grandfather do something to a 4 cyl model A engine that kept it running for quite awhile. Something went wrong with one of the cylinders and he and my dad took the head off and pulled out the piston. I don't remember what else went on, just that they pulled out one of the pistons because my dad told me what it was and what it did. Then they(or just my grand dad, I don't remember) cut a piece of mesquite tree and shaved it until it was about the right size. Then they drove it into the block to block off that cylinder. They put everything back together and it ran like that(I remember it sounded really strange)For quite awhile. It"s use was to run a saw from one of the rear wheels to cut firewood.
 
Best cobble job was many years ago driving with a friend to his parent's cabin in the WI north woods at night. His heater core blew out. Rerouted one of the heater core hoses back into the engine with a bic lighter and a pair of rusty pliers found in his trunk. Had to wait many hours for a car to come by and luckily they had a cooler with water in it. That was early summer and he drove the car like that until winter. I remember because I froze my hands helping him put the new heater core in. Didn't blow a frost plug though, so I guess it was right in the nick of time.

Worst cobble job has to be my grandfather's PVC plumbing work in my house. Looks like something out of a Dr. Seuss book. It's been holding for at least 30 years so I guess it isn't really as bad as it looks.
 
A rubber band made from an inner-tube used to hold the shift lever in third gear on the 4-speed tranny on our hobby stock race car. It wasn't any fun trying to hook it back up on restarts. It is a really bad feeling when a tranny jumps out of gear when you let up on the gas for the corner. :eek:)
 
C.R. You should of ask when was the last time you used baleing wire to cobble something up to get by.
 
The bozo (another bozo, not me) that put in our new kitchen cabinets couldn't figure out how to hook up a sink drain, so he got a silicone p-trap and fastened it on with stainless steel worm gear hose clamps.
 
Years ago, I pulled a broken piston and rod out of a flat head ford motor from the oil pan.
Ran that old car for another 6 months.
I don't think I could get away with that with this new stuff now adays.
 
In my neighborhood, there used to be an old guy that many neighbors used as a handyman. I saw several instances where sink drains were plumbed in with a piece of flexible radiator hose. It worked till the sewer came to town and your plumbing had to pass inspection before you could hook up.
Tim in OR
 
Amazing what you can do when you have to.Going to a wedding in New Mexico one time and threw a fan belt in the middle of nowhere,didn't have a spare so made my wife pull off her pantyhose and tied 'em around the pulleys as tight as I could after twisting them into a tight strand.Drove on into the next town,about 30 miles and got a new belt.The pantyhose were still working when I cut'em off to install the new belt.
 
First hobby tractor I bought had a tire "fixed" with a piece of sheet metal bolted to the sidewall, where it had been cut. Dad used to talk about people filling flat car tires with oats in the war years, during rationing. Can"t understand how that would work, with no air.
 
My dad put wet wheat on a blown wheelbarrow tire.
Filled it the best he could squeezed a piece of old inner tube to help close hole in tire and wire stiched it shut. lasted several years.
 
People may laugh at you for that one But I saw that idea one time in "Popular Mechanics" and It got me home one time too.
 
Back in the early 70's when we had the big gasoline shortage , I had a VW beetle Had what I thought a bad starter. looking in J.C.Whitney they had a strap,that you could wrap around generator pulley to hand start it. I found an old Clinton wrap around rope pulley almost fit shaft on Gen. little resizing And
I had the perfect fix. I ran it all summer that way sure took a beating with the heckling about my B&S VW
Stupid part was as I was changing oil I found the little plug on wire broke at the spade, I fixed that, and starter was fine.
 
brother bought an old truck once for the body so didn't worry about the E&T. Drove it home and thought since it sounded so good for an old motor he'd sell it to help pay for his project. Down the road a few months, he had an extra valve cover gasket and decided to replace the seeping one on the motor he was going to sell. The thing was packed full of sawdust. Guess the person didn't know how to adjust the valves and wanted to quiet the chattering in order to sell it.

