My friend and I went up to the forest to cut firewood today.

We were about 25 miles from the nearest town, and nine miles up a bumpy
gravel forest service road when we heard a dragging noise from under the
truck. I thought it was a tree branch stuck under the truck.

My friend got out and looked under the truck, then got a look of worry on
his face. He said; "We are [expletive deleted]! The tie rod end on the
left front wheel is broken off!" (This connects the front two wheels so
they both point the same direction when you turn the steering wheel.)

One front wheel was pointing to the left and the other to the right. Not a
good situation to be in, especially out in the middle of nowhere.

So then we got on the CB and tried the emergency channel. No luck. Then
tried every other channel for 1/2 hour. No luck. We were too far up in the
mountains for anyone to receive our signal.

Then my friend got an idea. He used the jack to snap the tie rod back in
place. I then tried turning the truck around. It snapped back out of
place...

So then we just sat there for a while. Then my friend got another idea. He
removed his shoe lace and said let's use this to tie it in place.

So we did just that. Used the jack to snap the tie rod back in place, then
held it there with the shoe lace wrapped many times around and tied (long
shoe lace).

Then I proceeded to "back up and go forward" about 15 times to slowly turn
the truck around (being careful to not turn the steering wheel very much).
Eventually I got the truck pointed to go back down the road.

Then we drove very slowly all the way down that forest service road (9
miles) to a main road where we were able to get someone to call a tow truck
for us.

So my clever friend and his "shoe lace" got us home!

"Bill" wrote in
:

My friend and I went up to the forest to cut firewood today.

We were about 25 miles from the nearest town, and nine miles up a bumpy
gravel forest service road when we heard a dragging noise from under the
truck. I thought it was a tree branch stuck under the truck.

My friend got out and looked under the truck, then got a look of worry
on his face. He said; "We are [expletive deleted]! The tie rod end on
the left front wheel is broken off!" (This connects the front two
wheels so they both point the same direction when you turn the steering
wheel.)

One front wheel was pointing to the left and the other to the right. Not
a good situation to be in, especially out in the middle of nowhere.

So then we got on the CB and tried the emergency channel. No luck. Then
tried every other channel for 1/2 hour. No luck. We were too far up in
the mountains for anyone to receive our signal.

Then my friend got an idea. He used the jack to snap the tie rod back in
place. I then tried turning the truck around. It snapped back out of
place...

So then we just sat there for a while. Then my friend got another idea.
He removed his shoe lace and said let's use this to tie it in place.

So we did just that. Used the jack to snap the tie rod back in place,
then held it there with the shoe lace wrapped many times around and tied
(long shoe lace).

Then I proceeded to "back up and go forward" about 15 times to slowly
turn the truck around (being careful to not turn the steering wheel very
much). Eventually I got the truck pointed to go back down the road.

Then we drove very slowly all the way down that forest service road (9
miles) to a main road where we were able to get someone to call a tow
truck for us.

So my clever friend and his "shoe lace" got us home!

A bungee did this for me so well I was almost tempted to forget about
replacing the tie rod end.

Thank you for not coming up with the idea that one of you would hold it in
place while the other drove slowly. Funny, but a few with lower IQs than
you have been hurt/killed doing similar things!

Nice to hear it worked!

"Bill" wrote in message
...
My friend and I went up to the forest to cut firewood today.

We were about 25 miles from the nearest town, and nine miles up a bumpy
gravel forest service road when we heard a dragging noise from under the
truck. I thought it was a tree branch stuck under the truck.

My friend got out and looked under the truck, then got a look of worry on
his face. He said; "We are [expletive deleted]! The tie rod end on the
left front wheel is broken off!" (This connects the front two wheels so
they both point the same direction when you turn the steering wheel.)

One front wheel was pointing to the left and the other to the right. Not a
good situation to be in, especially out in the middle of nowhere.

So then we got on the CB and tried the emergency channel. No luck. Then
tried every other channel for 1/2 hour. No luck. We were too far up in the
mountains for anyone to receive our signal.

Then my friend got an idea. He used the jack to snap the tie rod back in
place. I then tried turning the truck around. It snapped back out of
place...

