Outrageous bodge or ingenious solution?

[brookie456]

Reminded of this at the weekend, mums washer fell apart (3 months out of warranty), welded the brackets, installed some Suzuki TS50 rear shockers - did 8 years more service. Would like to hear about anything, not just "get you home", but fixes that have turned out to be lasting repairs that surprised even yourselves...not a technical exercise, more an appreciation of practicality, be it welding-related or not

 

[Marty2005]

Don't know if this qualifies but it relates to washing machines. Had a fifteen year old Indesit that washed perfectly even though it started to disintegrate. After the door handle fell apart I put a loop of string through the door opening mechanism which worked beautifully for several years. To open the door you literally tugged on the string. Finally relented and bought a new machine and in the same length of time have got through another five machines none of which have been as good as that old Indesit.

 

[rtbcomp]

........I put a loop of string through the door opening mechanism which worked beautifully for several years. To open the door you literally tugged on the string. .....

I did that on one I got off Freecycle, before I realised there was a time delay on the latch!

 

[tigler]

This one qualifies only as a bodge !
A mate ran over a truck load strap tensioning buckle, that happened to be lying in the road , on his BMW R1100. It punched a small hole in the underside of the sump !
This was a disaster because the sump is all in one piece with the crankcase so weld repairing it would have required a full engine strip ! That wasn't economically viable for him so I suggested plastic metal !! Basically he had little to lose so he asked me to do it.
I found a 2 part , knead together type product rated at 150 deg C , drained the oil , lay the bike on it's side , thoroughly degreased the area , dremeled it out , applied the plastic metal and allowed it to cure for several days.
Refilled with oil , rode it around to reach full temp , no visible leak. Let it stand overnight , still no leak. Two year later , still no leak !!
The bike is now 13 years old so is not worth much , but that bodge has allowed it's usefulness to be exploited for a while longer. Warms my heart !

 

[madkayaker]

Once took angle grinder to a tumble dryer as the air intake was totaly cloged up one slit in back later working a treat but a little loud

 

[SirDick Diodenob esquire]

Ford fiestas used to have a plastic moulded solenoid controlled water valve to the heater which always eventually seize up in the off position . I was too tight to pay £10 for a new (old ) one from the scrap yard so replaced it with two peices of central heating pipe 50mm long which took 10 minutes to do . I was hailed as being a marvelous mechanic at the time for doing such a quick fix but then got slagged off when the weather warmed up and they realised the heat was full on even with the fan switched off , have not been invited to fix anything else since .

 

[breezer]

This one qualifies only as a bodge !
A mate ran over a truck load strap tensioning buckle, that happened to be lying in the road , on his BMW R1100. It punched a small hole in the underside of the sump !
This was a disaster because the sump is all in one piece with the crankcase so weld repairing it would have required a full engine strip ! That wasn't economically viable for him so I suggested plastic metal !! Basically he had little to lose so he asked me to do it.
I found a 2 part , knead together type product rated at 150 deg C , drained the oil , lay the bike on it's side , thoroughly degreased the area , dremeled it out , applied the plastic metal and allowed it to cure for several days.
Refilled with oil , rode it around to reach full temp , no visible leak. Let it stand overnight , still no leak. Two year later , still no leak !!
The bike is now 13 years old so is not worth much , but that bodge has allowed it's usefulness to be exploited for a while longer. Warms my heart !

No self respecting bodger would have used plastic metal - they'd have used chewing gum. Shame on you sir!

 

[tigler]

Doh , never thought of chewing gum !

 

[brookie456]

This one qualifies only as a bodge !

Nope, proper preparation has let you down, semi-professional repair that one

 

[tigler]

Seems like I have to hone my bodging skills then !

 

[Wedg1e]

A couple of years back, two mates and myself participated in one of those 'banger rallies' where we had to get to Rome in our £100 Audi (which would be scrapped when we got there).

Part of the route included a section of the World Rally Championship route through the southern Alps just north of Menton (Col de Turini). All the way down to the south of France we'd had a knocking from the front suspension that we couldn't trace and by the time we'd climbed 5000 feet it was really bugging us.
We pulled over and had a good look at the car, eventually coming to the conclusion that the front subframe mountings were loose.
One of the guys got underneath with the socket set but as soon as he applied some welly to the mounting bolt, it sheared off. Oops. Ah well, the others should hold it once we've tightened them up... and another one sheared. Oh FFS. Now what do we do?
We ransacked the car for inspiration and found... a ratchet strap. This was duly wound round a leg of the subframe and part of the chassis rail and we cracked on
In the event, the car made it to Rome... whereupon one of the guys decided it was too good to scrap and promptly drove it home again, single-handed, with no breakdown cover, while the rest of us flew back!
We still have the car; it's parked up near Teesside airport... so if anyone fancies an '87 Audi Coupe, done about a million miles, with free ratchet strap.... drop me a line