Dave
 
We had a '49 John Deere B that was the cultivator tractor. A lot of the cultivating got done in 3rd, and one year it got into the habit of jumping out of gear.

Dad just took a piece of 1x4 and whittled it down so I could jam it in the slot in the shift quadrant to hold it in gear and off we went. Once the corn got too tall to cultivate, he pulled the top off the tranny and fixed it.
 
Had a 50 dodge that spun a rod bearing, pulled pan and sanded crank and rod, got a leather tongue from an old shoes, soaked it in oil and put it in and it ran OK , no noise. Traded it in and saw it about a month later and it was banging big time. Don c
 
Fixed a leaky radiator on one of dads old tractors with a tube of Liquid Nails. That was in 1982. It's still holding.
 
Spent part of my career driving stagecoach. Midnight run, Des Moines to Minneapolis, north of Ames the throttle cable broke, would only idle. Get out the emergency supplies fron briefcase.
1-Remove 12 in square floor panel by rear seat.
2-Tie end of strapping tape( someone always
has a broken suitcase latch) to governor arm &
run it down the aisle, tie other end to
throttle pedal.
3-Place seat cushion over hole in floor to cut
down on engine noise. Replacing the cover
panel would pinch the tape.
4-Head for home.
5-Park at shop & write repair order.
6-Get "Atta Boy" from shop manager. Got
passengers to destination on schedule, saved
cost of sending replacement bus & 200 mile
towing of the disabled one.


Willie
 
Sod harvester run off of a hydraulic motor, joined to the motor by one of those double wide roller chains wrapped around the 2 sprockets. Chain master link lost the Jesus clip, and the flat link top swung open, and hung up on the frame of the affair. Solution was to twist the link top back into place, and wrap with a half roll of 'lectric tape, ran like that for 2 months, I think!
 
About 45 years ago, Dad and us boys were hauling 300 Xmas Trees from Northere WI down HWY 41 to the Milwaukee area in the middle of the nite in November.

Old Ford Flathead 8 wouldn"t stay running (rubber gas line/vacuum line? collapsed). In order to get us the last 20 miles home, I sat wedged in the engine compartment and fed gas to the carburetur from an old coffe can....the hood halfway open so Dad could see the road...

Can"t believe we did something like that to this day..

I would compare that stunt today to the guy I saw bushhogging a pasture with his little kid sitting on his lap!!!

Tim
 
gas line froze up in winter (pals had pee'd in the gas tank), were about 2 miles from home 2am closing time and didn't want to walk

lifted hood, pulled air cleaner, dangled into engine compartment and sprayed ether into carb while buddy #1 drove, buddy #2 stood on front bumper and called out the turns for buddy #1

took 2 cans of ether but we made it to the driveway laughing our heads off, engine pinged pretty good
 
Helped a buddy "fix" his 292 I6 engine in his Chevy PU. It was knocking horribly on one rod. Unbolted it and shoved the piston to the top of the cylinder and tack welded the rod to cylinder wall. He drove it that way for a year and sold it. I wonder how many spark plugs and wires the new owner put on trying to get rid of the miss that engine had.

Helped my neighbor work on his house this summer. The wiring was horrific. Knob and tube and modern spliced togather with no junction boxes and in some cases just twisted and taped (no wire nut). Once we got started we couldn't stop. He had lived there for 10 years without a clue it was so cobbled togather.
 
Helped an elderly neighbor haul in hay when I was about 15. He had me drive the truck, which I thought was odd, because I guess I just assumed he would do that. I soon learned the reason. It was about a '38 Ford Cabover- no cover over the old flathead V8, so its just crankin' out the heat (and noise), right beside me.

To top it off, the gas line had a leak, and he had rigged a tin can with a hook made out of baling wire, to hang so it would catch the dripping gas. One of my duties was to throw the accumulated gas out the window every once in awhile.

He wanted me back the next day, but I invented excuses for well into the foreseeable future.
 