So then we just sat there for a while. Then my friend got another idea. He
removed his shoe lace and said let's use this to tie it in place.

So we did just that. Used the jack to snap the tie rod back in place, then
held it there with the shoe lace wrapped many times around and tied (long
shoe lace).

Then I proceeded to "back up and go forward" about 15 times to slowly turn
the truck around (being careful to not turn the steering wheel very much).
Eventually I got the truck pointed to go back down the road.

Then we drove very slowly all the way down that forest service road (9
miles) to a main road where we were able to get someone to call a tow
truck
for us.

So my clever friend and his "shoe lace" got us home!

Bill wrote:
My friend and I went up to the forest to cut firewood today.

We were about 25 miles from the nearest town, and nine miles up a bumpy
gravel forest service road when we heard a dragging noise from under the
truck. I thought it was a tree branch stuck under the truck.

My friend got out and looked under the truck, then got a look of worry on
his face. He said; "We are [expletive deleted]! The tie rod end on the
left front wheel is broken off!" (This connects the front two wheels so
they both point the same direction when you turn the steering wheel.)

One front wheel was pointing to the left and the other to the right. Not a
good situation to be in, especially out in the middle of nowhere.

So then we got on the CB and tried the emergency channel. No luck. Then
tried every other channel for 1/2 hour. No luck. We were too far up in the
mountains for anyone to receive our signal.

Then my friend got an idea. He used the jack to snap the tie rod back in
place. I then tried turning the truck around. It snapped back out of
place...

So then we just sat there for a while. Then my friend got another idea. He
removed his shoe lace and said let's use this to tie it in place.

So we did just that. Used the jack to snap the tie rod back in place, then
held it there with the shoe lace wrapped many times around and tied (long
shoe lace).

Then I proceeded to "back up and go forward" about 15 times to slowly turn
the truck around (being careful to not turn the steering wheel very much).
Eventually I got the truck pointed to go back down the road.

Then we drove very slowly all the way down that forest service road (9
miles) to a main road where we were able to get someone to call a tow truck
for us.

So my clever friend and his "shoe lace" got us home!


Hi,
Wondering how old the truck is and ever do regular maintenance on it?
Tony

Hmmmmmm. Tom

Bill, 10/6/2005,10:43:55 PM, wrote:

My friend and I went up to the forest to cut firewood today.

We were about 25 miles from the nearest town, and nine miles up a
bumpy gravel forest service road when we heard a dragging noise from
under the truck. I thought it was a tree branch stuck under the truck.

My friend got out and looked under the truck, then got a look of
worry on his face. He said; "We are [expletive deleted]! The tie
rod end on the left front wheel is broken off!" (This connects the
front two wheels so they both point the same direction when you turn
the steering wheel.)

One front wheel was pointing to the left and the other to the right.
Not a good situation to be in, especially out in the middle of
nowhere.

So then we got on the CB and tried the emergency channel. No luck.
Then tried every other channel for 1/2 hour. No luck. We were too far
up in the mountains for anyone to receive our signal.

Then my friend got an idea. He used the jack to snap the tie rod back
in place. I then tried turning the truck around. It snapped back out
of place...

So then we just sat there for a while. Then my friend got another
idea. He removed his shoe lace and said let's use this to tie it in
place.

So we did just that. Used the jack to snap the tie rod back in place,
then held it there with the shoe lace wrapped many times around and
tied (long shoe lace).

Then I proceeded to "back up and go forward" about 15 times to slowly
turn the truck around (being careful to not turn the steering wheel
very much). Eventually I got the truck pointed to go back down the
road.

Then we drove very slowly all the way down that forest service road
(9 miles) to a main road where we were able to get someone to call a
tow truck for us.

So my clever friend and his "shoe lace" got us home!

Sounds like a Ford!!! Falls apart with no warning and held together
with shoelaces.

--
"The only time my prayers are never answered is on the golf course." --
Billy Graham

"Tony Hwang" wrote in message
news:WFl1f.111979$tl2.34614@pd7tw3no...
Bill wrote:
My friend and I went up to the forest to cut firewood today.

