Sometimes, you have to think outside of the box to fix a machine on the fly when you’re deep in the backcountry. While the fixes may not be long lasting or pretty, they can help you get back home without the need for a rescue mission.
After asking members of the forum Snow and Mud about their best MacGyver moments, here are a few examples of how thinking outside of the box can save the day:
“Neilsledder” from Leduc, Alberta, found himself with a flat tire and no patch or plug available. After a few moments of brainstorming, he and his riding buddies had an idea that saved the day.
“We rammed it full of dried slew grass,” he wrote. “Never even popped off the bead.”
On a separate adventure, he remembered the tire repair plugs but found that he’d ripped the valve stem open. Quick-thinking Neilsledder had a brilliant idea. He used the sticky tire plugs to repair the valve stem hole and used the air compressor attachment used to fill basketballs to poke through the sticky plugs in the valve stem and fill up the tire. It lasted the entire weekend without losing any air.
“Nast70” of Edmonton, Alberta, found himself in need of a tie rod repair deep in the bush by Cadomin, Alberta. He and his buddies crawled the machine up a tree, using a snatch block as a pulley system to hoist the ATV up, allowing them access to the broken tie rod. Using baling wire and a wrench as a makeshift tie rod, they wired the ball joint and makeshift tie rod in place.
“RXN” from Gibbons, Alberta, realized a CV boot was badly ripped when he was out on the trail. Not wanting any more moisture and grime to enter through the damaged CV boot, he used a rubber glove to bandage the boot back to life for the rest of his adventure.
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