Anyone else carry a tiny trolley jack and breaker bar in their trunk?

[guybo]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

You live in Florida where cars can last forever. When we are talking "old" junkers we drove in the 70s and 80s the car may have only been 5 or 6 years old. They take far more abuse in the Canadian climate.
His whole point was that we were indeed able to make those repairs on the side of the road back then.
Yes the modern cars last far far longer now but if I blow a water pump there is not a hope in hell of changing it on the side of the road. I am also not picking up a beater for $75 and driving it for a year with a total repair and maintenance budget of $50. Some of us actually had to do that back in the day.

I only moved here 10 years ago. I lived in New England most of my life.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by guybo

I only moved here 10 years ago. I lived in New England most of my life.

Well then you should know better!
Unless you are under about 45 years old when the "old " cars were from the 80s and already becoming unrepairable on the side of the road. If that is the case I understand the confusion when we talk about emergency repairs on our beaters.

[new2subaru]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

You live in Florida where cars can last forever. When we are talking "old" junkers we drove in the 70s and 80s the car may have only been 5 or 6 years old. They take far more abuse in the Canadian climate.
His whole point was that we were indeed able to make those repairs on the side of the road back then.
Yes the modern cars last far far longer now but if I blow a water pump there is not a hope in hell of changing it on the side of the road. I am also not picking up a beater for $75 and driving it for a year with a total repair and maintenance budget of $50. Some of us actually had to do that back in the day.

I drove a 70something Acadian for 3-4 years and put a $12 carb kit in it. Normal maintenance too, of course, which cost nothing.

All of my car were junkers back then except one. I had a Mazda RX-7 for a couple of years until I had a kid. After that, 3 decades of work trucks.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by new2subaru

I drove a 70something Acadian for 3-4 years and put a $12 carb kit in it. Normal maintenance too, of course, which cost nothing.

All of my car were junkers back then except one. I had a Mazda RX-7 for a couple of years until I had a kid. After that, 3 decades of work trucks.

Yep. The safety laws were much less strict back then and a junker could cost between $50 and $500 to buy and put on the road. You could not get away with that now and anybody much younger than 45 or 50 think we are full of shit when we talk about them. The end development of fuel injection and electronic control modules pretty much killed the ability to the basic repairs needed to keep a junker on the road. Didn't help that in the mid 80s most places really tightened up the safety requirements to even get your plates.

[new2subaru]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Yep. The safety laws were much less strict back then and a junker could cost between $50 and $500 to buy and put on the road. You could not get away with that now and anybody much younger than 45 or 50 think we are full of shit when we talk about them. The end development of fuel injection and electronic control modules pretty much killed the ability to the basic repairs needed to keep a junker on the road. Didn't help that in the mid 80s most places really tightened up the safety requirements to even get your plates.

I'm 54. I remember the fist "seat belt check" I went through. Of course, my wife and I weren't wearing our "lap belts" in our Dodge Dart. We had two car seats in the back with a case of beer between them (NO KIDS, don't panic!)

The car was paid for in cash and had no ownership, no sticker, the plates didn't belong to it, had no insurance and the officer new it. He asked me to put the beer in the drunk out of reach and let us go.

YES SIR! RIGHT AWAY SIR!

Times are very different now

[extrashaky]

Originally Posted by new2subaru

He asked me to put the beer in the drunk out of reach and let us go.

Freudian slip?

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Yep. The safety laws were much less strict back then and a junker could cost between $50 and $500 to buy and put on the road. You could not get away with that now and anybody much younger than 45 or 50 think we are full of shit when we talk about them. The end development of fuel injection and electronic control modules pretty much killed the ability to the basic repairs needed to keep a junker on the road. Didn't help that in the mid 80s most places really tightened up the safety requirements to even get your plates.

Yep, I recall dragging a 1937 Chevrolet pick-up out of a farmers barnyard.

No registration, no title, before VINs, and got plates for that puppy ...... how you ask ..... ?? I honestly don't remember .....

Yep, if it broke down on the road, I would pull out my mechanics kit (a screwdriver, match book cover (to set the points), a crescent wrench, roll of electrical tape, length of baling wire and a pail (to get water out of a ditch when it overheated)).

Yep, that puppy would roar to life ........ for another few miles ......


humfrz

[extrashaky]

You know who still does all this?

Jeepers.

A lot of crawlers carry spare axle shafts, bearings, alternators, drive shafts, even engine parts and swap them out right on the trail. People have done transfer case swaps in situ. People even weld up broken stuff using car batteries.

I actually have one of these to eventually be installed in one of the Jeeps. It turns the vehicle into a gas powered stick/MIG welder for field repairs. It comes with a high output alternator and a throttle control to control the output of the engine while welding.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by extrashaky

You know who still does all this?

Jeepers.

A lot of crawlers carry spare axle shafts, bearings, alternators, drive shafts, even engine parts and swap them out right on the trail. People have done transfer case swaps in situ. People even weld up broken stuff using car batteries.

I actually have one of these to eventually be installed in one of the Jeeps. It turns the vehicle into a gas powered stick/MIG welder for field repairs. It comes with a high output alternator and a throttle control to control the output of the engine while welding.

Oh I could have used that so many times back in the day!

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Oh I could have used that so many times back in the day!

Sorry, Tcoat ...... but that wouldn't have welded rusted out, Canadian automobile parts back together again ........





humfrz

[Th3rdSun]

I use to keep a small trolley jack in the trunk of my 200SX,but the hydraulic seal ended up failing. Probably from keeping it in there during sub zero temps during winter.

Now I have a shitty set of hand tools and a tire pump that plugs into the cigarette lighter jack.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by humfrz

Sorry, Tcoat ...... but that wouldn't have welded rusted out, Canadian automobile parts back together again ........





humfrz

Nope, that was beyond any welding but would have been great when doing small jobs.

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Nope, that was beyond any welding but would have been great when doing small jobs.

Maybe, like fixing a leak in the radiator ......??


humfrz

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by humfrz

Maybe, like fixing a leak in the radiator ......??


humfrz

With a MIG welder? Just what part would be leaking?
Besides we both know a handful of saw dust was all you needed for most leaks.