We were about 25 miles from the nearest town, and nine miles up a bumpy
gravel forest service road when we heard a dragging noise from under the
truck. I thought it was a tree branch stuck under the truck.

My friend got out and looked under the truck, then got a look of worry
on
his face. He said; "We are [expletive deleted]! The tie rod end on the
left front wheel is broken off!" (This connects the front two wheels so
they both point the same direction when you turn the steering wheel.)

One front wheel was pointing to the left and the other to the right. Not
a
good situation to be in, especially out in the middle of nowhere.

So then we got on the CB and tried the emergency channel. No luck. Then
tried every other channel for 1/2 hour. No luck. We were too far up in
the
mountains for anyone to receive our signal.

Then my friend got an idea. He used the jack to snap the tie rod back in
place. I then tried turning the truck around. It snapped back out of
place...

So then we just sat there for a while. Then my friend got another idea.
He
removed his shoe lace and said let's use this to tie it in place.

So we did just that. Used the jack to snap the tie rod back in place,
then
held it there with the shoe lace wrapped many times around and tied
(long
shoe lace).

Then I proceeded to "back up and go forward" about 15 times to slowly
turn
the truck around (being careful to not turn the steering wheel very
much).
Eventually I got the truck pointed to go back down the road.

Then we drove very slowly all the way down that forest service road (9
miles) to a main road where we were able to get someone to call a tow
truck
for us.

So my clever friend and his "shoe lace" got us home!


Hi,
Wondering how old the truck is and ever do regular maintenance on it?
Tony


I was thinking along those same lines while reading the OP.
Amazing that anyone should still be driving a vehicle without doing regular
maintenance and would not have repaired a worn tie rod long before it fell
off.

I'm going to file this one along with the posts about people who never check
their furnaces then post here asking for help that it does not work and the
temp is now -40 degrees in the house. Or those that post that their bathtubs
just fell through the rotted out floor after water was leaking through a
wall for the last decade.


AMUN

So we did just that. Used the jack to snap the tie rod back in place, then
held it there with the shoe lace wrapped many times around and tied (long
shoe lace).

I held temporarily held a muffler up in my vette when a bolt for the
hanger fell out and was lost. I used dental floss!!!! It's incredibly
strong. Held in normal driving for 20 miles until I could get home.

"Tony Hwang" wrote in message

Wondering how old the truck is and ever do regular maintenance on it?


It is an 81 with probably over 500,000 miles on it. I try to keep it in good
operating order. (Has recently rebuilt engine, etc.) Actually I was just
about to take it into the shop to have the front end worked on....

Larry Bud wrote:
So we did just that. Used the jack to snap the tie rod back in place, then
held it there with the shoe lace wrapped many times around and tied (long
shoe lace).


I held temporarily held a muffler up in my vette when a bolt for the
hanger fell out and was lost. I used dental floss!!!! It's incredibly
strong. Held in normal driving for 20 miles until I could get home.


We used to call things like that works doughnuts ("Works, don't it?).
In my days as a provider of roadside assistance on the toll road I was fond of
using hose clamps and Quaker State oil cans (which were still made of metal at
that time) as exhaust pipe repair parts. Duro made an epoxy putty that came as
a blue strip next to a yellow strip (mix until smooth green) which could patch
small holes in gas tanks. One of my fellow workers claimed to have used a
woman's panty hose as a fan-belt but I think that was a tall story because we
got extra credit for selling belts and hoses even if it meant an extra trip back
to the service station to get the necessary part. But no one could do anything
with the kid who had borrowed his holder brother's muscle car and had it break
down. When Greg got there the kid was holding a piece of connecting rod and he
said "This fell out of the bottom. Can you put it back?" Greg took the air
cleaner cover off and made a show of trying to put it back down through the
carburetor. Then he called the tow truck.

--
"Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital.
Capital is the fruit of labor and could not exist
if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior
of capital and deserves much the higher consideration."
Abraham Lincoln

I think it is a brilliant post... Bill... ignore the judgemental
jackasses who feel the need to constantly lecture those of us who don't
worship the God of preventive mainenance..

Hey.. when it breaks I fix it... It works for me.. .life is a little
more fun that way.

