Craziest thing you've done to "just get home"
 

What's the craziest/most ingenious thing you've done to just get the truck home?

My girlfriend (now wife) and I were out, well let's say "in the country" and kind of lost track of time. Pretty soon I realize she's got to be home in like twenty minutes and we're twenty miles from her place. I push in the clutch pedal and it goes to the floor with very little resistance and doesn't engage the clutch. Find the flashlight, pop the hood... clutch pushrod bent like a boomerang.

Ok. I can fix this. Think about the truck, man, not her dad and his shiny new Smith & Wesson.

Pull the cotter pin. Yank the pushrod. Straighten it out as best as I can with my bare hands. Pop it back in place. Replace the cotter pin. Back in the truck. Clutch pedal down, pushrod bends again.

Back outside. Pull the cotter pin. Yank the rod. Straighten it out as best as I can with my bare hands. Remove the linkage adjustment swivel nut. SLIDE THE BOTTLE JACK HANDLE OVER THE ROD. Replace the adjuster nut. Pop the pushrod back in place. Drop the the cotter pin in the mud and gravel. Oh, crap.

Think. Think! THINK! Ah-ha! Take all the keys off my keyring, thread the ring through the hole in the end of the rod. Replace. Back in truck. Pedal goes down, clutch engages, truck goes vroom.

We didn't make it home by curfew, but we didn't have to walk home from make out point either.

Re: Craziest thing you've done to "just get home"
 

Bought my truck about 2 weeks ago in Tennessee. Rode my V-rod up there to buy it. Loaded it up, strapped it down, and headed home. Made it about 30 miles, stopped to fill up with gas...and the dang thing wouldn't crank back. The battery had a dead cell. Closest place with a battery charged me $105 for a BS battery, but I was back in business. Went about another 15 miles and POOF, the brakes went out. I ended up driving it home with no brakes, and an altenator that wasn't keeping up with the demand. I made it home, but after pulling the drums off, and inspecting the suspension closer... I can't believe I'm still alive after 200+ miles with that bike in the bed.

Pic's to explain my reasoning for a belief in a higher power!

Re: Craziest thing you've done to "just get home"
 

Had a carb fire on a 72 yrs ago! Replaced some melted plug wires and a few other things but could not find a throttle cable so i attached a piece of string to the carb and presto,i was driving by wire,LOL!!

Re: Craziest thing you've done to "just get home"
 

Not on one of ours but was driving 74F100 when the drivers side motor mount went out and when I took off the motor raised up and the fan took a Quarter size hole out of the upper radiator hose.Cleaned the hose with an old t shirt and used a whole roll of electrical tape to cover the hole,then filled the radiator up with an old coke bottle and water from a nearby ditch.The patch held for a full week till I got paid again.

Re: Craziest thing you've done to "just get home"
 

called my mother inlaw to come get me when the truck broke down.... this was 30min after she cussed me out for buying the vehicle, she told me it was a old hunk of junk and that I am waisting our money on it, I told her she had no idea what she was talking about, she said grow the f... up.... I bought it drove off and bang, motor dies and I can't get it started... my only option, call my mother inlaw for a ride......boy was that a quiet ride home. ate a little crow that day....

Re: Craziest thing you've done to "just get home"
 

Ouch!

Re: Craziest thing you've done to "just get home"
 

Two weeks into ownership I pulled the fender wells in preparation for a tear down. I was still using the truck to get tools for the job. I was making a turn when the wiring harness going to the alternator got wrapped about the steering shaft. I felt the steering get tight so I turned harder. That was followed by a popping noise and huge cloud of smoke. The harness got pulled off the alternator and grounded on the bracket. It burned the entire harness all the way to the battery! I'm talking charred black with bare copper wire showing. I ended up salvaging a single wire and ran it from the batter to my fuse box so I could get her home. It's not crazy but I was sure happy to get it started.

Re: Craziest thing you've done to "just get home"
 

A couple of years ago I bought a 04 suburban rolled over off of E-bay in OK. It was the week before thanksgiving and we go to my wifes family every yearfor it and they live near FT. Smith AR. So we go get the rollover No battry it was cut off at the wrecker yard. They just cut the cables below the battery bolts. Well anyway we got it loaded on my trailer being pulled by my 96 suburban with a bunch of miles. We got back to wifes home had thankgiving the next day then took of toward home about 5 hrs east. Well an hour down the road the tranny started acting up and we pulled into a Walmart parking lot. What are we gonna do asked my wife as we walked inside? I said we will live in housewares and vacation in sporting goods. All of that talking while in my head trying my best Macgever inpersonasion. We bought a new battery a few vice grips a roll of black tape and a few hand tools. I put the battery in and tapedd the ends to the vice grips wrapped them in electrical tape to keep from shorting out. next I pullled the outside bumper brakets off and took a come along and pulled the bumper off the tires where it had folded up then I trade places on the trailor putting the wreck in front and the lame on top. Now the truck was rolled so hard I had to crawl in from the pass side and look out the sunroof hole the doors that were open was held shut with a strap and on I 40 we went cars passing us laughing so hard state troopers laughing too but never pulled us overwe got home about six hours later wore out

Re: Craziest thing you've done to "just get home"
 

Lol, Now that's crazy!
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Re: Craziest thing you've done to "just get home"
 

roflmao sometimes we do what we have to to get home. but this takes the cake :haha: :haha:

Re: Craziest thing you've done to "just get home"
 

Since you didn't say what type of vehicle- last time was on a non Chevy truck in heavy traffic just outside of Austin, Tx.

