Your favorite Macgyver moments\tricks

[theothersean]

I stripped the head of the allen cap screw that holds the battery into the back of my garmin zumo 450. luckily I was still able to apply enough down pressure and catch enough of a bite on it to it to get it out , then wrapped the threads in electrical tape to protect them while I put it in the bench vise and used the edge of a thin small file to make one slit across , basically turning the stripped allen head cap screw into a flat head screw that i can now get in and out with a common flat head screw driver , or tip of a pocket knife.

on a side note , the head was recessed in the plastic of the battery , but in other cases when you have stripped the head of a screw, bolt etc and if you can access the head you can use a dremmel, hack saw, or file to make a slit and use a flat head screwdriver to back out the fastener with the stripped head .

[arcanum]

Originally Posted by Aviatordoc

Here is a small tip.
To prevent keys (other keys) on your key ring from tearing up the paint/finish around your ignition switch as it happens when riding:
Cut a small length of heat shrink tube which fits the key (the cut edges of the key), heat it up a tad so it conforms to the shape of the cut edges of the key but is still removable as a sleeve. Works well. Just be careful and do not heat it a lot.

Heat shrink works well to keep shoe string ends from unraveling as well. That cheap crap little plastic OEM shoe string end protector just does not cut it.

[Wlfman]

Originally Posted by Aviatordoc

Here is a small tip.
To prevent keys (other keys) on your key ring from tearing up the paint/finish around your ignition switch as it happens when riding:
Cut a small length of heat shrink tube which fits the key (the cut edges of the key), heat it up a tad so it conforms to the shape of the cut edges of the key but is still removable as a sleeve. Works well. Just be careful and do not heat it a lot.

Or better yet, don't have any keys except the bikes ignition key on the ring. This way you don't have to worry at all about scratches...

[AK Oldman]

Originally Posted by Wlfman

Or better yet, don't have any keys except the bikes ignition key on the ring. This way you don't have to worry at all about scratches...

My oldest son borrowed my cruiser for a few months. He put the single key I handed him on a ring with a bunch of other keys. When he brought the bike back the triple tree was, IMNSHO, ruined. I'm not worried, I hid his body very well!

[davemon]

Got a flat tire on the new to me beemer and pulled out the plug kit to find the glue to be a block and the fancy BMW plugs rotted and falling apart when going thru the tire, rummaged through the tank bag and pockets and found a rubber band used for stowing lines on the deployment of most sport parachutes. Inserted it easily into the tire cut off the excess and after a couple of shots of CO2 and was back on the road home. Macgyver would have been proud. A nice ball of rubberband now resides in the tool pouch

Blue Skies and Cool Rides

[Poolside]

The rubber band tire plug is a neat trick, Davemon!

[Drtbkdav]

While at the first reset of a national enduro several years ago, Steve Hatch looked down at my bike and asked "where is your drain plug?" I looked down and realized that when I had put my ktm 300 motor back together before the race, I had not tightend down my drain plug. it was only finger tight.

No oil was coming out of the tranny cases at all so I had lost all of the oil. worse, the biggest bolt I had was a 10mm and the hole is a 12mm. I had not noticed any running problems so far but we were only about 12 miles into the race. I wrapped some electical tape around the 10mm bolt and stuffed it into the 12mm hole. That seemed to work.

Now that I have the hole plugged, what do I fill it with? I had a tool belt and the original camelbak but niether contained any spare oil. That is not something you would normally carry during a race. I knew there would be a gas stop sooner or later and I could go back to my truck and fill it up with oil then but that does not solve the problem of riding 25 to 40 more miles with no oil in the tranny cases. I contemplated removing the oil from one of the front forks but that would destroy the action and no longer allow me to continue racing.

The only other liquids were gas/oil mix from the tank, or the orange gatorade in the camelback. Since I did not have any idea where the first gas stop was, I did not want to use the gas, I poured the gatorade into the tranny. The plug held with no leaks and the motor fired up. (the tranny oil is separate on a two stroke). I gingerly put it into gear and rode off. I took it easy and did not change gears and did not use the clutch. I noticed no problems with the tranny. After 20 miles or so I came to a check with an alternate gas stop. One of the national guys gave me a bottle of tranny oil but no one had a spare drain plug. A factory KTM rider offered me one at the known gas stop so on I went. This time with fresh real oil in the tranny but a taped in oil plug. I pushed it hard and made up lots of time till the gas stop. I got the spare plug from the KTM van (thanks guys) and managed to finish 4th in my class.

After the race, I tore down the motor and split the cases. I could find nothing wrong with any bearing, gear or clutch. I replaced the bearings anyway.

Gatorade as tranny fluid? sure if you have nothing else.

[svejkovat]

then wrapped the threads in electrical tape to protect them while I put it in the bench vise and used the edge of a thin small file to make one slit across

...more tips&tricks than Macgyver, but if you ever need to hold threads really really steady in a vise then cut a slot in a nut, thread it onto the bolt/rod/stud and then clamp it up to your heart's content.
Prevents damage to the threads.
It's also a handy way to remove a stubborn stud from a block or case without damage when using vise grips.

[Marco Moto]

^^ Good one, Thanks! ^^

[victor441]

long ago I did not have a compressor,changed a tubeless tire on my MC and could not get the bead to even begin to seat well enough to hold air using a manual floor pump....but had two floor pumps on hand, pulled the air chucks off and connected them with a hose, then connected one to the MC wheel and the other to a tire on my car....this flowed enough air to get the bead to begin seating on the MC wheel, pulled the chucks off and then was able to pump the MC and car tires up to rated pressure with the floor pump.

[disston]

Originally Posted by AK Oldman

My oldest son borrowed my cruiser for a few months. He put the single key I handed him on a ring with a bunch of other keys. When he brought the bike back the triple tree was, IMNSHO, ruined. I'm not worried, I hid his body very well!

You know they have ground penetrating Radar now. They will find him if they are looking.

[Hobbes950]

Not mine, but a good one.

Originally Posted by Parepin

I pulverized a mesquite bush, driving a branch into the radiator.






So I sat back and took inventory of the situation. I had just jumped on this set of tracks and was in quite a ways. I really didn't want to turn around, and I sure as s*** didn't want to fry the engine. Hmm... I thought back a bit, and I remember noting several years ago that some Radiator Stop Leak was simply cellulose. Pulverized plant material and whatnot. I considered grabbing some mesquite bark and seeing if I could crush it... no, that's just a bad idea. I'd heard that pepper packets work as a stop leak, but I was sure I had none of that...

So I stepped back and laid my jacket down on the dirt and began emptying pockets. This jacket had at least thirty or forty pockets, so it wouldn't hurt to look. With everything laid out before me, I began taking inventory. Hmmm.. nothin. No pepper no.... er... wait.



....... no......


.....could it.....


....I s*** you not, the radiator leak stopped. I was able to put another 75 miles of dirt, sand, and moondust before returning to the compound without a single leak.

There's a story for ya. Remember that next time you thrash your radiator.

[gunnabuild1]

Now that would have been a very difficult choice to make.Should have rolled a smoke and thought about it for a while.After all there are a shitload of free leaves in that photo.
Still, filed away for future reference,radiator/cellulose,thanks knew about pepper and egg thats a new one.

[zoltan]

[QUOTE=.After all there are a shitload of free leaves in that photo.
.[/QUOTE]

no worries, there is no shortage of "stop leak" in Nevada City.

[Parepin]

No good reefer heads. That's madness, I tell ya.