What Saved Your A$$?

[PNWMuseumman]

Hello everyone, I have stumbled onto this forum multiple times in the past when googling random stuff for my garage or a tool, so I figured it was finally time I join!

And to start things off, I have a question for you all.


What one thing are you so glad you had in your truck or car that totally saved your a$$ and why?
Be it while 4-wheeling, Road-tripping, or daily commute. What one thing will you always keep in your truck after that experience? Doesn't need to be life saving or dramatic, maybe it was a random granola bar stopping your transition from Hangry to "I'm gonna die" hunger. Or maybe it was a previsouly forgotten stuffed animal that was found in the 12th hour of your cross-country trip and entertained your children a bit longer. I don't care... Just throw it out there!


I'll kick it off:

**This wasn't in the truck, but luckily it was in the trailer being towed, and now I keep one in all of my vehicles.

I'll always keep a fire extinguisher in the truck:

Following my dad to go camping, he was driving 3/4 ton ram towing full size travel trailer, I finally called him after 10 minutes of smelling burning rubber but not seeing smoke (I thought maybe it was one of the cars in front of him), as we walked around the truck and trailer on the shoulder, I notice a small wisp of smoke come from under the back of the truck, somehow the exhaust had caught the spare tire on fire. Crazy because he's towed trailers with this truck for years with zero problems, and it was only like 70 that day (not exactly record setting heat). Nonetheless, had we not had a fire extinguisher in the trailer, that trip would've had a very different ending... After this we drove straight to a store and each bought fire extinguishers for both of our vehicles.

 

[LXCam]

Pack of smokes

 

[koditten]

Extra CC hidden. Wallet was lost. Got gas and went home and cancelled all cards.

 

[Leaflessshadetree]

When I finished school I spent all the money I had celebrating with friends/classmates. The next day I sputtered into a gas station about an hour from home. I dug out enough change from the glove box, and under the seats to buy a few gallons of gas.

 

[Texsun]

Tools of course!

Had a hub/wheel come off a 72 Beetle on a mountain road and had to back off the brake shoes, tighten down the castle nut and put a hair pin through as a temporary cotter pin!

 

[Colin Len]

Extra CC hidden. Wallet was lost. Got gas and went home and cancelled all cards.

Sorta the same with me, I always keep a little cash stashed away in the car. Rarely need it for real emergencies but rather have it and not need it...etc. Usually I just end up using it whenever I need to make a cash purchase but don't have cash on me, then I just re-stock the stash. I like that extra CC idea though, may need to order another one to keep in there.

 

[Ole Slewfoot]

Tire plugs.

 

[4 FN 27]

A 5 Point Harness and a good Funny Car Cage when I crashed my Car at Virginia Motorsports Park at 205.51 MPH.

 

[dirtrunner0519]

Zip Ties, best invention ever.

 

[MrElectric03]

Small vise grips, In high school I broke the throttle cable on my VW bug, drove it for a week with the cable clamped to the pedal until I could afford a new cable.

 

[Finky198]

JNC 950. I don’t travel with it anymore but that has saved the day more times then I can count....

I keep my Jeep very well stocked as we use it a lot for work. So I have built semi permanent storage for Long tools (breaker bar, axes, wrecking bars, jack handle, bolt cutters...) With that I keep a bag of reg tools. A HF 1.5 ton almn jack, tire chuck, tie downs in multiple sizes, towing stuff, a tow rope. And finally a full size EMS kit and a 10lb fire extinguisher.

Oh and of course you can’t forget a change of clothes and extra flashlight batteries...

At one point or another I’ve used all of it. Some more than others but it’s nice having things when your in a pinch. The kicker is when something happens and I didn’t drive...

 

[ard]

Tools of course!

Had a hub/wheel come off a 72 Beetle on a mountain road and had to back off the brake shoes, tighten down the castle nut and put a hair pin through as a temporary cotter pin!

Tools indeed.

Swallowed a valve in my 70 beetle outside Omaha Nebraska in December.

Found an unheated shed to work- had tools, floor jack, etc, with me. Pulled the motor, found the cause, Weld broke on the valve stem, punched through the piston..... called my brother in Pennsylvania. He drove out the next AM with rebuilt spare we had. Total time stuck was 3 days.

Turns out, if you take a fat chisel to the edge of that castellated rear hub nut and smack it as hard as you can with a 2lb hand sledge, it is 325.0 ft lbs. Exactly.

 

[Bessy]

Mechanical "Train" wire, as Dad calls it... That stuff has saved my **** in a pinch more than once on broken PTO cables while mowing. Tie a loop in the cable (they always broke right at the spring), tie in some wire, weave it through a couple rounds of the spring to take up the slack and finish mowing for the day. Call up Joel at the dealership and have a part on order for the next day.