"Bill" wrote in
:


So we did just that. Used the jack to snap the tie rod back in place,
then held it there with the shoe lace wrapped many times around and
tied (long shoe lace).

Hope that was a factory shoelace! Otherwise it might void the warranty.

My Father-in-law always said, "God could forgive a thief, but never a
teller of tall tales." These tales appear very tall.
JD

On Fri, 07 Oct 2005 03:09:42 GMT, Tony Hwang wrote:

Hi,
Wondering how old the truck is and ever do regular maintenance on it?

Yeah, Tony, because **** never just, you know, breaks, regardless of how
it's maintained, is that it?

One front wheel was pointing to the left and the other to the right.
Not a good situation to be in, especially out in the middle of
nowhere.

Perhaps all the rattling and slop in the front end before it came apart
should have been a hint as to what was coming.

wrote:
My Father-in-law always said, "God could forgive a thief, but never a
teller of tall tales." These tales appear very tall.
JD

I'd be more skeptical of anyone who claims to know what God will or
won't forgive than of someone who says they drove a few miles with a tie
rod held in place by a shoelace. Who would make up such a story? The
forces on a tie rod aren't exceptional with gentle driving.

I believe the story especially in light of memories of cars I
semi-maintained in my college days. I'm probably the only person to ever
to put a Willies flat head jeep engine and transmission into an Austin
Healey Sprite and did it in the dorm parking lot. It cost me $30
including the wrecked jeep. I made the brackets in the physics
department machine shop. Drove it for nearly a year afterwards.

Hi,
Wondering how old the truck is and ever do regular maintenance on it?

Yeah, Tony, because **** never just, you know, breaks, regardless of how
it's maintained, is that it?

Why do you even talk to these people?

Louis Boyd wrote:
wrote:
My Father-in-law always said, "God could forgive a thief, but never a
teller of tall tales." These tales appear very tall.
JD

I'd be more skeptical of anyone who claims to know what God will or
won't forgive than of someone who says they drove a few miles with a
tie rod held in place by a shoelace.

Then you should be quite skeptical of the present US administration.

On Fri, 07 Oct 2005 11:10:38 -0400, Goedjn wrote:

Hi,
Wondering how old the truck is and ever do regular maintenance on it?

Yeah, Tony, because **** never just, you know, breaks, regardless of how
it's maintained, is that it?

Why do you even talk to these people?

Well, I guess in this case to somewhat give him a "**** off" message,
and somewhat to express some sort of support for the guy who came up
with a damn good solution to a problem, on the fly, and sharing it with
us.

In article ,
Sheldon Harper wrote:

Then we drove very slowly all the way down that forest service road (9
miles) to a main road where we were able to get someone to call a tow
truck for us.

So my clever friend and his "shoe lace" got us home!

A bungee did this for me so well I was almost tempted to forget about
replacing the tie rod end.

Actually the caster will keep the wheel in the right direction if you
drive forward slowly. I have done it with a farm tractor and a 66
Chrysler.

More than a shoe lace: One weekend while garage sale shopping my VW
didn't want to go after a stop sign. The guy behind drove alongside and
told me my engine had fallen out! Sure enough, the engine was laying on
the pavement, still connected but unable to shift because the linkage
was shifted. I got a couple of logs from the nearby creek and levered
the engine back up and tied it into place with some rope I had in the
car, steel cored so it was strong. Drove the car 30 miles home then 20
miles to a repair shop on Monday.

--
Free men own guns, slaves don't
www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/5357/

"Bill" wrote:
...Then my friend got an idea. He used the jack to snap the tie rod back in
place. I then tried turning the truck around. It snapped back out of
place...

So then we just sat there for a while. Then my friend got another idea. He
removed his shoe lace and said let's use this to tie it in place.

So we did just that. Used the jack to snap the tie rod back in place, then
held it there with the shoe lace wrapped many times around and tied (long
shoe lace).

What, you weren't carrying a roll of baling wire in the bed toolbox? Kids these
days :-)

Nice kludge :-

"Nick Hull" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Sheldon Harper wrote:

Then we drove very slowly all the way down that forest
service road (9
miles) to a main road where we were able to get
someone to call a tow
truck for us.

