G'day...met my son on his atv with my atv at the top of a hill yesterday. No one hurt, but a good lesson learned.

Now to the atv damages. I have an 03 500 FIS. My quad took the hit on the front right wheel/bumper. The bumper is pushed in a fair bit and can be bent out. The brackets for the body plastic were also bent a little and I noted a buckling in the front right side panel below the fuel tank. Headlight is broken off and fender flare is busted.

The main damage is to the right front suspension. My right front wheel is now sitting with a major toe out and the it is sitting approximately 2 inches off centre towards the rear of the bike. As far as I can tell the upper and lower A-arms needs to be replaced? The frame A-arm brackets also look to be bent. The shock looks fine but the frame bracket is bent. The tie rod looks fine. The tire/wheel took the majority of the blow. The the lip on the outside of the rim is bent fairly bad.

My questions are:

Is it ok to bend the frame brackets back into place by using the A-arms prior to removal?
Is it very likely that the drive shaft was bent?
What causes the major toe-out? (badly bent rim?)
Am I missing something that I should be checking?

The thing that really bugs me about all of this is the my son was driving a Trailblazer and his unit has absolutely no damage!! How can that be???

Thanks for any help/suggestions?

 

Diggs. I would check to see if your frame is bent near the A-arms, I did the exact same thing at about 75 kmh and bent he fame just behind the A-arm. This caused the side plastic panle to buckle, just as yours did. Check to see if there are any paint chips on the frame, this could mean that it bent. How fast were you going?? From my experiance it dose not take much to bend the frames of these things.
I have my fingers crossed for you!!!
Good Luck

 

Glad everyone is ok. I dought your a-arms are bent. Look at the upper a-arms rear mount that comes off the frame, I bet it's pushed in, this will toe it out and move the wheel back. Although 2 inches is allot, you might have more bent than just that. You could bend it back but I'm sure it won't come easy. Driveshaft should be ok. You tierod will probably get sloppy really soon, usually a hard hit will kill them.

Depends on were you hit the other quad, your son was sitting still or going the same way you were only slower?

 

Thanks for the replies. Yep. Very thankful no one was hurt.

I was barely moving (5 km/hr). He was going about 25 kms/hr.

Y'all are likely right about the frame. Please do not tell me that I have to replace the frame!!! Geesh!! Who designs something so that the frame fails before the easily replaceable components???

OK...can I straighten it on my own? I am thinking about anchoring the *** end to a truck and then slapping a come-along anchored by my truck with a tether around the a-arms...and bend her back. Will this work? What about using my winch and a tackle block?

Thanks again.

 

I always heat to red hot any mounting brackets as cold bending can weaken or crack the tubing or weld.
The drive shaft might be bent - check it out before installing it.
Toe out - somethings bent - 1wook is on to something. 2 inches is a alot alot.

Why the other quad isn't damaged? My expereince has been that I'm not looking hard enough when I make that decision. Its possible, but how likely? My luck says to for me to keep looking...

Good luck with the repairs. I have a come-along chain on the light post and I know how to use it.

 

A comeallong, some heat, and 2 good anchors(truck, light pole) should get it back close.

 

Sounds like a plan.
Checked out the unit a bit closer...seems like it is the upper rear A arm mount that has the most distortion...as mentioned...hence the toe out. I think it is closer to 1 inch out...but it looks like 2" to the guy paying the bills! lol The A-arms do look straight

To straighten mounts: Remove rack, remove body plastic, remove wheel/tire. Heat rear mount/frame area for upper A-arm and then bend. Repeat for lower A-arm.

Should I apply force in the opposite direction of the force that caused the bend in the first place using the A-arm for leverage? Or should i pull the frame out by applying the force directly to the frame bend? Should I heat both front and rear mount locations before bending? Should I try to straighten both upper and lower areas at the same time?

How should I heat? I am guessing that only acetylene will do for the heating job. I think I can round up a buddy with an aceteylene unit.

I think I will get him to weld in a brace between the left and right upper frame members for the a-arm mounts.

Diggs

 

Those are all good questions but from my perspective here in front of the monitor I will not be helping much in guessing.
But -
Yes you will need a torch.
Using the A-arm might not be the leverage you are looking for. I like rigging a 6 foot lever so I can slowly work it into place.
Some times a 2x4 works great - it will burn but it has "cushion" built into the back pri side while against the tubing.
Some times beefing up one area makes for only another area more difficult to fix when it bares the brunt of the next impact.

Good luck!