[fins2fuselage]

“ . . . And That Was When Things Went Wrong!", a Thread for Sharing Your “Oopses”

Okay, DodgeTalkers: here is your chance to come clean! If you have a “Most Embarrassing Mopar Moment” to share, please post it here so that others may be spared the grief of having to “find out the hard way”.

I’ll go first:

Over twenty years ago, someone told me that the best way to improve the fuel economy of the ‘78 D-200 Adventurer which I then owned was to keep the tailgate lowered at all times. Less drag = less gas consumed, right?

So I tried it and thought I had really hit upon a great discovery – until I encountered a rough road. Can you guess what happened? The tailgate fell off! Whereupon all of my fuel savings promptly went into straightening and painting the tailgate and replacing the damaged trim.

I now drive with the tailgate in the raised position at all times.

Now it is your turn to offer a “cautionary tale” arising from personal experience. But don’t worry – I have plenty more where that one came from and I will be happy to share them if things begin to get slow on this thread.

Jeff

 

[DiverDwnPowrRam]

my events were both my dad told me so..

heard a noise when I was in high school on my 73 seemed like a clutch noise. My dad looked at it and advised on the next mornings hunting trip as a bad idea. i just had to go so the next morning i loaded up and got nearly to the woods when BAM..you guessed it clutch went or actually the throw out bearing went...I was stranded for hours until my dad "got around" to pulling me home.

Just before i went into the Army, thinking I was all that, seeing my friends and doing my see you when i see you; i stopped in at my dads house and when i was leaving we heard (you guessed it) a noise. seemed a bottom noise but my dad said lets take off a valve cover and see if we see anything. interesting but we saw little flakes of aluminum or copper, just a few. My dad insisted that i leave the truck there but i had to get back to my moms as she had a pool and there was going to be a semi nice party with a bunch of squids (squids= navy and navy parties have alot of women). anyway i am coming off 295 onto 103rd and KAAABAM! it was like a mushroom cloud over my truck and i mean it just stopped right in the middle of all the traffic. i got out and looked under and there is this pool of oil and a hole in the divers side pan.....

LISTEN TO YOUR FATHER!

 

[DartBoy01]

Ok I guess I'll confess my story,
When I had my Ramcharger I took it to a muffler shop to have a new exhaust system put on. They call me a few hours later to come pick it up so I do, As I'm driving on the freeway I notice that it starts to die. The only way I could keep it running was to keep it at WOT, so I had it to the floor and after I got up to 70 I would throw it into neutral then let off to get it back into gear (Automatic). I costed off the freeway and let it die on the side of the road and called my brother to come tow me because it would not start. After that I opened my hood, and what do you know, Somehow my bungie cord holding my battery down had fallen off and the battery was against the belt getting torn in half. So my brother gets there and I'm pissed because I'm pretty sure the bungie was on there when I dropped it off so they had either taken it or somehow it broke. As I'm telling my brother this I'm under my truck throwing the tow strap on and I connect it to the 3 link tie rod thinking it was the 1 1/2" sway bar! So we start going and about a mile out the inevitable happens, I get out of the truck and what do you know the front looks like a penguin walking. I was pissed!

Pretty long read but definitely a learning experience. Watch when you are attaching your tow straps.

 

[MeenGreen5.2]

When i removed my trucks dash for no damn reason... It cracked all to hell when i tightened it back down.... a plastic blend door coupler pice was broken which is accesible w/o removing the dash.

 

[fins2fuselage]

Good stuff, guys; thanks for 'fessing up.

Now here is another "uh-oh" from my private files. It involves a certain '70 Chrysler 300, but the circumstance could just as easily involve a truck.

I once dropped my steering column, thinking that all was dandy since I had left the column shift firmly in "Park". Not so: while the column lever stayed put, the lever down on the tranny had a different idea and shifted into Neutral.

There I was, lying on the floor of the car beneath the dropped column with my legs hanging out of the open door -- and rolling backwards down the driveway! :SHK: My wife heard the crunch of tires on gravel (but no engine running) and knew that something was amiss even before I started screamin' for help. :help:

Well, the adrenaline rush allowed me to squirm out from under the column, sit upright and get my foot on the brake before the car actually managed to hit anything -- but I sure tore my shoulder muscles up in the process. You should have seen the bruise!