Front caliper froze up and since I carry tools with me everywhere I go I was able to removed the caliper and tie it to the strut. Drove 30 miles on the shoulder using parking brakes to the next small town where they had an Auto Zone. Bought a new caliper and everything was good to go.

Alternator went bad on a small Honda on a Sunday out of Corpus Christi, Tx. Next small town happened to have a Walmart but parts stores were closed so I bought a new fully charged battery and was able to drive almost 100 miles until I found a parts store.

Re: Craziest thing you've done to "just get home"
 

That is priceless!

Re: Craziest thing you've done to "just get home"
 

In these trucks I pulled a rocker arm stud partially out of the head, so I pulled the push rods and drove home?

I had a thermostat stick shut, so I pulled it out and drove home.

The best one was when I was out wheeling in my jeep and the panhard bar mount broke off the axle. I used some ratchet straps to loosely locate the axle while still allowing the axle to articulate while we finished that trail. Then I tightened them down real tight and drove to the nearest 4x4 shop (20 miles) and had them weld it back up.

Re: Craziest thing you've done to "just get home"
 

Not really crazy, and not Chevy.

I had an 86 Toyota Pickup and was 5 hours from home. The transmission went out, and ended up driving all the way home using 4th gear only. Its direct drive. My buddy didn't know how to drive a stick, so he jumped out, and pushed us enough to get rolling, hopped back in, and I babied it up to speed.

Back roads and little towns with one stoplight/stop sign or so in each one all the way home. It took us forever to get home, and he was exhausted.

Re: Craziest thing you've done to "just get home"
 

i had a 91 subaru 5 speed driving from denver to wichita when in ariba ks i went to down shift and the stick went limp. my buddy and had just read a book about a guy and a friend traveling and the same thing happened, so we pulled over. i got under the car to find that the bolt that holds the shifter to the tranny had vanished. i had just installed a radio and had the little aluminum tool to pull the stereo out of the dash and pushed it through the linkage and bent it over and was back on the road. much in the same manner as the character in the book. we made it to the next town a guy put in a new bolt cost me 20 bucks, that was the most expensive bolt i ever bought. better than spending the night on I-70.

Re: Craziest thing you've done to "just get home"
 

Had a ford the rotor bug shaterd.1 peace of corn cob and little peace of wire.That had to be the longest 15 miles.Top speed was 3 to 5 mph.
When 4 wheeling with a freind in his truck knock a small hole in the transmission pan peace of gum and filed it with water.We missed town by less than a mile.

Re: Craziest thing you've done to "just get home"
 

I had the opposite problem. Had an old Nova with a 350/th350 combo get stuck in 1st gear. Had to drive it in 1st for about 40 miles. It sucked major ass and I can assure you that you start out trying to be nice on the tranny but you don't finish there. By the end I was doing about 50 in first gear. Thank goodness for 3.08s. :metal:

Re: Craziest thing you've done to "just get home"
 

thought I'd look cool doing a burnout in the ol 57 chev in the conga line leaving after a high school football game... (yes, this is an OLD story). Promptly sharted my rear's spider gears out all over the tarmac (I was young and dumb, what can I say), anyway - no more forward gear transportation that night. But I noticed there were still enough nubs left on the teeth such that reverse still worked at least. And it worked ALL the way home ~15 miles. In reverse. Drove backwards on the WRONG side of the road because it was night time - that way, if anyone was coming the other direction, we'd see the headlights miles away (and they'd just see my taillights...) and so we'd just scoot off to the side of the road pointing the "right" direction - i.e. looking like we were going the other way, but just pulled over to the side of the road for a second... Worked like a champ. Took a while, but worked like a champ... I gave up dropping the clutch "for show" right then and there.

