Category: Vehicles

As with many survival related expedient repairs some of these fixes could present a fire or mechanical danger. As always work/learn with a responsible experienced mechanic, one who specializes in off road racing will often have good experience in how to squeeze a few more miles out of a damaged vehicle. Diesel Engine Glow Plugs: if the glow plug control system goes down try running a parallel power wire from the plugs straight into the cab off of the fuse panel or cigarette lighter, try to determine amperage draw ahead of time for proper switches and wiring. Power the plugs …

James, When I was in high school (in the early 1980s) I had no money and would find tires for my car by the side of the road. If it said E78-14 on the side and had more tread than the worst tire on the car, it came home. I could change a tire by breaking the bead using the bumper jack on my Sister’s Dodge Dart. Flip it over, break the other side. Remove from the rim with a pair of tire spoons that my Father had, then repeat in reverse to get the new tire on the rim. …

Hi, I am no tire expert, but I always have a tire repair kit on hand with self vulcanizing plugs. I have put these in my radial tires and driven thousands of miles with them. They work with any tubeless tire (even small tractors, etc) and I have never had one fail on me yet. They work for punctures such as nails, thorns, etc. For tears or rips it’s either a new tire or a larger internal patch. These plugs will work on the side wall too, but tend to fail after a while. It is better to replace that …

Hi Jim, At the ranch last Saturday, our cousin who is a mechanic got under the hood and fixed the old ranch truck. He took it for a spin and came back and said that he would have to park it because it got a flat tire. He would have to take the tire to town and get it fixed but wouldn’t be able to do it until Tuesday because of the holiday on Monday. I asked my husband “Why can’t he fix it himself? People didn’t have to take tires to a shop to get them fixed in the …

I’ve been touting the advantages of E85 Ethanol-compatible “flexible fuel” vehicles for many months. I recently put my money where my mouth is, and bought a flexible fuel 2003 Ford Explorer 4WD for us here at the ranch. The Explorer replaced our not-so-gracefully aging 1989 Suburban. (It had 205,000 miles on the clock, lots of non-functional subsystems, and it was starting to lose compression on the grades.) Assuming that you buy a Flexible Fuel Vehicle (FFV), where do you find fuel? If you live in Brazil or Sweden, no sweat. E85 is found at the majority of gas stations. But …

Jim, One of my long term goals is to own a diesel pickup. A mechanic friend of mine down in California, a true Ford guy all the way thru would say that the time tested and proven International engine used in the the Ford pickups was the most reliable–with the Cummins running a very close second (It should be noted Ford owns a controlling interest in Cummins and Ford does/has used Cummins in several of their industrial projects, including farm equipment and heavy duty trucks). I don’t know all the details but I will say that from my own experience …

With regard to motorcycles and EMP, modern Japanese and German bikes (I cannot speak for Harleys) have black boxes that are susceptible to EMP in the same way that car electronics are. Older bikes, of course, used points ignitions and should survive unscathed. A good rule of thumb to use would be that if a car of a particular year would survive, then a motorcycle of that same year probably would too. Might even be able to add a year or two, since bike development was always a little behind cars in the ’70’s. Depending on your primary anticipated needs, …

Dear Mr. Rawles, Do you have any information on the vulnerability of modern motorcycles to an EMP? I do not currently own one, though thinking seriously about buying one (a model with off road capabilities has a lot of potential as a back-up escape vehicle) . The information I’ve read on the web (about EMP and vehicles) is all focused on automobiles. Sincerely, – James K., Peoples Republic of Kalifornia JWR Replies: Sorry, but that is outside of my base of knowledge. Perhaps one of our readers will chime in with some details.

It really doesn’t matter if we are thinking slow slide, nuke exchange, or just losing your job: The full or partial switch to a bicycle can be one of the best changes a person can make. DO NOT jump into a decision about buying a bike. It is one of the most personal things you will ever own, if you don’t buy the right bike for you it will just end up rusting in the barn. As I like to beat into you: #1 It must be easy to use or you won’t when you are worn out tired #2 …