Isn't this the most severely wrecked ATV you have ever seen?

Well at least it was not burned up. That would be worse, but this one suffered being driven over by a bulldozer. It is a 2009 Can-Am Outlander XT 400 EFI 4x4 with CVT and Warn winch. I bought it to extract and salvage the engine, plus I have never owned any Can-Am ATV other than the BRP Rally 200 (not built by Can-Am).

This is the first EFI quad that I have owned.

Loaded with crane and forklift. More pix to follow.

Spoiler: engine is currently running and for sale on eBay.

 

Hope no one was on it at the time!

 

It was stationary and unpiloted. The dozer operator was not very good. Not fired either.

I was not there to see any of this. If it were not for a crane being available, I would not have been able to pick this up. The forklift got stuck in the mud.

Here I am, unloading it with my tractor.

 

These Can-Am mega-quads have very unusual construction: there is a box-section steel backbone and underbone, with numerous aluminum subframes. I have had ATVs from all the common brands, and this is truly different. BTW, this unit specs out at over 650#, making it a heavy unit, aka "mega-quad".

I cut most of the subframes and main steel frame with a plasma cutter, but had to resort to an abrasive cutoff wheel for some of the rectangular tubing. This took several hours, partially because I did not want to cut the wiring harness.

 

That's the old style Spar frame that Can-Am had until around 2012 or so. I think the 800 and 1000 were the first to get the Generation 2 frame that is currently on there quads. 650 and smaller followed the next year. Both the Renegad and Oulanders had the spar frame that was a bit on the weak side. If you hit one side of the front end just right it had a tendency to bend where the lower front A-arm attached. A common fix is to cut the back plate off the frame and insert something to stiffen it up. We used a aftermarket high molecular weight filler on my sons Renegade 500 and I put 3 pieces of 1.25" box aluminum in. Never had any issues. For the filler to work it had to go all the way to the front.

 

Very interesting. Thx for posting.

After you mentioned that, I went and looked at some later BRP frame pix (2012-2018 Outlander Renegade), and they have gone to dual underbone rectangular tubing, from the single. Retained the large backbone tubing. The newer looks much stronger.

Either frame must be very expensive to make, and yet, the BRP quads do not seem more expensive than similar-sized competition.

I see you have what has been the biggest ATV for years, the Outlander 1000. The ultimate mega-quad?

 

I had the 650 Outlander Max XTP for a few years. My son bought a Polaris Scramber XP1000 and it was tough to keep up with him. Went up to the 1000r. Very nice power delivery. Smooth and torquey. I got the Outlander Max over the Polaris Sportsman Touring because it has more rack room than the Touring. If you put the passenger seat on the Polaris Touring you have very little room for gear boxes. Outlander Max has a lot more room for gear.

 

Biggest quad I have had here was a Sportsman 800, back when that was Polaris' biggest. I put a snowplow on it for a guy. Wimpy looking frame that would be easy to bend, IMO. The plow receiver attaches to the frame just below the engine. I fabbed up a new thicker receiver as the dealer has "lost" that part during the last service.

This is the quickest-feeling ATV I have ever worked on and driven, a DS650. The only way to use that power is to drive 80mph on a beach or road. The tires just spin out in any gear on dirt. Felt quicker than the Banshee I had here last year. Pretty heavy, tho.