So my clever friend and his "shoe lace" got us home!

A bungee did this for me so well I was almost tempted to
forget about
replacing the tie rod end.

Actually the caster will keep the wheel in the right
direction if you
drive forward slowly. I have done it with a farm tractor
and a 66
Chrysler.

More than a shoe lace: One weekend while garage sale
shopping my VW
didn't want to go after a stop sign. The guy behind drove
alongside and
told me my engine had fallen out! Sure enough, the engine
was laying on
the pavement, still connected but unable to shift because
the linkage
was shifted. I got a couple of logs from the nearby creek
and levered
the engine back up and tied it into place with some rope I
had in the
car, steel cored so it was strong. Drove the car 30 miles
home then 20
miles to a repair shop on Monday.

once, while I was piloting my spaceship (an old galactica
IV, ionic impaction engine still purring away!) about 5.3
parsecs from namola stalartica, . . .

I'm wondering that if you drove it backwards and steered with the one
good wheel, if the wheel with the broken tie rod would caster itself
into place...

but on a rocky dirt road, who knows?

Mark

Gil Faver wrote:
"Nick Hull" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Sheldon Harper wrote:

Then we drove very slowly all the way down that forest
service road (9
miles) to a main road where we were able to get
someone to call a tow
truck for us.

So my clever friend and his "shoe lace" got us home!

A bungee did this for me so well I was almost tempted to
forget about
replacing the tie rod end.

Actually the caster will keep the wheel in the right
direction if you
drive forward slowly. I have done it with a farm tractor
and a 66
Chrysler.

More than a shoe lace: One weekend while garage sale
shopping my VW
didn't want to go after a stop sign. The guy behind drove
alongside and
told me my engine had fallen out! Sure enough, the engine
was laying on
the pavement, still connected but unable to shift because
the linkage
was shifted. I got a couple of logs from the nearby creek
and levered
the engine back up and tied it into place with some rope I
had in the
car, steel cored so it was strong. Drove the car 30 miles
home then 20
miles to a repair shop on Monday.

once, while I was piloting my spaceship (an old galactica
IV, ionic impaction engine still purring away!) about 5.3
parsecs from namola stalartica, . . .


You had spaceships? In our day................

I got a couple of logs from the nearby creek and levered
the engine back up and tied it into place with some rope I had in the
car, steel cored so it was strong. Drove the car 30 miles home then 20
miles to a repair shop on Monday.

Ford Escort GT, Mt. Washington, overheating on the way up, no electric
fan for some reason, used a paperclip to short the fan temperature
sensor wiring harness to fix that.

On 7 Oct 2005 10:15:51 -0700, wrote:
I got a couple of logs from the nearby creek and levered
the engine back up and tied it into place with some rope I had in the
car, steel cored so it was strong. Drove the car 30 miles home then 20
miles to a repair shop on Monday.

Ford Escort GT, Mt. Washington, overheating on the way up, no electric
fan for some reason, used a paperclip to short the fan temperature
sensor wiring harness to fix that.

Chevy econobox, along side the road with pretty girl standing along side,
between Omaha and Kansas City, middle of nowhere. "It just stopped all
of the sudden". A bit of investigation showed no spark, which I traced
to the rotor having come apart in the distributor. The rotor had a
springy copper tab for the contact, held in place by molten plastic
pushed up through holes in the tab. This plastic had sheared off,
leaving the rotor to spin with no electrical contact to the wires.

So, I had my full toolkit with me, including some 1/8" sheet metal
self-tapping screws (nice for joining ductwork). Pre-drilled two holes
where the tab had been held to the rotor, explained that if this went
bad, I could destroy her distributor for her, and then screwed the tab
to the plastic body of the rotor. Started right up, ran fine. I
followed her to her exit without incident.

So, a couple screws overcame a serious GM engineering defect.
But, it made a pretty girl's day much less unhappy, and made my drive
from Denver to Wisconsin seem a bit shorter that time.

Per MrC1:
Thank you for not coming up with the idea that one of you would hold it in
place while the other drove slowly. Funny, but a few with lower IQs than
you have been hurt/killed doing similar things!

When I was *very* young, the fuel pump on my beater went.