I'd probably add that a half decent multi-tool makes that job a whole lot easier to do also.

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[crewchief888]

wasnt my *** that got saved,
however, we were out wheeling, and kinda "lost" one of the guys..

we backtracked and found him about 1/2 way up a rock ledge, with the Right rear wheel almost touching his rear bumper. the frame had broken at the front spring mount.

a few ratchet straps later and we had him rolling under his own power back out to an access road that led back to the parking lot...

fortunately we'd brought along a generator, welder and found some misc scrap steel laying around, within the hour he was back out on the trails..

tire plugs, electrical tape, nitrile glove and brake cleaner.

i was on my way to a service call, and noticed my service truck was running a little warm... pulled off, popped the hood, and found the upper radiator hose blown. i let it cool down, sprayed everything down with brake cleaner, jammed several tire plugs into the hole and wrapped it tight with electrical tape, and topped off the coolant. left the cap off, taped a nitrile glove on the reservoir and headed off..

 

[jd_1138]

Tools indeed.

Swallowed a valve in my 70 beetle outside Omaha Nebraska in December.

Found an unheated shed to work- had tools, floor jack, etc, with me. Pulled the motor, found the cause, Weld broke on the valve stem, punched through the piston..... called my brother in Pennsylvania. He drove out the next AM with rebuilt spare we had. Total time stuck was 3 days.

Turns out, if you take a fat chisel to the edge of that castellated rear hub nut and smack it as hard as you can with a 2lb hand sledge, it is 325.0 ft lbs. Exactly.

When you have an air cooled VW, you have to be prepared at all times to be able to completely rebuild the engine at a moment's notice. Once you rebuild it, it's good for another 10,000 carefree miles.

I kid out of love.

Back to the original question, mechanic's wire (farmers call it bailing wire) is a life saver. Along with duct tape and zip ties. And at least some basic hand tools.

 

[L5wolvesf]

Same as the OP – a fire extinguisher. Around 2006 I had my 1964 Chevy Pu (I’m the 2nd owner) that it did all my car hauling and heavy moving with, in a shop having some work done. When the shop guys parked it the key wasn’t turned off all the way. I got there a couple hours after it had been parked and drove off – got about a mile away and the cab started to fill with smoke. I pulled it into a parking lot grabbed the extinguisher and limited the damage to just wiring.

 

[Stuart in MN]

What one thing are you so glad you had in your truck or car that totally saved your a$$ and why?

My right foot, two days ago. I was on a one way street in the left lane, and some idiot in the right lane decided to take a left turn from his lane without looking or signaling. I just missed T-boning him by that much, and then he looked at me like I had done something wrong.

 

[Boilerhouse]

I am usually pretty well stocked with tools and misc emergency stuff, but the spare key secretly squirreled away saved me once or twice.

 

[Done That]

Roll of toilet paper. You figure it out.

 

[jives]

Credit card, AAA card.

 

[bczygan]

My wife Julie with out a doubt.

I like to look at the scenery while driving, and she has yelled at me too many times to count, and saved me from accidents. She also has wiggled wires under the hood, and gotten the car going many times.

Plus, I get to use an extra 20% off coupon and get an extra free item when I take her to HF on her birthday, anniversary, valentines day, etc.

Bill

 

[2level]

What one thing are you so glad you had in your truck or car that totally saved your a$$ and why?

A valve spring compressor. I was on I-5, driving my street/strip car, heading back home from the dragstrip, and my engine starts popping and banging, then loses power -- won't maintain speed at all. Push the clutch in, and the engine won't even accelerate with zero load. Fuel pressure is normal, and spark is good. I had previous valve spring breakage issues, so I packed spare ones, and a LSM on-cylinder-head spring compressor. Good thing, because 5 valve springs were broken.

 

[ambenz]

A spare key, bailing wire, duct tape, vise grips, and a good multi-tool. I carry all these however it was my wife's pantyhose that allowed me to jury rig a fanbelt good enough to get me into a autoparts store in town. Of course we had to go shopping to replace her pantyhose.

It was an expensive fix as she bought $100 in stuff because it was on sale. UG!

I now replace my belt at 20,000 miles and keep it as a spare.

 

[Lelandwelds]

I used to keep a spare key wired on top of the catalytic and two twenties folded and taped under the dash. I keep a basic toolkit in the trunk. I carry a cell, a knife, and a flashlight.

It has worked good so far but just one thing? No. I have had the weirdest stuff happen to me... you couldn't make this stuff up.