Lesson learned: ALWAYS chock a wheel and set the parking brake when dropping/removing/working on a steering column! And yes, I would surmise that this rule should apply to trucks with column-shifted manual trannys, too.

Jeff

 

[FTA Boy]

This one time I joined some dodge forum and asked the best way to wire some lights and this dude who's had a dodge in his garage since 1974 told me to use a relay and even drew me picture on where to plug everything... and then all my wires and switches burst into flames.

 

[charlie1935]

Try putting brake pads in backward. Sure does a job on the rotor after the coating wears off the steel back. I just did it on one pad though. :gr_patrio

 

[buck99]

I put a new Holley 4 barrel on my 76 W100 with a 400 BB. I had to modify the kick down rod so it was longer in order to fit. Well I made it a little to long so the tranny kicked down earlier that it should. I liked it kicking down a little early anyway so I continued driving it that way.

1000 miles later the tranny was shot...

 

[DiverDwnPowrRam]

Charlie...the real question on that one is how far did you get before YOU realised what had happened. I am sure the squeal and the rivets grinding were severe. he he he on the first squeal did you say to yourself , "oh thats the newness wearing in?" he he he

 

[charlie1935]

They were bonded, no rivets. I don't use brakes hard so it was several days until I heard the grinding. It may been a week or two because at the time I was out for for a longer period of time than I am now. I thought "what the hell happened now?" :gr_patrio

 

[fins2fuselage]

Try putting brake pads in backward. Sure does a job on the rotor after the coating wears off the steel back. I just did it on one pad though. :gr_patrio

Charlie,

I can actually top that.

I once installed the front wheel cylinders UPSIDE DOWN in my '61 Chrysler -- just try bleeding the air out of 'em when they are installed that way and see how far you get!

Jeff Dreibus

 

[Speed Dragon]

I once installed the front wheel cylinders UPSIDE DOWN in my '61 Chrysler -- just try bleeding the air out of 'em when they are installed that way and see how far you get!

Jeff Dreibus

Lol, I did that w/ the rear calipers on my GLHS when I did the rear disc swap

Also this one time, I was trying to get a 727 put into one of my trucks (the '71 I sold , I think) and could get it to go up on the dowels. I got pissed and had a couple bolts started, to I just cranked it up tight w/ the ratchet. Well I couldn't quite get it all the way, by now I'm fuming. (BTW I was like 19 or 20 at the time ) Dad comes down and looks at it and asks, "Did you get the torque converter all the way in? 3 clicks?"

:YO::banghead:

Needless to say, that tranny needed a new front pump

 

[bookworm]

Back in the day, I had hair and a beard ( and a very bad attitude). Think ZZ Top. Braided hair past my belt, big ol' beard maybe 12" long.
Anyway, I'm under a 73 pu, using a torch to cut off the u-bolts, doing an rearend swap.
The u-bolt pops loose, splashing molten steel into (yes) my beard, which promptly burst into flames. In my haste to exit what was quickly becoming an untenable position, I rolled the creeper over my braided hair, which got tangled up the the wheel, halting all forward (or rearward) motion. I'm under the pickup laying on my back tangled up in the creeper, with my face on fire. I managed to slither off the creeper and drag it with my head out from under the truck, beating myself on the face with my left hand the entire time in an attempt to control what has turned into a raging brush fire. I put out the fire with a can of beer ( never far from my side in those days) and a few more smacks with my hands.
Epilogue: I trimmed the beard to a more manageable length, and started tucking the hair inside my shirt whenever working around ANYTHING. Fortunately there was no permanent scarring.

 

[D200 Chris]

:thatfunny

 

[D200 Chris]

Here's one for ya.....

When I was around 17 or so I was driving my 74 charger on my way to pick up my girlfriend to go out for the night. I got about 3 blocks from my house and noticed that my lights were starting to get dim...really dim. I looked at my dash and the voltmeter was reading extremely low. Immediately jumping to conclusions, I figured that it was the alternator (even better...I had just replaced it about a month prior to all this).

