Bodges

[mike65]

Have just spent another day under the Land Rover trying to soty things out. MOT now expired and is therefore stashed in the workshop on the farm where my parents live. No need to say lucky you working in the dry. You should see the state of the roof lights, made by Tetley I believe.

I am not the greatest mechanic, but memorise how things come appart, refer to manuals, exploded diagrams etc and seem to manage quite happily. Once bought a motorbike in several boxes and managed to get that to go.

I also follow one main rule If I do not know what I am doing I leave well alone and seek help/advice. IF I then think it is beyond me I will find somebody who can.

However I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that nobody else knows what they are doing and therefore bodge everything. AND I DO NOT MEAN MAKING CHAIRS.

Not wanting to upset anybody I do know there are two types of bodges

 

 

1. "Professional" Bodge - This is the one that you have to in order to get something to work, either to get you home or to replace an item that is unobtainable. These tend to work and are normally well thought our and acceptable, especially as some can be better than the original.
   
2. "General" Bodge - This is the normal ones employed by people who do not know what they are doing or cannot be arsed to spend money on a 50 pence part. Some of these are carried out by so called professionals.
   

 

Here is what I have found so far

 

 

• Speedo drive/output casing on rear of transfer box replace, with a new one. Output shaft oil seal pissing out oil, it was not very old and appeared to have been installed with a screwdriver (pointed end) and a hammer.
  
• Brakes pulled heavily to the left when braking hard. Right fron wheel cylinder, again very new, leaking fluid and the piston is jammed in the cylinder at an angle.
  
• Rear axle leaking out of left hand end, OK the seal has just failed due to age erc. Right hand rear brake shoes installed upside down so there is no way the adjusters can be used.
  
• Has had a new carb fitted. Vacuum pipe not blocked of. Its an FFR so does not have vacuum advance. Here is the good bit the fuel pipe was not clamped up and as such was leaking fuel. This is a real must when the carb is direcly above the exhaust.
  
• Batteries relocated to rear and shunt box removed. Cables have been extended and new terminal connectors added. Positive on negativee terminal and vice versa. As you know positive is larger than negative so they had used a nail. Even then it was loose, especially after going over these newly installed potholes
  
• Headlights pointing in all sorts of directions as adjusting screws siezed, snappered and generally wrecked. Fixed with self tapping screws.
  

 

This was all on a vehicle that had covered 300 miles since its previous MOT, which it originally failed and one thing was headlight adjustment. It apparently passed it MOT the day after the fail.

Reminds me of the MOT the Firebird my brother bought in the 80's, issued in the pub.

These are just some that I have found. Have seen others in the past.

 

Just leads me to one question

 

What is the best/worst bodge you have come across?

 

Mike

Next time buying a bonifide wreck.

[abn deuce]

Good Job getting those things sorted out "CORRECTLY" . Now you will know with each successful repair that your Vehicle is that much safer and reliable due directly to YOU !

 

It is sad how messed up things can get and others either dont know , yeah right! or even worse dont Care how they treat machinery.

 

If there's an SPCA for animals there should be a SPBV society for the prevention of bodges to vehicles.

[fv1609]

What is the best/worst bodge you have come across?

 

This was an in service bodge on the rear cross member of my Rover Ambulance. There was some thin sheet tack welded & painted over, must have been done a year or two before it was struck off.

 

These are the bits that came off.

 

[Richard Farrant]

Some years ago, a customer trailered his Willys jeep to me to repair the gearbox. Once I had done the work I went to test it, not having heard the engine run before. There was a distinct knock, so got the owner to come and listen to it. On dropping the sump a big end was found to have spun its bearing shells........but, someone in the past had already found out that the rod was worn and would not retain the shells, so had swapped the cap from another rod in the engine!!!!

 

Over the years I have lost count of some of the horrors.

[poppypiesdad]

Not military but the wife's fourtrac went in for a service to the dealer 10 or so years ago and came back , with a post it note attached to invoice that at next service a new sump would be needed due to corrosion , confused about this i had a look only to see the sump plug hole had been distorted and a large nut and bolt surrounded by ptfe tape to sort the oil drip out and shiny black paint on the rest of the sump with a new gasket showing at the edges , back to the garage ,service manager who was in ,instead of being out on jollies ,agreed to replace the sump free of charge,didn't take it further but didn't take it back there either

 

Jamie

[ferretfixer]

Unfortunately, some Bodges, IE: Temporary repairs, with some people. Have a nasty habit of becoming a permanant one! A Temp Bodge at the side of the road is obviously acceptable to get you home if needs be.

BUT, it should be sorted ASAP, & I mean ASAP so it does not get left & forgotton because of 'Other Pressing Priorities'!....:blush:

Mike.

[Tony B]

Worst bodge, an old lorry chassis that had split. Someone had drilled two pices of scaffold pole and bolted them across the gap. Best one, a brocken throttle cable on Austin Princess, replaced inner with bike brake cable. Lasted till car fell apart. No jokes about with an Austin not long then! About 9 months.

[No Signals]

Not sure if this qualifies as a bodge but it still illustrates the lengths people will go to. Some years back a pal of mine in the motor trade went to a breakers to get some bits. Some blokes were taking parts from an engine in a nearby vehicle, amongst those bits was the crank which apparently was in good nick. The yard owner came along when it was stripped and told them to bolt it back up together but gave them a suitable diameter/length of wood to have the pistons bolted back on to. Seems the engine was part of a batch on its way out to the Far East for use in barges etc and occasionally someone would come and check down a spark plug hole to see if the motor was complete. They were going to have a bit of a shock when they tried to get that one to do anything!