 

[Red Voodoo]

I guess my stars were aligned on a particular day many years ago. I was driving my '76 Honda Civic, and had just crested a viaduct when the belt driving the water pump and alternator broke. I took it out of gear and coasted, fingers crossed that the traffic light at he bottom of the viaduct stayed green. It did, and I coasted through and continued nearly a HALF-MILE. I couldn't believe the little car would coast that far on flat ground. Anyway, I rolled into a shopping center parking lot (fortunately the entry slopped down), right into a parking space. There just happened to be a Western Auto there in those days. Even more miraculously, I had a basic tool kit in the car (no idea why, because I didn't usually carry tools). Walked into the WA and came out with the required belt. Ten minutes later I was back on my way.
So, several things saved my assets that day.

 

[MatBirch]

A harbor freight 12v test light. On my motorcycle. Many, many miles from NOTHING and the battery lug breaks off! After a little figuring, I was able to use the heavy duty ground clamp (roach clip), and by boring a hole through it with my Swiss Army knife, I bolted the wires to it and clamped it on the little nub left on the battery. Lasted the rest of the trip, and another 6 months around home.

 

[poppinjohnnies]

Bailing wire. I can't tell you the number of times I've gotten by in a pinch because I had a hank of bailing wire handy. From cinching down a loose load to holding up exhaust pipes to makeshift filler rod for gas welding, this stuff is a must have - at least around here in farm country it is.

 

[DGersic]

Jumper cables and a tow strap. When I worked in an office, I was the guy to go to if you needed a jump or the snow plow had buried your car.


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[rockettgpw]

My own brain, determination and a lot of luck.
Driving a 1986 Brumby (Brat) on a 1700km trip after fitting "good" 2nd hand front cv shafts, early on day two there was a crunch bang wizzzzzzzz and progress was halted. Looking underneath while jacked up it was clear that one of the "good" shafts wasn't so good after all. It had chewed up and spat out all of the balls with 500km left till home.
Hummmmmm said self now WTF do I do AHH, this is a 4WD with the back axle being the one that gets disconnected in 2wd, so pull it into 4wd and drive the rest of the way while praying to the gods of road tripping that the empty cv on the front didn't completely fall apart or bind up and wipe out any more bits.
Another time in a Falcon ute with 351 and BW 4 speed, the clutch slave cylinder had had enough of hanging on to the bell housing due to it being spaced out on COPPER tube to clear the extractors. Had to start it in gear at the lights and soft shift the gears while cruising and then slip it to neutral and roll to the red lights and play the switch off, put in first, crank starter game all over again till home. Thankfully it had a good starter and battery.
I am so flipping glad to not have to drive junkers any more!!

 

[ddawg16]

What saved my ***? A buddy who backed up my alibi

 

[ddawg16]

to the OP....great way to join the GJ with your first post

 

[bradleykd]

Another time in a Falcon ute with 351 and BW 4 speed, the clutch slave cylinder had had enough of hanging on to the bell housing due to it being spaced out on COPPER tube to clear the extractors. Had to start it in gear at the lights and soft shift the gears while cruising and then slip it to neutral and roll to the red lights and play the switch off, put in first, crank starter game all over again till home. Thankfully it had a good starter and battery.
I am so flipping glad to not have to drive junkers any more!!

When I was 18 I drove a Jeep like that for 3 weeks because my clutch master cylinder reservoir cap went missing. I was working 16 hour days and the parts stores were always closed when I was off work. After 3 weeks, I got a weekend off and went to a junkyard to get a cap.

 

[CoogarXR]

-Vise Grips- Driving my beater 1980 Mustang when suddenly the oil pressure drops to 0 and I smell smoke. I pull over and pop the hood. I see the plastic oil line for the pressure gauge burned off on the exhaust manifold. It's 3am, I'm in the ghetto, and I have no tools. I remembered the vise grips that I was using as a window crank (lol). I fold the line over and lock the vise grips on. It held all the way home.

-Hair tie- Driving my 87 cougar when suddenly the transmission starts shifting all over the place. I pull over and look under the car and under the hood. I notice the throttle-valve linkage popped off and the rubber bushing is gone (common problem). I was rocking a mean mullet at the time, and I kept hair ties in the ash tray for work, lol. I connected the linkage and wrapped the hair tie around the linkage and the throttle in a figure-8 until it was snug. It worked great. Matter of fact, I forgot all about it and it stayed on there for years, lol.