I recall laying on the left front fender, feet on the bumper, sort of bracing
myself with my left hand, with the hood up, dribbling gasoline into the
carburetor while my bud drove us through the back streets of Waikiki with his
head sticking out of the drivers side window like the engineer on a train.
--
PeteCresswell

Dave Hinz writes:

On 7 Oct 2005 10:15:51 -0700, wrote:
I got a couple of logs from the nearby creek and levered
the engine back up and tied it into place with some rope I had in the
car, steel cored so it was strong. Drove the car 30 miles home then 20
miles to a repair shop on Monday.

Ford Escort GT, Mt. Washington, overheating on the way up, no electric
fan for some reason, used a paperclip to short the fan temperature
sensor wiring harness to fix that.

Chevy econobox, along side the road with pretty girl standing along side,
between Omaha and Kansas City, middle of nowhere. "It just stopped all
of the sudden". A bit of investigation showed no spark, which I traced
to the rotor having come apart in the distributor.

This thread is giving me deja vu.

Corvair on East Side Highway, Manhattan.
Spring had come off the vacuum advance weights inside the distributor.
The vacuum advance weights then rubbed on the inside of the metal
base of the distributor and sliced the entire top of the distributor
off. When I saw it, it was just hanging there buy the ignition wires.

Put the whole thing back in place and wrapped some of that wire they
use for rebar around the distributor and the base.

Drove back to the Bronx and fixed it there with junkyard parts.

On Thu, 6 Oct 2005 19:43:55 -0700, "Bill"
wrote:

My friend and I went up to the forest to cut firewood today.

We were about 25 miles from the nearest town, and nine miles up a bumpy
gravel forest service road when we heard a dragging noise from under the
truck. I thought it was a tree branch stuck under the truck.

My friend got out and looked under the truck, then got a look of worry on
his face. He said; "We are [expletive deleted]! The tie rod end on the
left front wheel is broken off!" (This connects the front two wheels so
they both point the same direction when you turn the steering wheel.)

So then we just sat there for a while. Then my friend got another idea. He
removed his shoe lace and said let's use this to tie it in place.

Heh! whatever it takes. I've gotten out of the woods on my dirt bike
after breaking a chain and using all my masterlinks by cutting the
clutch cable and wiring the chain back together with the high strength
wire.

Two things that go in the emergency kit are duct tape and mechanic's
wire. This is soft iron wire that is strong but easy to bend. I've
made everything from a fanbelt to an alternator bracket to suspension
parts with the stuff. Fashion the wire in the shape you want and use
the duct tape to hold it in place if necessary.

You might also consider carrying an improvised welder in your kit if
you're out in the woods like that. All you need is some gas welding
filler rod, a long set of jumper cables and a carbon rod that you get
from the welding supply place. You use your car battery as the power
source. 12 volts isn't enough to keep a stick welding arc going but
it will run a carbon arc. You use the carbon arc just like an
acetylene torch or TIG and use the filler rod to fill the joint.

That and a few random pieces of metal stock and you can fix almost
anything. In your situation (BTDT), I'd have taken a hunk of angle
and welded a bracket to the control arm to hold the ball in place.
Strong enough to get you out but easy to remove for the permanent fix.

If you carry a second battery, for in case you run the other one down
after flooding or drowning the engine, you can hook the two in series
for welding and use ordinary AC or DC sticks. Lots of the guys I
off-road with do that. They carry the long jumpers and a third jumper
suitable for running from the spare battery to the cranking battery.

John
---
John De Armond
See my website for my current email address
http://www.johngsbbq.com
Cleveland, Occupied TN

On Fri, 07 Oct 2005 10:48:51 -0700, "(PeteCresswell)"
wrote:

Per MrC1:
Thank you for not coming up with the idea that one of you would hold it in
place while the other drove slowly. Funny, but a few with lower IQs than
you have been hurt/killed doing similar things!

When I was *very* young, the fuel pump on my beater went.

I recall laying on the left front fender, feet on the bumper, sort of bracing
myself with my left hand, with the hood up, dribbling gasoline into the
carburetor while my bud drove us through the back streets of Waikiki with his
head sticking out of the drivers side window like the engineer on a train.

