Weirdest patch jobs

[GreeCguy]

Seems from another post, there are many opinions on how to properly patch a leaky tire. It got me to thinking about creative tire patches I and others have used in the past.

More than once, when patching an inner tube on a tractor or truck, I have patched the leak with Duct Tape - it worked amazingly well. The pressure of the tube pressing against the tire held the duct tape in place nicely and I've had these kinds of patches last for years, (especially on tractor tires).

One time I broke the valve stem off while driving "off road." I wasn't hot-rodding, simply pulled too close to a tree with low branches and one of these branches broke the valve stem completely off but left the "base" of the valve stem in place. I had a little 12 volt pump and had kept the different "fittings" that come with the pump. I took a self tapping sheet metal screw, wrapped it with electrical tape, and had that ready to go. I then put one of the pump fittings, (the one that looks like a little pipe), and held it against the valve base and inflated the tire. When it had about 30 pounds pressure, I quickly ran the sheet metal screw wrapped with electrical tape into the valve stem base. It worked so well I drove on it for about a week before fixing it properly.

A similar situation happened about two years ago on the now world famous "Luv" machine - pulled too close to an orange tree and busted the valve stem off at the base. It didn't break it off entirely but left it hanging on the wheel. I took my pocket knife, cut the valve stem off while leaving the base of the valve stem still in the wheel. I then whittled the rubber off half the valve stem down to the metal center and cut a smooth joint on the valve stem rubber to join with the rubber on the valve stem base. Next, I coated the metal part of the valve stem in rubber cement and gently worked it into the valve base and let it sit for about 20 minutes. Aired it up and it holds air to this day.

And finally, my nephew is a roofer by trade. He does torch down roofs and one day on the job, a nail punctured the sidewall of the tire on his truck. He pulled the nail out, put a piece of roofing material over the hole, torched it, aired the tire back up and drove probably 20 miles to the tire store for a new tire. I told him he should have kept driving on it to see how long it would have held.

Anyone else have any amazing patch stories to share for future emergency situations?

 

[Stelth]

I knew a guy who would take a screw, wrap it with teflon tape, and use that to patch a nail hole. Trouble was, he wouldn't fix it right after that. He would just keep putting ever larger screws in. Nonetheless, it could be a good emergency technique.

I keep tire plugs and the tools in my garage. The reason is that I went to get a nail hole patched once, and the tire guys said they couldn't do it because the tread was too low. Nuts to that, I'll decide for myself when to buy a new tire. I went to the local Kragen, got the Monkey Grip tire plug kit, and I've been happily plugging tires ever since. Haven't had one fail yet.

 

[SatinSilver]

About a year ago I went to Walmart to have my tires rotated. They were badly worn especially on the inner part of the tire. The older tech from Walmart who looks like a Marine came in and said normally I wouldn't rotate these tires because of the wear but if you sign a waiver he would do it. So I signed it and had some new tires from DTD installed there shortly after.

A month or two later I went back to have a flat fixed and got the same guy who was hesitant to rotate the old tires I had. Even the cashier lady was complaining about how mean he is. After he was done fixing the tire he came in to tell me it was a hard piece of plastic that punctured the tire and he's only seen that a few times while fixing flats. I asked are you sure that tire is ok? Without hesitating he said oh yes completely fine. I'm sure if the repair was questionable he wouldn't do it. Since he comes across as a stickler which is the exact kind of person I want working on the car.

 

[demarpaint]

Eljefino [thanks] suggested using lead flashing to repair a rotted oil pan I had in my 93 Aerostar. I drained the oil overnight, cleaned the exterior of the pan the best I could, and used RTV sealant to hold the lead I molded to conform to the shape of the oil pan. I got over 20,000 more miles out of her before junking it. I wasn't about to invest the time or money to properly fix it. Rot, busted windshield, bad exhaust, and a shot suspension ultimately claimed her.

