“Don’t join COPART!” Says my loving wife. “You don’t need another project!” …her follow up. Well thankfully for me, she’s not my project buying supervisor so I bought it anyway!
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Did the “buy it now” on Copart for this 2016 1000-5 with only 4,000 miles sight unseen for $6,700. We had been talking about a boat, or a UTV for her and the kid and dogs while I’m on my enduro cruising some trails. It popped up one night so we decided to get it in hopes the damage wasn’t too bad. The listing said “runs and drives” and I’m certain I escaped death from falling off the ramps getting onto a very tall trailer. The only thing holding the tire on was a weak lower arm and the axle.
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You can see the top of the ball joint that was sheared off. And the upper arm ripped the cv boot when it let go.
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Once I got to the yard to actually load this and get it back I noticed the front left control arm was bent back into a crushed frame. The upper ball joint had sheared off and the brake lines for the front and rear driver side were pinched in 2. Someone got gnarly with this but it wasn’t so bad it couldn’t be saved.
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I used a tie down strap and some chain to wench the front control arm knuckle out. Once I got it pulled back to the normal position, I made a plate that fit over the damaged area and cupped the frame and control arm together for strength. Ran a flame over the frame to push the crunched part up a little more flat to mate with the rear of the plate and welded it up. I had to buy a mig welder from HDepot. Never welded before so I ran a few passes over the patch metal spares to dial the welder in. I don’t think it turned out bad! A couple spots were spatter crap between the big gaps but it’s still solid.
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Once I got this finished and went to put the axle back in, I found out the dang thing was bent and the bearings were dimpled! I’m all my excitement getting it welded back up I didn’t think about inspecting the other parts. Took another week to get a new axle. In the mean time I disassembled the bad axle and I’m keeping the bearings and races to forge a knife or axe to keep in the sxs.
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Anyhow, I finally finished it all up tonight and ripped around the yard! I was worried the trans and diff/linkage may have been beat up with how bad the rig was smashed in the front left. But, it shifts through all gears and between 4/2/turf just fine! I had the battery off for 3 weeks while I’ve dealt with parts and time to fix this. As soon as I plugged the battery in and turned the key, fired right up! I’m highly impressed with this rig! Just gotta name it!
Now, the question is, which one of you little dirtbags wrecked nana and pop pop’s pioneer?! Lol