So I turn the car around and scoot back home on what little amperage I had left. First thing I did was change the voltage regulator (always had a spare, that and the ignition module), and guess what? Didn't fix it. I was starting to get more than a little irritated since I was late, and my girlfriend calls to see if I had left yet. My older brother comes out of the house, hands me the phone, and pokes around under the hood a little. Getting pressure from the girlfriend because I was late, I start to get more than a little angry, because, like I said, I had just replaced the alternator about a month before.

I hang up with the girlfriend after a rather lengthy argument, and start to unload my frustrations. Rather than stay and tear into the car, I borrow my brothers truck and take off to the girlfriends (big mistake, had the car A LOT longer than I had her..LOL).

So, the next day I pulled the alternator out, borrowed my brothers truck again, and ran to the parts store to exchange it, grumbling the whole time that it was a POS rebuild, even to the counter guy at the parts store. First thing they did was to test it, and said it was fine. I argued and got them to exchange it.

I bring the new alternator home, and proceed with the installation. I get to the point of putting the belt on, literally reach down, and hmmm....NO BELT! So now I am fuming mad that I missed such a little thing and made a huge A$$ out of myself at the parts store, with the g/f the night before, basically the whole time.

Wouldn't ya know it that about this time my brother comes out and pokes his head under the hood and asks if I was missing something…

He heads over to his truck, reaches behind the seat, and pulls out a brand new belt. Apparently he had figured it out the night before, went to the parts store early that morning and bought the belt, but still let me borrow his truck (with the belt behind the seat) and make a fool out of myself.

AREN’T BROTHERS GREAT?!?

 

[fins2fuselage]

Back in the day, I had hair and a beard ( and a very bad attitude). Think ZZ Top. Braided hair past my belt, big ol' beard maybe 12" long.
Anyway, I'm under a 73 pu, using a torch to cut off the u-bolts, doing an rearend swap.
The u-bolt pops loose, splashing molten steel into (yes) my beard, which promptly burst into flames. In my haste to exit what was quickly becoming an untenable position, I rolled the creeper over my braided hair, which got tangled up the the wheel, halting all forward (or rearward) motion. I'm under the pickup laying on my back tangled up in the creeper, with my face on fire. I managed to slither off the creeper and drag it with my head out from under the truck, beating myself on the face with my left hand the entire time in an attempt to control what has turned into a raging brush fire. I put out the fire with a can of beer ( never far from my side in those days) and a few more smacks with my hands.
Epilogue: I trimmed the beard to a more manageable length, and started tucking the hair inside my shirt whenever working around ANYTHING. Fortunately there was no permanent scarring.

Bookworm,

Damn! I don't think I've laughed so hard since I heard the urban legend story about the JATO strapped to th '67 Chevy!!! :thatfunny:thatfunny:thatfunny

Jeff

 

[bherder]

I'll bet I'm not the only one who's done this either...

Go to change the oil and filter one day when I had my Roadrunner ... Get the oil nice and hot... Drain it ... Change the filter .... Whistling a happy tune to myself... Put 5 new quarts of GTX in the crank .... Look down at the garage floor and see a big pool of fresh oil spreading out from under the car... Forgot to put the drain plug back in.
Had to hoof it about 3 miles back to the parts store to buy more oil, and the 3 back with 5 qts of oil AND a couple bags of 'dry sweep'...

 

[DiverDwnPowrRam]

damn bookworm now that was really funny!

 

[B-300]

~10yrs ago ran out of gas on the freeway... Walked, bought gas and a can. When refilling the olympic torch run came came by. I was tempted to ask if they needed more fuel.
(Make sure the gauge works and don't run to low.)

 

[bookworm]

Yeah, yeah....ya'll think somebody else on fire is freakin hysterical !!!!
Looking back on it (happened in maybe '83 or '84) it is funny. At the time, not so much.
I beat myself so hard trying to put out the fire I actually was bruised. I tell ya, I've faired better in honky-tonk tussles that involved pool sticks & beer bottles !