 

[Stelth]

Originally Posted By: demarpaint
Eljefino [thanks] suggested using lead flashing to repair a rotted oil pan I had in my 93 Aerostar. I drained the oil overnight, cleaned the exterior of the pan the best I could, and used RTV sealant to hold the lead I molded to conform to the shape of the oil pan. I got over 20,000 more miles out of her before junking it. I wasn't about to invest the time or money to properly fix it. Rot, busted windshield, bad exhaust, and a shot suspension ultimately claimed her.


Funny you should say that. Some years ago, I decided to put a drain plug on a transmission pan on an Olds Cutlass I had. I drilled the hole without checking for clearance.

So, of course, it wouldn't go back on. So I drilled another hole in a good spot, and soldered a piece of galvanized sheet metal over the first hole. It held for the rest of the time I had the car.

 

[flanso]

Originally Posted By: Stelth
I knew a guy who would take a screw, wrap it with teflon tape, and use that to patch a nail hole. Trouble was, he wouldn't fix it right after that. He would just keep putting ever larger screws in.

And he saved the expense of having to buy studded snow tires.

 

[Chris142]

I broke a leaf spring out inn the desert. We used about 12 hose clamps and hose clamped a large wrench to the spring. Got me home about 50 miles.

 

[friendly_jacek]

My daughter curbed one of my good tires in my car. The thing would slowly leak air. I could not find a hole. Finally I sprayed the whole thing with soap and found a very slow leak smack in the middle of sidewall. No belt damage I could see. Knowing that tire is not repairable, I googled just for fun. There was one guy who would fix sidewall leaks by using green tire slime while laying tire flat, hole down, and then inflating, forcing slime inside the hole. I tried that and the tire is still good and leak free 15,000 miles later.

 

[GreeCguy]

I was thinking tires, but as long as we're on creative fixes - some years back, the belt driving the alternator/water pump broke on a friends car in the middle of the night in the middle of no where. He pulled off his tee-shirt and with his pocket knife, cut the hem from the bottom of the shirt and then used that as a drive belt for his water pump/alternator to get him home. Worked just fine.

It was with this in mind that I used a pair of panty hose one time to replace the drive belt for a water pump/alternator. Rather than using the waist band, I cut off one of the legs and tied it tight around the pulleys and then cut off the excess. Just for clarity, the panty hose didn't belong to me.

 

[demarpaint]

I remember years ago we made a trip from L.I. to Lake George, NY. My buddy had just gotten his new 1973 Plymouth Satellite and he was checking oil and fluids at his house in Rosedale before the trip. Then he came to pick me up in Valley Stream around 9:00 PM to leave. The plan was to beat the traffic leaving the Island late after work and rush hour. Around 11:30 PM we're on the Northway somewhere between Albany and Lake George. The car begins to overheat. We pull over and notice the radiator cap was never tightened down. I must have distracted him when I called him earlier that evening. This was when you actually had to go inside the house to take a call. LOL All we had was Molson Red and the ice/water keeping it cool. We let the car cool a bit, poured the water from the cooler in, and some of the Molson Red. We capped off the radiator and continued on our way. We kept that mix in the car the entire trip.

 

[GreeCguy]

Originally Posted By: demarpaint
I remember years ago we made a trip from L.I. to Lake George, NY. My buddy had just gotten his new 1973 Plymouth Satellite and he was checking oil and fluids at his house in Rosedale before the trip. Then he came to pick me up in Valley Stream around 9:00 PM to leave. The plan was to beat the traffic leaving the Island late after work and rush hour. Around 11:30 PM we're on the Northway somewhere between Albany and Lake George. The car begins to overheat. We pull over and notice the radiator cap was never tightened down. I must have distracted him when I called him earlier that evening. This was when you actually had to go inside the house to take a call. LOL All we had was Molson Red and the ice/water keeping it cool. We let the car cool a bit, poured the water from the cooler in, and some of the Molson Red. We capped off the radiator and continued on our way. We kept that mix in the car the entire trip.


Cool story, but I think I would have let the car cool a bit longer, drank the beer, then topped off the rad with "other fluids."

