Modifying your 4WD’s has become one of Australia’s favourite pastimes and if you enjoy the idea of turning spanners, you can learn a thing or two doing your own maintenance on your pride and joy that could save your bacon when you hit the tracks!

Firstly you get to know the mechanical workings of the inside of your vehicle, and you also learn how to access, clean and repair parts without the stress of trying to guess how to fix it, miles from a YouTube search all of your tools and with no other way of getting home.

If you head out with a decent set of all the essential simple hand tools and arm yourself with knowledge and the right attitude, even when things go wrong, you will have the best bet of getting back to civilization with minimal fuss.

One of the best value tool kits made specifically for the purpose is the Bush Mechanic Tool Kit, this clever and purpose made kit has found its way into the back of more 4WDers than any other emergency bush tool kit that we’ve ever heard of.

Fitted with over 150+ pieces including sockets spanners screwdrivers and even a hacksaw, hammer and pliers.  This epic kit also has plenty of space for all of your vehicle’s specific spare parts, like fan belts, hoses and even your favourite anti seize water dispersing sprays.

Punctured fuel tank

A fuel tank puncture can be a trip ender and can happen with no warning and can be as simple as taking a hit from a stray rock or sharp bit of hardwood wedged up underneath your vehicle. Even a small eucalyptus branch can be hard and sharp enough to create a trip ending fuel leak.

But believe it or not  you can easily plug a hole in your fuel tank with a handful of different old bushman bush mechanic tricks.

The first is the oldest, using the file from your Bush Mechanic Tool Kit, back the fuel tank wound to remove loose rust and chipped paint for a clean surface that has a rough enough finish for the fix to bite into. With the damage exposed simply take your standard bar of soap and rub it into the crack, this will fill in the gaps and unlike many temporary repairs stay solid enough to stop the leak buying you enough time to come up with a more robust semi-permanent repair.

The secret is a mix of soap shavings from your typical soap bar you already used to seal the crack, and a handful of fine red bull dust from the track, if it isn’t forming easily then you can add a small amount of water to soften the soap you are looking for the consistency of chewing gum, it should stick easily to the surface and seal up your fuel tank. This will take a while to set but once it has set you are good to go!

A much quicker and more delicious solution is a half chewed minty, thanks to the stickiness and the ability for the minty to harden rock solid, it can be placed over the crack and it will harden in just a few minutes creating a solid repair for a good while!

Finally, you have a handful of store bought remedies, the trouble with some of the more ‘generic’ fix all styles of repair can suffer from strange chemical reactions with fuels and can begin to become porous, resulting in having to start back from square one.

Radiator leak

Small leaks in a radiator can cause havoc, by slowly leaking your engines coolant  the damage to your motor can be catastrophic whilst you are driving, if you notice your temperature gauge suddenly climbing to the top of the gauge, you may have sprung a leak.

There are few easy bush mechanic solutions, some easier than others and others much more effective than others!

The first is done by simply dumping cracked pepper directly into your radiator that has sprung a leak, there are many wives tales that tell us the efficacy of this solution such as the small particles being pressed out because of the internal pressure, they will automatically find their way to the pinhole leaks and seal up the hole from the inside out, it has been said that you can also drop in a raw egg or a couple of raw eggs, this will find its way to the leak and cook itself in the gap, the issue you have with introducing egg into the coolant system is the ability for the eggs to coagulate in some of the more narrow passageways inside the engine causing a coolant blockage and resulting in your engine having worse problems than the leaky radiator.


Tie wire!

Tie wire is the gaffer tape and zip ties of the bush mechanic world, it is extremely strong, light weight and heat proof making it ideal for fixing just about anything with the ability to replace missing fasteners, hold on loose bumpers and even secure mechanical components into place when things go bad.

We’ve seen tie wire fix everything from loose bumpers to gear linkages, and even fastening an exhaust back into place after it was ripped free from its mounting support.

A smart four-wheel driver will always bring a roll of tie wire into the bush for the best bush mechanic fixes at a fraction of the cost you would imagine.

To find out more about the entire range of 4WD gear and accessories, head to www.4WDSupacentre.com.au call us on 1800 88 39 64 or visit one of our stores to speak with an expert directly for the best advice and the latest deals for your setup!