how to McGuiver a broken tie rod & get home...

[Lucky]

I broke a tierod on the way home from picking Spectre up from his job (the kid is bad luck, every time he gets in my van it breaks!)  anyway i called my other son to come and either pick us up or follow us home.  i didn't want to leave my van by the side of the road...

while waiting for him, i found a wire coat hanger (who even uses those anymore?) and wired the tie rod back together.  i could turn as long as we were moving & going slow..

well, we made a parade all the way home, 7-8 miles, even passing a cop along the way, who aparently never batted an eylash at the strange parade passing him by at 9:45 at night..

Guess what i'm doing Sunday...
--Lucky

[Rikugun]

Nice use of materials at hand! Over the years my family has had similar incidents with "woods" vehicles that broke down on the way to or from the lake. Those jeeps got little to no maintenance so it was inevitable I suppose. Vise grips, bailing wire, etc are your best friends at times like that.

Personally, I've never had that happen to my own car. But then again, I never let the steering components get that bad.....   ;)   :D   :o

[George R. Young]

Somewhat similar Vision tale. The nipple on the south end of the clutch cable departed, leaving me somewhat stranded. With a few loops of stranded electrical wire through the clutch actuator,  and a knot in the end of the clutch cable, I was able to shift happily for 1000 miles home.