Worst things you've seen on other peoples rigs

hscrugby

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 22, 2005
Location
Raleigh, NC
OK, helping a buddy replace his flywheel.
He just bought the #@*(#)($@)($@ Jeep a few months ago.
So it's been eating starters, so I pull the starter, (after seeing if anyone could think of anything besides the flywheel, wishful thinking you know?)
and see the flywheel is toast.
we agree to replace it, but it has some other issues to fix first. Bad tie rod ends, valve cover seal, some other crap. We fix all that, and I'm noticing some weird stuff, like zip ties zip tied to more zip ties to route the coolant lines for the heater to the firewall. But whatever, nothing to bad.
We get underneath to drop the transmission. That's where the weirdness starts.
First the Transmission "mount" is a piece of 1x1 box steel with some holes in it. It ain't gonna wear out I guess?
Get past that and figure out why the damn shifter is such a PITA. He ground out, (Or something, looks like he got freaky with a dremel) the grooves for the shifter, so it spins about 30-45 degrees as you try and shift. It ensures you bash the @#$# out of your fingers on your dashboard or center console.

So, we get past those, and realize we need to drop the exhaust to get the transmission off. (figured that was the case, but hoped to be lazy) I look at the exhaust, and something is weird. Instead of the O2 sensor in it's hole, there is a BIG FAWKING BOLT. bigger than the o2 sensor jammed in there. AND tacked in place with a big booger of a weld.
WTF?
So I say whatever, it's registered in Central Va, you're fine with no emissions?
We go to take the flange gasket from the header off, you know, two bolts, with two nuts on them?
Well, usually, he broke one of the heads off, so he just booger welded all over the top where the bolt head SHOULD be.

(Not to mention the usual annoying/weird jeep stuff that I planned on)

I know these aren't to horrid, but what's the worst you guys have seen? Not really like the mexican guy welding the gas tank under the 2x4 unsafe, but just made you say WTF was that asshat thinking?

Cheers

(oh and if anyone is wondering, no I still haven't fixed his damn flywheel)
 
My girlfriend's comanche appears to have been owned by an electrician in a previous life(found business cards and lots of stuff like wire nuts and connectors inder seats/carpet)

i hope that not the case though, because the wiring on that thing is all jacked up and im still trying to figure it out
lots of rigged up stuff like turn signals were wired in with switches on the dash, he used the strip wire, wrap around the other wire, then black tape method, no connectors of any sort on most of the stuff, and wires hanging everywhere.....

not that bad, but makes it a pain to get all the lights working, and thats all thats stopping it from being able to be inspected, i am thinking about just starting the wiring over for most of the stuff that was "fixed" in the past
 
On my friend's truck, the PO regeared the transmission instead of the differentials. Or my old XJ had a half-assed attempt at an AW4 "manu-matic" switch set up that did nothing but fry the transmission. Or where there was a push-button start for no reason, or the plastic cigarette box wedged between the roof skin and a roof support.
 
The front crossmember on my 79 Chevy (which braces the steering box and is a mount for the swaybar) was "notched" with a torch to fit the swapped-in Cummins. It should be 8-10 inches tall, but was cut in a "U" down to about 2 inches high in the middle. One upper mounting rivet had come out and had been replaced with a loose, cross-threaded bolt/nut. The other upper mount was torched off when the frame was notched to clear the A/C compressor. I could shake the crossmember by hand. Who would think that it was fine to leave it like that? :confused:

I replaced with another crossmember, only notching 0.5-1 inch in 2 places, and replaced all rivets with Grade 8 bolts. I made a new upper mount on the passenger side where the frame was notched. It was a pain in the a$$, but the front end of the truck no longer clunks when turning.

The shifter stalk coming out of the trans had been broken off by the previous owner power-shifting, and he booger welded it back with no penetration, so the stick came off in my hand while at the scrap yard. I re-welded it properly (IMHO) with no problems since. :driver:
On my friend's K5, he had a bungee cord and a tennis shoe holding the battery in, and it fell over, shorted, and melted a hole in the metal inner fender.

I bought a 76 Buick Electra 4-door at a Greensboro abandoned/impounded vehicle auction, and wondered why it was sitting so low in the rear. The coil springs had been totally removed in the rear, and they were driving it around that way! :huggy: This had bent one of the lower control arms. Lucky they kept the coil springs in the trunk, so I popped them back in and then derbied it. In the trunk was also a spare transmission, metal car ramps, and a creeper - I guess so they could replace the trans on the fly if it broke down on the road? :confused: They had also tried to rig up some kind of in-car camera setup with a switch, I guess so they could take pics of themselves while driving (or doing other stuff) in the car, but the camera was some 1950s $10 camera that didn't work. Weird.
 
Worst thing I ever saw was some fool in Apex taking 2 days+ to do a brake job on the front of a '79 Chevy 1-ton, I mean jeez!!! :flipoff2:
 
Seems things I have seen in the past come in "spells"
Bought three different Jeeps, with knowledge of a bad engine, turned out to be a busted diaphragm in the fuel pump, pushing gas in the oil, a couple of oil changes, and they purred.

Over the years I don't know how many I have bought that didn't have a thermostat in them. So in town driving they would run hot, put a thermostat in them and problem solved.

While working at the machine shop, I saw orange RTV on Main bolts???
I saw a exhaust manifold welded to a head with both JB and a booger arc weld.

I have saw shackles so long then bent the leaf spring the wrong way.