Re: Craziest thing you've done to "just get home"
 

this is great stuff. im still laughing at hugger. ive had 3 different ones, nothing that fancy. my 66gmc dad and i pulled home with a chain. dad thought he would do a full dump the clutch launch to pull us both over the old hwy with screaming cars on either side, and the chain broke...yea...that was a fun one for me to sit and see cars doing 60mph either side of me, luckily with coaxing of one foot out the door to help move it, dad doing a burnout in reverse and getting the chain hooked up im still alive. 2nd truck was my 70, she was drivable, if thats the term to use, steering was so sloppy i could turn the wheel 90-120 degrees before it would catch. had to drive it home from stuttgart, all down the old highways where the grain trucks speed, yea it was scary trying to stay on the road. and the gas gauge moved like a tach as i accelerated, im not sure why. and this 68, we used a car dolly for. got home after pulling all the hills, bumps, back roads and old highways, pull in the drive, go to unload it and the straps that lock around the tires came off and were just sitting. thank god it didnt come off the dolly. and it is only a parts truck that i cant make myself pull parts off of so im now selling it.

Re: Craziest thing you've done to "just get home"
 

I drove a 79 chevy 4x4 for a year during college, and it used to be the old mans rusted out farm truck that I stuck my peppy 327 in along with a 4" lift and 33s. It had 2.76 gears with a 4spd in it so it liked highway cruising. Before college started I left work and drove the 350 miles to the town college was in to look at apartments. As I turned off interstate at about 1:30am with about 10 miles to go, something felt funny, like a clunking and jerking, but I made it to my buddies place where I stayed just fine. As I got out I could smell gear oil so I reached underneath and could move my driveshaft up and down, the front pinion bearing went on vacation and was nowhere to be found! Went to bed and looked at some places to live on saturday along with talking to every repair shop in town. They all said the same thing, next week sometime and of course who carries any 2.76 gears anyways?(Different carrier than 3.73s which could be found). Well lucky for me my buddies gf worked at a hotel and got me some towels. We found another truck jack so we had one on each side, pulled the axles and carrier, beat the pinion out with a hammer, and installed everything back in less the pinion. I then covered the pinion hole with a bunch of towels and half a roll of duct tape, filled with oil and drove home in 4wd. Thank goodness the 205 didn't have a slipyoke on it or this plan wouldn't have worked. It was a looonnngg drive since I stayed at 55mph (speed limit 75mph on interstate), and I would stop and check the oil in the rear end every 50 miles or so. At least I made it to work on monday!

Re: Craziest thing you've done to "just get home"
 

i was driving my 79 K5 from Oregon coast to seattle to pickup my brother and drive all the way to NC. I had a 15 foot camper trailer attached with everything I owned at the time.
Plan was to camp in it on the trip back.
I got about half way up the mountains still in Oregon and the tranny started heating up. It was not a good start to the trip.
So I made an executive decision. Pulled into a casino. Unhitched the trailor and got the good stuff out of it. Looked at it twice and drove off.
Somebody scored a sweet trailer ;)
Damn truck made it all the way across the country though.

Re: Craziest thing you've done to "just get home"
 

I'd have blowouts in the rear brakeline on my first ever vehicle, a 69 C/10. Bad feeling when that pedal goes to the floor. Was always repairing the brakes for inspection time.

I carried a plug and would pull the rear brake line from the master cylinder and screw in the plug to keep pedal pressure. Front brakes only = great burnouts!

Had a brake line blowout in a 74 Malibu, took some pliers and crimpped off the bad line.

Brake line blowout in my 71 C/10 just a few years ago. Drove it 20 miles home from Chicago on the Dan Ryan Expressway in stop and go traffic, using the parking brake, down shifting (3-speed) and killing the ignition in gear. Man, I was busy behind the wheel.

Re: Craziest thing you've done to "just get home"
 

When I was a kid the trans went out in our old Chevy Impala - only had reverse. My Mother drove home BACKWARDS for 20 miles.

Re: Craziest thing you've done to "just get home"
 

One time driving home from college my carrier bearing broke. I was at least 20 miles from home. I had a long piece of thin plastic rope in the bed so I looped it a bunch of times around the drive shaft and cross member. I was able to limp home after stopping to re-do the rope several times. I was suprised how far I could go before burning through the rope. lol

Re: Craziest thing you've done to "just get home"
 

Let's see. I've cobbled up a used electric pump and speaker wire to an old truck when the stock fuel pump died. Driving down the road with speaker wire in the vent window.
I bought an old 4 banger affectionately called the beater. Coming home from the purchase, the shifter decides to try to fall through the floor. I nearly wreck because I'm freaking out and reaching for it... Anyways, I happened to have some electric tape (redneck bandaid). I found an old bungee cord and wrapped it around the linkage and then taped it. I drove it that way until the P.O.'s inspection ran out 8 months later. Then I drove it to the scrapyard.

Bungee cord and bailing wire for a temporary fan belt. Didn't last long. Found out the reason for the fan belt shredding - water pump was on it's way out.

Had some parts fall off on a friends car. His belt flew off and he didn't know where it was. I had a longer belt laying around. Took the alternater arm off and moved it until the belt was tight. Then, bungee cord it to the fender. Next time he would remember to tighten all fasteners under the hood.