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Bodger Fix What they don't show you in the repair manual - tales of duct tape, bailing wire and WD 40. Bodge, Bush Mechanics, farmers fix, patch, temporary repair, or whatever your definition, tell us YOUR best story of a bodge that got you home!
Photo by Ellen Delis, Lagunas Ojos del Campo, Antofalla, Catamarca

I haven't been everywhere...
but it's on my list!


Photo by Ellen Delis,
Lagunas Ojos del Campo,
Antofalla, Catamarca



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  #16  
Old 18 Aug 2012
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Bowber............

Any photos ??

Cheers

DP
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  #17  
Old 28 Sep 2012
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Here's a new one from me. (Non-bike again, sorry!)

The six month old (cheap crappy far-eastern) gearshift linkage bush broke on my 74 VW Bug. The two halves of the bush fell down into the tunnel somewhere I couldn't get them. I could only select 1st and 2nd.

I cut the end off a pencil eraser to the approximate size and put a hole through it with a corkscrew. Then I jammed it into the linkage and held it in with a cable tie. The shift action was surprisingly quite good. I had all gears available again and it got me home no problems.



The eraser is the white bit covered in grease.

Cheers,
Brett.
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  #18  
Old 28 Sep 2012
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Hi,

My bottom steering bearing broke, after riding sand in Sudan



so i replaced it with the one from the top. For the top i bought a normal bearing that fitted more or less. While taking this foto i got arrested by the police. To take fotos in Sudan is illegal:

Transafrika - Motorbike travel tour through africa part 1

Tobi
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  #19  
Old 28 Sep 2012
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Quote:
Originally Posted by backofbeyond View Post
In our family car some years ago the wiper linkage from the motor failed in a rainstorm. To continue we tied shoelaces to the wiper arms, brought them back in through slightly open side windows and the kids pulled them backwards and forwards to get the wipers working. Worked perfectly for half an hour till the rain stopped.
When my parents got married they spent their honeymoon (in November!) in Cornwall in a split-screen VW camper belonging to my paternal grandparents. My mum frequently recounts the tale of having to operate the wipers by hand while my dad drove after the motor failed, although fortunately for me, their marriage survived this ordeal
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  #20  
Old 28 Sep 2012
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It's funny how memories of these things last. The shoelace powered wiper episode happened about 12-13 years ago when my daughter was 5. Completely out of the blue a couple of weeks ago, at the age of 17, she reminded me of it. Probably scarred her for life.
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  #21  
Old 28 Sep 2012
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I hope to not be a constant contributer here, but here is another one. I crashed down a cliff in Kyrgyzstahn and snapped the end off the gear shift lever. I could have ridden for a while using the edge of my boot but instead did the following.

Using the OEM spark plug tool in a DL650 Vstrom tool kit, I cable tied and silver taped it into place and had my self a makeshift gear lever.

This lasted until I entered China and had another one made




Cheers from Shenzen, China
TravellingStrom
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  #22  
Old 29 Sep 2012
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I once had a throttle cable snap on my CB750, these bikes had two cables, one to open and one to close, so I popped the tank off and swapped the ends over on the carb linkages, that gave me a throttle that worked backwards, interesting ride home

I also had the throttle cable snap on a puch moped, this time I tied the cable around the footbrake lever and slackened off the rear brake cable, riding home with a foot operated throttle was a little interesting, on the same bike another time the throttle cable snapped again, so I removed the slide completely, leaving me with a motor that would only run flat out, a bump start and using the killswitch to change gear was easy enough with only 3.8 BHP.
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  #23  
Old 30 Sep 2012
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Stewart H View Post
that gave me a throttle that worked backwards, interesting ride home
That's truly heroic.
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  #24  
Old 1 Oct 2012
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If we're recounting historic stuff; on my FS1E, the spark plug threads got knackered and the thing used to fly out with a big POP, usually when doing a stupid overtake with my chin on the tank in typical FS1E high-speed mode. Always easily fixed using the foil from inside a pack of Embassy No1, wrapped round the plug before re-fitting.

The ignition switch gave up so once it was hot-wired, I used to stop it by either stalling or reaching down and pulling off the plug cap.

The stand fell off so I used to have to find somewhere to lean the bike or just lay it down.

The kick-start also fell off so in the last few months of ownership it was bump-start only.

The headlamp wiring melted one day so I used a push-bike light taped to the front to satisfy plod. Stayed like that for months.

The throttle cable snapped once but I managed to tie it to my knee so I could lift my leg to accelerate and get me home. I did a proper fix with this though; a knot in the end of the cable with a good blob of solder, filed to fit the twist grip. Ok, so I had to shorten the outer of the cable which meant that the revs went up if I turned the bars to much.

Still got £75 when I sold it as it was 1974 unrestricted model.

Happy Days !!!!
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  #25  
Old 20 Oct 2012
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Non-motorbike story.

Worn out disc brake pads on a Ford F350 in Africa. Pads are NOT available anywhere. Find a pad that can be welded onto the backing you have left and continue on. We did this for about a month till visitors brought us the correct parts.

I've since tossed the welded together pads.
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  #26  
Old 27 Dec 2012
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One of my Son's friends rode by the other day with his moped's throttle cable snapped off at the nipple at the throttle tube...he rode by with the cable in his teeth!!! buuuurrrrr
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  #27  
Old 27 Dec 2012
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Fencing wire
Just a big and very humble THANK YOU.

To all the farmers / property owners who have unknowingly supplied fencing wire, to fix, tow, tie and numerous other temporary fixes to get mobile.

Many of us would have found this commodity lifesaving !

Seasons greetings and happy travels
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  #28  
Old 21 Jan 2013
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sudden coolant loss
While riding the Blue Ridge Parkway the thermostat housing on my Kawi split at the hose connection. It was Independence Day Weekend, 2011, so a 45 minute ride to Wally Land (open 24 hrs) to purchase a magic marker, hacksaw blade, sand paper and 'Blue Magic Quik Steel'. Cut the magic marker aluminum tube to make a sleeve an inch or so long, sanded the inside of the housing and glued the sleeve inside the split housing spout...worked like a charm.
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  #29  
Old 5 Oct 2013
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Smile Vise-grips to the rescue
I always carry small Vise-grips pliers, no more versatile tool exists. Used as a clamp, it gave me back a brake lever from the nub that was left when a tip-over resulted from a bozo who suddenly stopped in the middle of the road for no reason on a very steep hill.
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  #30  
Old 15 Nov 2013
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I read somewhere that a couple of hunters were way up on a mountain in an old jeep when the fuel pump failed. They rigged an enema bag so that the probe dripped gas into the carb and came down in low gear......I wish I could remember what the story said about why they had an enema bag.
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