'Had a wire cable linkage that unraveled on a Cessna 172 airplane I used to own. I had flown into my grass strip on the farm I owned about 100 miles from home. I found the bad cable on inspection when I was about to leave for home one evening. 'Absolutely NOTHING available to fix it with so I decided I could make a temporary fix by using baling wire. It worked and I made it home....praying all the way. I don't fly airplanes anymore.
 
I once heard a story of a person that had a M farmall and the carb float would stick and flood the engine. His solution was to tie a creasent wrench to a string and dangle it beside the carb. When driving the wrench would bang on the carb keeping the float free.
 
I Almost forgot about this one!!
One night I was driving back from downtown Pittsburgh in my Honda Civic.
The throttle cable broke. It was too late to find one and I had to go to work the next day.

I sat there for awhile thinking on what to do.
I had rear speakers not correctly wired in , so I took one of the wires and propped the hood open with the air cleaner, and by holding/resting my hand over the rear view mirror, I drove it home, and to work the next day.
 
Was on my way to meet a friend and go riding. Was driving the Dodge 3500. Was in the center lane pulling my big horse trailer and the throttle cable popped off (again). Had enough momentum to work my way over to the shoulder.

Got out, opened the hood, crawled up in the engine, and snapped it back in place. Got the duct tape from the trailer and taped over it so it wouldn't happen again. As far as I know the tape is still there and its been several years ago now.
 
One Sunday afternoon miles from nowhere the intank electric fuel pump quit. We drained the windshield washer tank and re-routed the the fuel line from whe windshield washer tank to the carb. Then we cut wire the fed the fuel pump because we didn't want to hit a bump and have it start up. We filled the WW tank with gas and kept it running by giving it a squirt every few seconds. We had fill the WW tank several times put it got us home.
 
When we drove anywhere in the Flat-head Fords, we always kept a half-inch open end wrench, and a bunch of one-quarter inch lock washers in the glove box. And also a pack of chewing gum.
those fords had a habit of the fuel pump push rod wearing off, and the thing wouldn't operate the fuel pump!
So, we'd unbolt the pump, chew up a stick of gum, then push it up into the pump operating mechanism, stick one or two lock washers up into the little cup, bolt it all back together, and we'd be good to go another couple hundred miles, or so! And yes, i am that old! 86.
 
When I replace belts, I ALWAYS keep the old one in the trunk or under truck seat in case I ever break one on the road. Next time I replace a belt I throw the oldest out and put the one just replaced back in the auto. My wife doesn't wear panty hose.
 
I was driving Dads Mack Dump truck one day and the throttle return spring broke and fell off. I found a old window weight in the floor board. I took some wire and attached it to the throttle arm and hung the weight over the supply pump. Made it home no trouble.
Ron
 
When you are poor enough you try anything. My buddy mike was on side of freeway with tie rod come loose. I pushed it back together and tied it good as possible with coat hanger. Told mike to drive as slow as possi ble and don't hit any bumps. Made it 10 miles until we could get a part. Do not try this at home(NEVER)or anywhere else.
 
That reminds me - we were in my brother's '33 plymouth, going to the swimming hole. Pulled into a general store driveway and a tie rod end dropped off. He took my other brother's tennis shoe strings and tied it back in place and we went merrily on our way.

Also have a friend who had a "wired in place" tie rod end on his Ford 5000 until I talked him into letting me fix it.
 
heres one of mine,I had an old Dodge and one time i was going someplace and the windsheild wipers quit well I had to see where I was goin,so I gou out my trusty hunk o baler twine and tied a hunk of the twine to each side and pulled on the strings to clean off the glass,aftermarket wiper delay?
 
The barn where I keep my horse had a worker who would fix EVERYTHING with duct tape. Hose spring a leak? Wrap it with 100 or so turns of duct tape. Golf cart throttle box break its rivets holding it to the frame? Another 50 wraps of duct tape. Electrical problem? twist the wires together and (you guessed it) duct tape.
 
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