Something similar. I had the throttle cable break on my 280Z. After
tossing an old moving pad across the engine, I had my bud straddle the
engine (rear opening hood) and operate the throttle while I drove.

That actually worked well. He could watch traffic and know when to
change speeds, usually. We had to verbally coordinate shifting but
that wasn't hard. If I'd gotten scared, I was prepared to stab the
clutch and the ignition switch until we got our signals coordinated
again.

John
---
John De Armond
See my website for my current email address
http://www.johngsbbq.com
Cleveland, Occupied TN

On Fri, 7 Oct 2005 08:08:09 -0400, "Amun"
wrote:


Hi,
Wondering how old the truck is and ever do regular maintenance on it?
Tony


I was thinking along those same lines while reading the OP.
Amazing that anyone should still be driving a vehicle without doing regular
maintenance and would not have repaired a worn tie rod long before it fell
off.

Always the sideline quarterbacks who say stuff like this. FYI, a
beater or farm truck is just that - an old truck that one has nothing
invested in that he beats around the woods in, hauling rocks, hay,
feed, firewood and the like. Maintenance consists of fixing stuff when
it breaks, and then only enough to keep it running.

Only a fool would spend the money to say, rebuild the front end, when
the whole truck might be worth $100 and could be replaced for another
$100. Fix what breaks and use the thing til too many things break too
often, then drop it off at the wrecking yard and find another one.

John
---
John De Armond
See my website for my current email address
http://www.johngsbbq.com
Cleveland, Occupied TN

I remember swapping outhte engine of my 72 campervan on the side of I80 one
afternoon..... Cops stopped by a couple times to make sure I was OK, but
pretty much let me be.

--JD




"Nick Hull" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Sheldon Harper wrote:

Then we drove very slowly all the way down that forest service road (9
miles) to a main road where we were able to get someone to call a tow
truck for us.

So my clever friend and his "shoe lace" got us home!

A bungee did this for me so well I was almost tempted to forget about
replacing the tie rod end.

Actually the caster will keep the wheel in the right direction if you
drive forward slowly. I have done it with a farm tractor and a 66
Chrysler.

More than a shoe lace: One weekend while garage sale shopping my VW
didn't want to go after a stop sign. The guy behind drove alongside and
told me my engine had fallen out! Sure enough, the engine was laying on
the pavement, still connected but unable to shift because the linkage
was shifted. I got a couple of logs from the nearby creek and levered
the engine back up and tied it into place with some rope I had in the
car, steel cored so it was strong. Drove the car 30 miles home then 20
miles to a repair shop on Monday.

--
Free men own guns, slaves don't
www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/5357/

Something similar. I had the throttle cable break on my 280Z. After
tossing an old moving pad across the engine, I had my bud straddle the
engine (rear opening hood) and operate the throttle while I drove.

That actually worked well. He could watch traffic and know when to
change speeds, usually. We had to verbally coordinate shifting but
that wasn't hard. If I'd gotten scared, I was prepared to stab the
clutch and the ignition switch until we got our signals coordinated
again.

That's another applicatiuon where shoelace comes in handy.

On Fri, 7 Oct 2005 16:13:31 -0400, jd wrote:
I remember swapping outhte engine of my 72 campervan on the side of I80 one
afternoon..... Cops stopped by a couple times to make sure I was OK, but
pretty much let me be.

Nobody stopped to help?

Dave Hinz wrote:
On 7 Oct 2005 10:15:51 -0700, wrote:

I got a couple of logs from the nearby creek and levered
the engine back up and tied it into place with some rope I had in the
car, steel cored so it was strong. Drove the car 30 miles home then 20
miles to a repair shop on Monday.

Ford Escort GT, Mt. Washington, overheating on the way up, no electric
fan for some reason, used a paperclip to short the fan temperature
sensor wiring harness to fix that.


Chevy econobox, along side the road with pretty girl standing along side,
between Omaha and Kansas City, middle of nowhere. "It just stopped all
of the sudden". A bit of investigation showed no spark, which I traced
to the rotor having come apart in the distributor. The rotor had a
springy copper tab for the contact, held in place by molten plastic
pushed up through holes in the tab. This plastic had sheared off,
leaving the rotor to spin with no electrical contact to the wires.