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted By: GreeCguy
Originally Posted By: demarpaint
I remember years ago we made a trip from L.I. to Lake George, NY. My buddy had just gotten his new 1973 Plymouth Satellite and he was checking oil and fluids at his house in Rosedale before the trip. Then he came to pick me up in Valley Stream around 9:00 PM to leave. The plan was to beat the traffic leaving the Island late after work and rush hour. Around 11:30 PM we're on the Northway somewhere between Albany and Lake George. The car begins to overheat. We pull over and notice the radiator cap was never tightened down. I must have distracted him when I called him earlier that evening. This was when you actually had to go inside the house to take a call. LOL All we had was Molson Red and the ice/water keeping it cool. We let the car cool a bit, poured the water from the cooler in, and some of the Molson Red. We capped off the radiator and continued on our way. We kept that mix in the car the entire trip.


Cool story, but I think I would have let the car cool a bit longer, drank the beer, then topped off the rad with "other fluids."


I won't lie, we did some drinking while we waited for the car to cool. LOL

 

[friendly_jacek]

Originally Posted By: GreeCguy
Just for clarity, the panty hose didn't belong to me.


I'm glad you clarified. If we are on non-tires fixes, a couple of years ago I noticed CV joint leaking grease through a very small puncture hole near the shaft. It was probably damaged when dealership replaced tranny some months ago. Since the warranty expired, I glued a bicycle rubber patch on and reinforced by a couple if zip ties. Works fine since.

 

[CapriRacer]

I feel obligated to point something out:

Tire failures at speed can be very dangerous. The magic speed seems to be 35 mph. Anything above that speed can result in enough loss of control to hit an object HASRD (like a curb or a guardrail) - and sometimes tragic things happen after that.

I do NOT want anyone to become part of that statistic.

 

[friendly_jacek]

Good point CapriRacer.
The ones who had problems (at high speed) are not here to talk about it.

Although I survived a total tire blowout/thread separation once at 70 MPH or so in a little Datsun car. Fortunately, it was in a rear wheel. The noise was horrible, but the car didn't do anything crazy in terms of pulling to sides, etc. By the time I stopped, there was little left of the tire. The worst part was installing the spare in on a busy hwy late at night.

I also had a tire do the same thing in a boat trailer at 65 MPH or so, but that's a bit different thing altogether.

Now I can easily recognize the typical helicopter sound of a separating tire.

 

[y_p_w]

Not necessarily weird because of the method of doing it, but because of the guy doing it.

I just suffered a flat tire and limped to a gas station on the compact spare. This is the kind of place that still had a couple of service bays (my neighborhood gas stations still does). It's the kind of place that has a limited selection of tires in stock and mounting equipment. So I ask if they can patch the tires, and I'm told it's $18. Seems OK since a new tire was about $70 and there was enough tread left to justify. So I park there, they take off the tire from the rim, and the service guy is patching the tire. But while he's doing it he's dragging on a cigarette at a gas station and doing so while using rubber cement.

The strangest stories I've heard of were repairs done without mounting equipment. I've heard of someone dumping gasoline inside a tire and throwing in a match to get it the bead to seal against the flange.

As for odd patches, I was once an avid bicyclist and ended up patching quite a few inner tubes. I had some doozies, including a nail that punctured completely through the tire, twice through the inner tube, and though the rim tape and rim. The wheel was still true after all that. I heard a little click click click and found that there was still pressure in the tire even with a nail sticking though. It was a Michelin bike tire and still OK since the hole sealed well enough after taking out the nail. However, that's not quite as nuts as the recommended repair I saw in a bike maintenance guide once. They recommended for tubular (aka "sew ups") tires that the inner tube could be repaired even though they were sewn into the tire casing at the factory. They're actually glued onto the rim and are supposed to be lighter and more responsive than "clinchers" where the rim holds against a bead. The guide recommended that the casing could be separated at the seam around the repair area, and that a small piece of inner tube rubber could be placed against the puncture area without any glue. The rationale was that the pressure of the tire would press the tube against the patch and it would self seal. I didn't really buy it. I talked to some people who rode on sew ups, and if they needed to repair one (a real pain because they had to be hand sewn for any repair) they would still used glue. Occasionally I played with the tubes that I'd repaired, and a properly glued inner tube patch would stretch just like the rest of the tube and not leak or blow off.