 

[Throbbin Rods]

I always have my Leatherman on my belt and it has bailed me out more times than I can count. In the old days I always used to keep coat hangers in my car, useful for tying up exhaust, opening locked cars, and occasionally hanging up a shirt. For many years I have always kept $50 stashed in the truck for emergencies. Couple years ago I went to look at an outboard that was for sale. Negotiated a decent price after trying it out and loaded it. Guy had been talking about a boat he wanted gone because it had galvanic or electrolytic corrosion on the bottom with holes through the aluminum. As I was leaving there was a beautiful 16' Lund parked at the end of the driveway. I backed up, verified it was the boat he wanted to get rid of, and asked how much. He said $600 and I started counting and gathering. Emergency $50 out of the hiding place in the wallet. cleaned out my pockets and wallet, counted it up, then remembered the stashed $50 in the truck. I came up with $261 dollars. I told the guy "I appreciate the deal on the motor and I don't want to insult you but if I don't make the offer I will kick myself in the **** for years." He hemmed and hawed, allowed that he couldn't let it go for that, and as we chatted about other things he said "Hell with it, give me $260, I'll take no man's last dollar" He let me take his trailer to being it home. It's up to be done first this coming spring. I did replace the emergency $50 in the truck and will never be without it.

 

[Ggg]

Ratchet straps, knife, TP, super glue

 

[siegsuwa]

Multi-tool (SOG, Leatherman have been my favorites). Ok… story time.

So here I was, just landed in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania (East Africa), and got picked up by the driver my co-workers pre-arranged to make the 5-hour drive into the interior of the company to the railroad site where I would be working. I load my gear, jump in the van, and off we go, except that we aren't leaving the city just yet. The driver explains to me that in order to control the traffic congestion, only vehicles with certain number plates are allowed to drive on the main road out of Dar to our destination, and that we're going to visit a friend that has a plate we can swap out.

So we drive into this absolute slum like you'd see on National Geographic where everything is made out of poorly patched together corrugated tin sheets, and the driver meets his friend and gets the plate. Out to the corner service station, where they had some "mechanics" hanging out by the gas station, and he asks them to swap the plate for him since should have the tools. Well as you could expect, the existing plate screws are totally rusted and these guys said they can't do it. Alright, my driver says, off to the "mechanics street" where surely those guys can get it done.

So we drive another 20 minutes to this narrow, dirt road that looks like it's straight out of Black Hawk Down with a bunch of guys hanging out attempting to fix a myriad of broken **** around them. No jacks or ramp, just some dugout ditches on the side of the road that they used as 2ft deep service pits. On the whole street they probably had about 1/2 a set of tools collectively. So the driver starts walking around and talking to different guys trying to find someone to swap this plate. After a few attempts with the wrong size screwdrivers and sockets, the rusted screw was totally rounded off. I'm pretty frustrated because I just landed from a 30 hour trip and have 5 more hours to go, so I start digging through the limited tools I had brought with me and found my multitool in my bag. After a few attempts at with the pliers and brute force, one screw came off and the other screw was still stuck. At this point I had generated a crowd to watch the foreigner work. Well, this screw wasn't coming off, and we weren't getting anywhere without a plate, so I told the driver I was going to pull the plate through and over the screw. So I wallowed out the hole a bit and used the pliers to pry the plate over the rusted screw. Then I found some string and wire in the street, cut it to size, and just tied that damn plate on the back of the van. Good enough for Tanzania. About 5 hours and 3 police stops/bribes later, we made it to our destination.

 

[Seppala]

Arriving at work I found my clutch linkage on my '72 Dodge Dart was not working properly. I thought it might be a simple adjustment. Turns out I needed to replace a portion of the linkage. At the time I was working as a blacksmith at a living history museum so it was no problem forging a new part.

 

[Thirdyfivepickup]

Multi-tool (SOG, Leatherman have been my favorites). Ok… story time.

Great story. Reads like something I'd see in a movie.

 

[Jeepermike]

A couple that stand out. 2 weeks ago on vacation I forgot to pack door surrounds for my Jeep top. Needless to say the was a 2"-3" gap around the door and it poured rain most of the time. Ended up using pipe insulation to seal the top. Worked like a charm and kept us dry even on the highway. Another time wheeling and a friend ripped off a bolt on rear track bar bracket. Used ratchet straps to get him to the trailhead and he went back to camp to get a trailer.

 

[Woz]

A multitool or some basic hand tools seem to provide the solution to many of our problems. I was on vacation in the middle of nowhere near Glacier National park with a friend. The exhaust pipe on his Audi blew out ahead of the muffler. We tried driving with the failed pipe but it was too loud and we needed to fix the leak. A pair of pliers, a cut up pop can and some wire liberated from a road side fence solved the problem until the exhaust system was replaced in Great Falls.

The shift lever on my 1978 Ford Capri snapped off while I was in traffic. I got a 3/8 socket and drive handle from my small tool kit. The socket fit over the remaining stub of the shift lever and I drove the car that way for several days until the replacement part was available at the dealer. The broken shift lever was one several vehicle recalls for that vehicle.