2X4's in place of body mounts

got behind a truck a month or so back, that had one U-bolt on each side, and yes, he was driving it on I-40!

a gallon antifreeze coolant jug as a reservoir( opppsss that's mine) LOL

I hate seeing wiring with black tape and a shaved space in the middle of the wiring

Booger welds from hell, with no penetration at all. (buzz boxes should be against the law)

WOW, I am old, this could go on all day LOL
 
When I got my Commando, the SOA conversion was already done. To "fix" the steering, they cut the draglink in half, added a 4"x8" piece of 1/8" diamond plate and welded it together to make a sort of Z-link.
The front seats were from a toyota pickup. Covered in duct tape and old t-shirts, they were epitome of style and comfort. For mounting, the PO could not be bothered with brackets. He simply cut two 2"x4"s the width of the seat mounts, laid them on the floor and ran a bolt through the middle. To mount the seats, one would think wood screws would be the mounting method of choice, but he went old school. Thats right, a 10 p nail through the mount, into the board, and bent over for the ultimate in function.
The rear bumper was a 5' long piece 5" pipe. It weighed about 80 lbs and had a "hitch" of sorts welded to it. It hung down to a ball mount about 8" off the ground. Made a nice plow.
One of the front brake lines was blocked off with a cross threaded bolt in the line.
The tranny and t-case were sitting on the x member with a chain welded to each side...
Wait a minute, why did I but this thing again?
 
thecarman said:
On my friend's K5, he had a bungee cord and a tennis shoe holding the battery in, and it fell over, shorted, and melted a hole in the metal inner fender.
Click to expand...

LOL!:lol: :lol: :lol:

A tennis shoe! WTF?
 
Awesome!!

Quote "In the trunk was also a spare transmission, metal car ramps, and a creeper - I guess so they could replace the trans on the fly if it broke down on the road? They had also tried to rig up some kind of in-car camera setup with a switch, I guess so they could take pics of themselves while driving (or doing other stuff) in the car, but the camera was some 1950s $10 camera that didn't work. Weird."

Freaky Actually!! :confused: WTF!!!????


I have seen/well actually rode in this... homeade body lift blocks out of square tubing w/ ordinary carriage bolts in there & they flew out around corners. Also lugnuts come off of trucks & trailers where wheels flew off down the interstate. Also same guy bought a mustang w/ old like kitchen floor tiles bondo'd in and painted over.

My other friend welded up 2 truck frames w/ angle iron spacers (like a 3 foot body lift) together on a 2wd truck with running gear (axles) on bottom frame & drivetrain(motor & tranny) in top frame...Ran this back home in flood waters of the Mississippi River w/ boat in tow in case you got stuck.( ie liferaft)

I have water skied in a river behind an ATV running down the top of a levee..

One time we hooked a cable from the road up to a Billboard w/ a Real Canoe & lifesize statue of Mark Twain paddling along....yanked that thing down & drove all over town pulling it down back roads w/ Sparks flying everywhere...Couple beers involved on that escapade...!!!

Man I could go on & on here!!!
 
Not nearly as impressive as carman's finds, but my Jeep had a cool isolator in lieu of straps between the gas tank and skidplate...a carpet sample. That thing not only held moisuture and mud, causing the tank to rust out, but it did a good job of holding absorbing leaking gas and masking the leak. I didnt realize it was a carpet sample until I finally dropped the tank for replacement.
 
Rich said:
Worst thing I ever saw was some fool in Apex taking 2 days+ to do a brake job on the front of a '79 Chevy 1-ton, I mean jeez!!! :flipoff2:
Click to expand...

DAMMIT!!! :flipoff2:

I heard you bump the train horn last night when you drove past. I took one wheel off Sunday evening to verify that I needed new brake pads, then picked the pads up Monday night on my way to Graham to listen to the Alamance County commissioners pass a new ordinance so that I can't keep vehicles on the land I own out there. :rolleyes: Then I put the new pads on last night, along with new drag link ends. Have to go to Greensboro tonite to review then plans for our new house :bounce: so then Thurs I'll get to tighten up the drag link stuff and grease it, and will then (hopefully) be good to go. :)
 
thecarman said:
DAMMIT!!! :flipoff2:
I heard you bump the train horn last night when you drove past. I took one wheel off Sunday evening to verify that I needed new brake pads, then picked the pads up Monday night on my way to Graham to listen to the Alamance County commissioners pass a new ordinance so that I can't keep vehicles on the land I own out there. :rolleyes: Then I put the new pads on last night, along with new drag link ends. Have to go to Greensboro tonite to review then plans for our new house :bounce: so then Thurs I'll get to tighten up the drag link stuff and grease it, and will then (hopefully) be good to go. :)
Click to expand...


OK, sorry.. 4+ days. :fuck-you:
 
I saw a Dana 35 on my jeep one time.
 
Bought a Saturn once, first mistake, it was only 4 or 5 years old and the engine mounts were bad, when replacing them I found that the PO had jacked the engine up and dug out the rubber and put several pieces of garden hose in it to help vibrations. Also found out those vibrations loosened alot of bolts. Another thing I saw was an "amigo" pulled up next to me at a stoplight, his spoiler on his car was made of two old oil filters with a 2X4 laying across them, he had every neon and flourecent color Krylon makes on his car too, though it was pretty funny.
 
The people I bought my K5 from used a lug nut to hold one of the rear shocks on, and a table leg to hold up the alternator. It was in good condition, just some of their doings were ghetto. To say the least, it has been fixed.
 
Honestly though, the one that takes the cake -

I once saw this Windshield sticker that said "BEAST INC"
 
Honestly though, the one that takes the cake -

I once saw this Windshield sticker that said "BEAST INC"
Click to expand...

HAHAHA!

[/thread]
:flipoff2:
 
thecarman said:
DAMMIT!!! :flipoff2:
the Alamance County commissioners pass a new ordinance so that I can't keep vehicles on the land I own out there. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...


That sucks that a few people crying can get somthing like that passed. At least you made the news and probly will agin.......guy was there one day this week takin pics.
 
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