John Steinbeck wrote in “The Grapes of Wrath” that, “A man has to do what a man has to do.”
That’s my excuse for some of the repairs I’ve made over the years.
I once used a pair of Vise-Grips and half a roll of duct take to clamp the hydrostatic control cable to the control arm on a hydrostatic transmission to get a combine to the edge of the field. If my repair had failed, the arm would have automatically gone to neutral, so there was little risk of a runaway combine. Imagine my surprise that winter when the farmer brought the combine to our shop for its annual inspection with that Vise-Grip still clamped and taped in place.
There are rumors I have used wraps of baling wire to replace missing snap rings. Baling wire, twisted tight with a pair of pliers, may also have been used to field-fix low-pressure hydraulic hoses. I admit that, in a pinch, Gorilla-Brand duct tape is a great way to corral hydraulic hoses and electrical harnesses and prevent them from getting entangled in nearby belts or moving parts.
I always apologize when I have to cobble repairs and offer to return with the proper parts for a “permanent” and factory-approved repair. More than once my offers were declined with comments along the line of, “It looks fixed to me.”
Once, a farmer noticed I was using a shop rag to wipe down the cobbled repair and adjacent machinery. He said, “Oh don’t worry about that, it will just get dirty in a few minutes.”
I laughed and said, “I’m not worried about making it look nice—I’m trying to get rid of my fingerprints.”
