Tell us your best engineering bodges

[Andrew Reed]

Fuel pump failed on an old VW Beetle, on the motorway on my way back from a wedding with wife and I in best clothes. The fix was: Remove windscreen washer bottle and piping from the front boot. Tip out water and refill bottle with fuel from tank side of pump fuel feed. Ask wife to sit in passenger seat with bottle held at shoulder height. Using washer water pipes, feed the fuel back to the carburettor via the passenger window and engine cover vents. Drive home another 100 miles refilling the bottle often!

[difflock]

We should blush (or so the Midwife thought:001_tt2:)

The Missis had an emergency section the first time, 11.5 months later she had an elective section.

Then we quit.Though I would a kinda liked 4 in under 4 years.

I did suggust that the surgeon could fit some sort of Zipper:lol: to the Missis.

Sigh

Ps

A dry ould stick of an Aunt on my mothers side sniffed and put me in my place.

They cracked the second one out in 10.5 months:biggrin:

Gulp!

[muldonach]

Yes later landys have so called permanent 4wd, but its a bit of a con.

 

They just have a center diff, so only one axle is driven at a time, the old ones were rear wheel drive and when you selected 4wd it engaged the front axle, now when you select 4wd it just looks the center diff so both axles drive.

 

You only ever have one wheel on each axle driving at a time, so only really 2wd, not 4wd.

 

No con at all and all modern landys certainly do have permanent 4wd. All the centre diff does is allow a little variation in drive - all 4 wheels are driving but if any one wheel spins all the drive will go to that wheel, it is a necessary feature on road to avoid axle wind-up when cornering, which results in a viscious self straightening action in the steering.

 

Losing a halfshaft or a propshaft will not immobilise a landy in itself - if its a halfshaft then just lock the diff (or engage 4wd on the series models) if it is a UJ then remove the propshaft since they normally break a lug when they let go. It will drive fine on the road but be useless off road or in slippy conditions.

 

Cheers

mac

[skyhuck]

No con at all and all modern landys certainly do have permanent 4wd. All the centre diff does is allow a little variation in drive - all 4 wheels are driving but if any one wheel spins all the drive will go to that wheel, it is a necessary feature on road to avoid axle wind-up when cornering, which results in a viscious self straightening action in the steering.

 

Losing a halfshaft or a propshaft will not immobilise a landy in itself - if its a halfshaft then just lock the diff (or engage 4wd on the series models) if it is a UJ then remove the propshaft since they normally break a lug when they let go. It will drive fine on the road but be useless off road or in slippy conditions.

 

Cheers

mac

 

At which point its no longer 4wd.

[difflock]

Sniff

Drive a Steyr Puch

selectable 4 WD "on the fly" and 2 mechanical locking diffs

Truely a proper 4WD

[liamjordan]

my best bodge is probably making a little bar for my saw, by cutting and welding one together, it snapped once, but that was from abuse, welded back together and now going awesome!

[muldonach]

At which point its no longer 4wd.

 

So does that mean a 4 x 2 which is experiencing wheelspin is no longer a 2wd?

[PeteB]

Many years ago I did some banger racing on a small circuit in South Yorkshire. I had an Austin Princess wedge for a car which was surprising lively when stripped out. At one meeting the gear-stick came off in my hand mid race - so I reached through the hole in the floor and managed to shift up/down by pushing /pulling on the rod! As the linkage was totally knacked, we fashioned a lever to shift up/down between 1st and 2nd and finished the afternoons fun without 3rd, the car afir screamed down the straight but who cared.

[PeteB]

A Defender 130 I had in the early '90s had a capstan winch at the front which was driven off of the dog drive on the crankshaft gland nut. I rebuilt the engine after a gudgeon pin incident one year but from then one, the gland nut would occasionally come loose which worried me a tad - the thought of the lads miles from home and the pulley coming off was not one I enjoyed. So I took it to an ag engineer mate and said "Can you get your lad to put a spot of weld on it to stop it coming orf" He did that alright - he seamed three faces of the nut! That was never coming apart again! Pity the next owner trying to rebuild that motor!

 

Now that is a proper bodge!

[Pat Ferrett]

Hit one of the security posts at the yard and broke the locking mechanism.

I rang the manufacturer up but they could only supply me with a complete post

 

I stripped the post and couldnt believe the poor quality of the components so decided to get a mate to machine up the broken piece of die cast in stainless, well chuffed with the result

 

Definetly not a bodge but a way around the problem and a saving on buying new