Well my wife took my 1000-5 out with the kids yesterday and ended up clipping a tree with the tire. It snapped the upper control arm bolt, cracked the control arm bushings, bent the tie rod end and bent the shock/strut assembly. Her and her dad went into town and got a spring bolt and were able to bend everything back and get it going again. From what her dad told me, she wasn't going that fast and from the looks of it I don't think she clipped it that good being that it didn't just stop but rolled on by the tree (which you can kind of see in the background). Now I know there was this one night out riding some local trails with the guys and I hit a tree so hard with my Big Red that it bent the crap outta my tie rod end and jarred me pretty good. That was all the damage though. Now my wife isn't as confident (read reckless) as me when it comes to driving and she doesn't drive too fast at all, even in the wide open. Being that I wasn't there is there anyone that can attest to any known problems with these bolts? My wife's uncle is a mechanical engineer and said he thought the bolt looked overtorqued by the way it broke. Not sure if he's right or not, but then again, I'm no engineer. Thanks for any help.
joeymt33
i4WD=imitated 4WD
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Disclaimer: I've driven a train before but that doesn't make me a mechanical engineer. 
I think it was engineered to protect the most precious cargo, your family.
It's like crush zones on cars, it's meant to crush and absorb the impact so it doesn't eject the passengers.
For example, I've seen pics of pioneer bumpers collapsed after hitting something but I've also seen @Delton tie a winch to his bumper after running it thru a snatch block so his 4500# winch was doubled to 9000# and we still stalled out the winch but didn't even tweak the bumper.
We see a wreck on the street today and judge the outcome by which vehicle was least damaged. That's not the right way to view it, you should judge the crash by the passengers that were least harmed. The safest cars on the road today are means to crush the most except for the cabin. I would think Honda has the resources to get this right.
By the way, I've got a little experience in the same type of crash which is why I dig into the issue and learned so much.
Joe
I think it was engineered to protect the most precious cargo, your family.
It's like crush zones on cars, it's meant to crush and absorb the impact so it doesn't eject the passengers.
For example, I've seen pics of pioneer bumpers collapsed after hitting something but I've also seen @Delton tie a winch to his bumper after running it thru a snatch block so his 4500# winch was doubled to 9000# and we still stalled out the winch but didn't even tweak the bumper.
We see a wreck on the street today and judge the outcome by which vehicle was least damaged. That's not the right way to view it, you should judge the crash by the passengers that were least harmed. The safest cars on the road today are means to crush the most except for the cabin. I would think Honda has the resources to get this right.
By the way, I've got a little experience in the same type of crash which is why I dig into the issue and learned so much.
Joe
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Finally got it back after 3 months. Honda took care of the whole thing. I think my local dealership was dragging their feet more than anything but at least it got done. Glad to see Honda step up and do the right thing. I even got a call from a gentleman out in California from some Honda office out there. Real nice to talk to. Just wanted to know the specifics. Just an FYI in case anyone else ever has this issue.
