From Dave Helton, an interesting tale of improvisational expertise.
Just as an aside, an ubobtrusive corner of rubber floor mat could have also been used. Maybe next time. ALSO, Dave mentions a sage bit of wisdom--"Nothing ever breaks down when the parts stores are open."
Words to live by, my friends.
(It also goes well with, "Everything I have is either too short, or broken.")
Posted by Terry Oglesby at July 26, 2005 11:14 AMUnfortunately my truck lacks rubber floor mats, which is why we resorted to the oil bottle.
Posted by: DaveH at July 26, 2005 12:25 PMNice call by Dave, although I would have thought it would have been too inelastic to be effective. I've used oil bottle material as a patch for the tie-rod on my '48 Farmall (keeps the worn ball joint from falling out of the socket).
Posted by: BillW at July 26, 2005 12:45 PMVery true, Dave--it's hard to make brick without straw. Or a rubber seal without rubber.
And Bill's just showing off!
Funny you should mention tie rods though.
Back in June when I was raking hay, I had one come off on the Deutz out in the middle of the field. The castle nut is still out there somewhere, waiting to be found by some future relic hunter no doubt.
Anyway, I was able to make a field repair by use of a rusty nail that I bent into a "U" shape with my handy-dandy pliers and a big honkin' washer that just happened to (barely) fit the tie rod.
Seemed to work pretty well... so well in fact, that I haven't even bothered to replace it with a castle nut and cotter pin.
Which leads us to the Law of Leftover Parts: "If it works without it, you must not have needed it in the first place."
Posted by: Terry Oglesby at July 26, 2005 01:38 PM