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Saturday, September 21, 2013

It Ain’t Pretty

But it will work.  It was quite frustrating not being able to fix the broken exhaust pipe correctly the first time, but when you’re on the road, you have to do what you can and make do.

I actually spent more time driving around to find parts that would work than actually making the repair.

The reason I had to make a temporary fix was where the tailpipe broke off.

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The hot exhaust gases coming out of the pipe would have damaged the fiberglass bumper.  Plus we were getting some exhaust odors inside the Journey.  And right above broken exhaust pipe is the plastic housing (top left hand corner of the picture) for the engine intake that certainly would have melted.  Sorry the picture is not better.

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First step was to hacksaw off the broken, corroded part.

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Then I inserted the new piece of pipe into the old pipe.  With some heavy duty exhaust clamps, I cranked down and collapsed enough of the old pipe to make a somewhat tight fit.  Then using another clamp I reattached the pipe to the hangers.  The fit isn’t perfect, there will be some exhaust leakage but the vast majority will go out the new tailpipe.

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The pipe now extends out past the fiberglass and should work well enough until we get to our three month long workamping job at the Strom Thurmond Army COE recreation area in South Carolina.  I’ll be able to take my time, order the correct parts that I need and fix it right.

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While I was working on the exhaust pipe, the girls were having a grand time with us.  We are staying at the (nearby to their house) Pin Oak Creek Campground here in Missouri.

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The girls were having a ball riding around the roads on some bikes we rented for them.  It is a perfect bright, sunny day.

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The roads are nice and smooth and flat.

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Little Rebekah is enjoying the playground.

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Despite the speed bumps Murphy threw at us, it’s been a great visit.  We extended our stay one more day, we’ll leave on Monday and hopefully avoid weekend traffic.

Thanks for visiting and feel free to leave a comment.

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13 comments:

  1. This whole ordeal has been very "exhausting!!" :)

    Glad you were able to make temporary repairs.

    Those girls sure are cutie pies. See you soon.

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  2. What fun for the grandkids to have you stuck visiting them. Maybe they sent Murphy your way just so they could keep you around.

    Sorry about the problems. We've sure seemed to have more than our share lately. You seem to come out ahead on all these problems. I'm sure you'll figure it out and it'll be as good as new.

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  3. Looks like a good campground for kiddos. Bet they enjoyed those bikes.

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  4. Hope you got some good "kid" time in the midst of trying to get that pipe fixed.

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  5. Whew, finally done (well almost)! Don't see a Coke can holding things together, so that's good :)

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  6. Looks like a great temporary fix, enjoy you time there and new travels soon.

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  7. You two are such good grandparents...all these issues and they still think the sun rises and sets on you :) Good job!

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  8. At least if your carbon dioxide detector goes off while you're driving home you'll know where to look for the problem.

    I like the idea cranking down collapsing the old pipe to get a somewhat tight fit. It's a bit like "if it doesn't fit, get a bigger hammer".

    Great spot for the grandkids, they sure look like they're having fun.

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  9. Thanks for explaining that. I thought you were just being a perfectionist. Those are pretty cool bikes!

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  10. So sorry you had to deal with this rather than spending all your time with those wonderful granddaughters. I know Marti kept them busy having fun.

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  11. "Ugly" is certainly better than "unsafe" in my estimation.
    By the time you get to your work camping job, you may want to take a look at the entire pipe, right back to the muffler. It's looking a wee bit sad. Maybe it's sound though, so if it works, don't fix it.

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  12. You are one mighty handy man to have around! Extending your stay another day is a happy time for all. Travel safely when you hit the road tomorrow.

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