Your best McGyver fix on the trail?

[old_man]

I took the teeth off the Dana44 rear pinion on Poison Spider Moab. The broken teeth in the case kept locking up the gears.

I ended up having to jack up the rear, pull both axles, pull the carrier, then remove the ring gear. I cleaned out the housing and reassembled everything and drove out in Front Wheel Drive only. Several climbs were a problem and I had to turn around and back up them to get the weight transfer onto the driven wheels to get enough traction. By the time I got off the trail, I had half the tread on the front tires as I did in the back.

I got back to town, bought a gear set and master install and did a gear setup without a shop. I was back wheeling a day later. Still running those gears today after 100k+ miles.

 

[old_man]

My second best field repair was on a buddies transfer case. We were in the boonies of Utah probably 75 miles from the nearest town or phone and he dropped his tcase on a rock. He punched a golf ball sized hole in the bottom.

I carry a propane torch and some AlumaWeld high zinc content aluminum repair rod in addition to standard brazing rod and flux. We pulled his case apart and cleaned it. I wet some sand and tamped the case down in the sand as backing. I used the torch to puddle fill the hole with the welding rod. After cooling and cleaning, we put it back together. We refilled the case with ATF and headed home. He still hasn't gotten around to replacing the casting. That was 7 years ago and probably 120,000 miles ago.

 

[000]

Not my fix, but a buddy of mine just did this. A tow strap and duct tape made into a belt to bypass the frozen idler pulley to keep his water pump working to get home. The video of it in action was scary, but it worked.

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