My 80 4x2 pulls to the right a bit, is there a redneck home alignment I can do?
Sorta related, I read an article in a 4x4 magazine years ago about emergency backwoods repairs like mounting a gas can on the roof and gravity feeding the Carb when the fuel pump quits, anybody have any of those stories?

 

that could be any thing from tires to worn out steering linkage , you need to find out exactly what the problem is first !

 

I once used some roofing flashing, bungeed them to the wheels of my 88 so that I could get a tape measure to the flashing at both the front and rear of the front tires so I could set the toe after replacing tie rods. alot of guys just use the center tread on the tires but with the flashing I was able to get the toe to almost 1/16" accuracy. It was supposed to be temporary, but when i had the cash for the actual alignment the 32's were, and still are wearing just fine. however, camber is usually the cause of a "slight pull" I have had mine on an alignment rack just months before and knew that its camber was ok (caster a bit off on one side, but not too bad) so I left it. however there are home-alignment stuff that you can buy, although its aimed towards small time stock car racing, but cost could easily get into the hundreds and you have to worry about turntables, getting the truck level, etc. so it would really have to really be worth it (multiple vehicles or buddies cars to do) all you can set at home is the toe-in, and I spent hours to get it that good. I think i got a "during" picture somewhere...

as for backwoods repairs, I had my highboy one night out with the ex and a friend. I won't admit why (it was my fault), but it wasn't charging, and being night and cruising around w/lights on, it eventually just died. my jump pack didn't have the juice to turn over the 390, so we ran jumper cables from the bat. out of the hood (and closed hood), down the side and in the wing window to the jump pack sitting safely on the dash. me and ryan pushed the truck while the ex was in the drivers seat, bump started it and got the 20 miles, just 1 block away from ryans house before the truck died from the jump pack running out of juice. that was also the worst problem (as in we may not make it home) in the 7 years i have owned it!

 

9wire,

Have you checked the "easy stuff?" Air pressure, dragging brakes or dissimilar tires.

 

Messed with it some today, nothing loose in the front, back brake had an issue, I'm posting pics in a separate thread.

 

When we pulled my old 250 up to get it running i noticed a hole had rusted through the floor board. I duct taped it. Its a good temporary fix but ill fix it right eventually.

 

We got an old Falcon running once, motor had been locked up. Soaked the cyliders with wd-40 and marvel mystery oil, then set a 8 horse Briggs up on top of the radiator with a belt going to the crank. It started, but smoked a teeny bit. Maybe a little more than that.

 

I aligned the ranger dad used to have with a tent pole at the lake when he tried to drive of the road with the boat in tow. Luckily the truck tried to climb a telephone pole and the boat trailer caught on the pavement otherwise he might not have made it.

 

There's a pretty good thread out here that talks about similar stuff:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/3...r-post-up.html

 

my bird sat in a field for 20 years (had 84 plates when it was retrieved in 04) other than the muffler being plug filled with mouse nest, all it needed to start and run was a battery and some gas

 

I've pop-started the ford twice on trails, one by pushing the other i had a stock ranger tow me fast enough to pop. I've also bypassed the solenoid a few times to get it started. Poured gas down the carb to keep it running when the fuel tank selector died and blocked fuel from both tanks. all of these just to get it home

 

I'm one of those "small time stock car racers", actually just one of the pit crew, but anyway, we got an alignment tool from Longacre that works great! It comes with easy to follow instructions and setting toe, caster and camber were a breeze. I would recommend getting a turntable if you're going to do it yourself so you know exactly when your turning the wheels 20 degrees in and out. It's the only way to tell how much caster you have. Toe and camber are easy. Longacre Alignment Tools - RacingPlus.com or http://www.racerpartswholesale.com/c..._Camber_Gauges and http://www.racerpartswholesale.com/c...re_Turn_Plates

The turn plates can get a bit spendy so we just made some ourselves with a lazy susan turnstyle and a piece of cut plywood with 20 degrees marked out so we knew where to stop.

 

Backwoods repairs?

Bought a '60 something Ford mid-engine window van from a friend of mine back when I was in high school. All I really wanted was the tires. Van was ugly as hell...he had painted it with beige exterior house paint and a roller. He told me it would start with a good battery, but the engine cross-member was rotted out.

Sure enough, the engine was just kinda hanging under there by one motor mount. Got me some heavy duty yellow nylon rope, jacked the engine up a bit, and looped the rope under the oil pan and through two of the interior roof supports.

Started right up and drove it home that way. Needed a ride to a party that same night, so what the heck...drove the van there.

Next day, drove it some more. Drove it daily for 6 more months!!

Top that one

 

Buddy of mine in H.S. bought a 64 chevy pickup from another friend, was out cruising in it one night when the harmonic balancer fell off. The first guy had broke off the bolt that goes into the end of the crank and stuck the balancer on with JB Weld. Later on he crashed the truck when a tie rod fell off while he was going around a curve on a dirt road.
I never found out if it got finished, but a farm kid I knew was making a 4x4 pickup by putting 2 455 Olds Toronado front wheel drive units in a chevy pickup, one in the front, one in the back. I think maybe he did, that kids daily driver was a 74 Cougar he built with a Trans Am (Pontiac) 6.6 in it.

 

my 88 had the drivers side tie rod fall off while backing out of a driveway, right after a near 900 mile road trip through the mountains. seriously scary stuff. 15 miles prior I ran it at 80 mph for the better part of 100 miles. it now as an entirely new linkage (and not a redneck one)