So, I had my full toolkit with me, including some 1/8" sheet metal
self-tapping screws (nice for joining ductwork). Pre-drilled two holes
where the tab had been held to the rotor, explained that if this went
bad, I could destroy her distributor for her, and then screwed the tab
to the plastic body of the rotor. Started right up, ran fine. I
followed her to her exit without incident.

So, a couple screws overcame a serious GM engineering defect.
But, it made a pretty girl's day much less unhappy, and made my drive
from Denver to Wisconsin seem a bit shorter that time.


The things that auto manufacturers would do to save a nickel because a nickel
times all those cars added up included:
Fords built in the early 70's had cheap plastic cam contacts on the points which
were glued to the movable arm.
Pontiac made an engine with fiber reinforced plastic teeth on the timing gear
and they would break at about 35K miles.

--
"Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital.
Capital is the fruit of labor and could not exist
if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior
of capital and deserves much the higher consideration."
Abraham Lincoln

Dave Hinz wrote:
On Fri, 7 Oct 2005 16:13:31 -0400, jd wrote:

I remember swapping outhte engine of my 72 campervan on the side of I80 one
afternoon..... Cops stopped by a couple times to make sure I was OK, but
pretty much let me be.


Nobody stopped to help?


Probably didn't have a skirt on )

So, a couple screws overcame a serious GM engineering defect.
But, it made a pretty girl's day much less unhappy

It's amazing what one can do when properly inspired.

For a couple of screws on the side of a highway I could try to fix
anything.

On 7 Oct 2005 14:04:23 -0700, wrote:
So, a couple screws overcame a serious GM engineering defect.
But, it made a pretty girl's day much less unhappy

It's amazing what one can do when properly inspired.

Well, she was cute, and I was single. But the "two screws" was limited,
sadly, to the distributor's rotor

For a couple of screws on the side of a highway I could try to fix
anything.

You know, I would have truly been dissapointed had _someone_ not taken
it there. I caught it on my pre-post read of the message, but decided
to send it anyway.

Dave Hinz wrote:
On Fri, 07 Oct 2005 03:09:42 GMT, Tony Hwang wrote:

Hi,
Wondering how old the truck is and ever do regular maintenance on it?

Yeah, Tony, because **** never just, you know, breaks, regardless of how
it's maintained, is that it?

Especially tie-rod ends, when you bounce over rough ground, like at the
edge of a track.

Now, if you could drop then out in the carpark of your local parts store
and x-ray them inside for 50c, then I'm sure that they'd get replaced
more often. (I hate steering gear.)

....Brock.

"Neon John" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 7 Oct 2005 08:08:09 -0400, "Amun"
wrote:


Hi,
Wondering how old the truck is and ever do regular maintenance on it?
Tony


I was thinking along those same lines while reading the OP.
Amazing that anyone should still be driving a vehicle without doing
regular
maintenance and would not have repaired a worn tie rod long before it
fell
off.

Always the sideline quarterbacks who say stuff like this. FYI, a
beater or farm truck is just that - an old truck that one has nothing
invested in that he beats around the woods in, hauling rocks, hay,
feed, firewood and the like. Maintenance consists of fixing stuff when
it breaks, and then only enough to keep it running.

Only a fool would spend the money to say, rebuild the front end, when
the whole truck might be worth $100 and could be replaced for another
$100. Fix what breaks and use the thing til too many things break too
often, then drop it off at the wrecking yard and find another one.

John


I know full well what a "beater" is and have owned several in my lifetime.

But tie rods don't just fall off without ANY warning.
You will already have problems steering long before sudden failure occurs

I was advised long ago, you can't get into problems with 2 tons of metal
that won't start or go.
But you can get into one heck of a lot of problems when it won't stop.

the engine can belch smoke, the trans may howl or not go into a gear or
two, and the fenders may flap in the breeze

But dammit, the brakes and steering are no place to save a few bucks.

You may not give a rat's ass about yourself, but it's always the innocent
ones that get hit head on by people who saved a few bucks/

AMUN