Let's see here: "Unsticking" does not apply here, and I've got some epic "unsticking" stories from my mineral exploration days, when sometimes it seemed like ALL we did was unstick trucks. So, field repairs:
1) punctured the oil filter on a '67 IH Scout (horrible design placed the oil filter where flying rocks or sticks could whack it). Had a spare filter and oil on board due to having just been to the parts store prepping for a change on an upcoming day off, but no filter wrench. Made a Polish filter wrench out of a strip of canvas tarpaulin and a long box-end wrench, using the wrench to twist the loop-tied strip to grip the filter and two hands on either end of the filter to apply torque. Came right off. Bloody awful mess created on a strip-mine bench in upper East Tennessee, not to mention covering myself in mud and oil in the process, but I "got 'er done".Never heard from the EPA, and I think the statute has run, anyway.
2) repaired broken rear leaf spring shackle bolt on the same Scout, along Hell For Certain Creek, KY. Had I continued on, I'd likely have lost the whole axle housing to "walking forward and back" until the forward bolt at the opposite end of the leaf failed, which would have removed the whole rear axle housing, pulling apart the slip joint on the rear driveshaft. Had to do something. Used a standard bumper jack, logs and rocks to chock the wheels, cut and trimmed/notched a stout oak sapling/small tree for a 12' long lever, notched another short piece of a larger diameter log for a fulcrum, and danced back and forth between the jack hoisting the truck and the log supporting the rear axle housing in order to get the spring eye in the exact position needed to insert a large bolt out of the bottom of the tool box. Never know when you'll need that stuff. Took two of us about 4 hours to do the job, but that was less time than it'd have taken to walk out and come back with help. No way to get a wrecker to me, anyway. More mineral exploration follies.
3) Bent the crap out of the tie rod on the same Scout (Hmmm, seems to be a pattern here), this time in the old Virginia Piedmont gold and base metal mining district. Drove the truck toed out to a ridiculous degree to the workshop of the farmer whose mineral lease we were working. Used scrap angle iron for an anvil, pounded the tie rod more or less straight, drilled some holes in each end of another length of angle, scrounged 1 small "U" bolt from him, rigged other bolts and a piece of scrap in order to apply further leverage "pulling" the tie rod straighter (turn the nuts until we were afraid of stripping, applying pressure to the tie rod, whale away with the sledge hammer, tighten the nuts again, rinse, repeat. About 3 hours on a bitter cold January day, then drove an hour back to Charlottesville.
4) Discovered the Scout's heater fan blower not working just prior to a long weekend trip from Charlottesville to Raleigh with my girlfriend, now wife of 36 years. December/January 1976/1977, an epic cold snap in the East. Worked all day with a daytime high in the teens. Outside temp in the single digits for the trip. Took several cardboard boxes and covered the entire grill, secured with bungees and duct tape. Cut/shaped more to block air from entering the engine compartment from below the oil pan, secured with coat hangers and duct tape. Helped my girl into my 0 degree-rated sleeping bag, open above the waist in order to get a lap belt on her. Put on my work clothes of long johns, heavy jeans, down vest, ski gloves, and a wool watch cap. Only 4 hours later pulled in to my family's place with my girl. The radiiant heat off of the engine and the uninsulated firewall/floorboards combined to let a respectable amount of heat into the cabin. Looked like "The Clampetts Go Home to Meet the Family", but we got there without frostbite. Oh, and it was the first time she met them. She still married me a year and a half later, we're still married, and I still have the Scout!
Foy
