Well crap, that got expensive quick.

[treetop62]

Finally take the new argo out to the trap line. We need a 10x14 wood shed skidded to a different place. After jacking it up and putting logs under it, I go to pull the shed with the argo's rear hitch. Needless to say that's bent now, sigh. Turn the machine around to use the front mounted dealer installed winch and brush guard. Put a little suck on the line and "snap", what was that? look around and don't see anything noticeable. Resume the suck and "snap", this happens 2 more times and I finally notice the brush guard is moving when i put a suck on the winch. After further inspection I see that the 4 rivets at the front of the argo that connect the plastic to the frame have popped, thus the snaps i heard. Does the winch mount flex that much that the rivets should pop? I doubt it.

Get shed moved with some creative engineering, and decide I need a break better go for a cruise. After covering approx 16km I notice the passenger side track has a lot of slack in it. Get out check the pressures, all are good except 1 (the tire I have a tube in) feel air rushing out while inflating the tire and find a small cut in sidewall of tire. This is the second time that apparently gravel has cut the side wall of my tires.(both times on a lease road, no sticks to be found) stick a plug in and we are off and running but these tires are JUNK. Set all the pressures the same and still notice track is a bit loose for my liking. I was told when I bought the machine that track stretch will happen. Fine, but why is only 1 stretched? drivers side is fine. So can I pull the spacer piece out of the passenger side and leave it in on the drivers?

Drive a little further and start hearing a ticking sound( fan motor on a housing type of racket). Check engine bay, all looks normal, sound if from my feet. After careful inspection I notice the 1 Teflon puck on the chain tensioner is near wore through and the other side is like brand new plus some oil. I try to adjust this tensioner and no way, is this thing budging. What would cause this?

After our eventful day we are heading home, argo limped us back to the vehicle and off we go. Drive approx 1 hr out of my 3 hour drive and pull over to check straps, pee, etc and notice my hood on my argo is gone. I know the hood latches were done up as I did it. But would those popped rivets have anything to do with that plastic flexing and allowing the hood to evacuate?
Note: I do tow it backwards.

I'm going to crawl in my cave and escape daylight for a couple days. The argo is scheduled to go to the dealer this week so here is hoping warranty covers most/all of this. I should also mention that I have a 2015 750 HDI (camo) with 350km on argo and 40 hrs. I haven't even greased my bearing yet.

Fustrated.

[mike d]

Good reason to start drinking. Good luck Mike

[Twizted1]

Wow. Sorry to hear all that. Wouldn't expect that kind of problems already. I'm sure most will get worked out. But I wouldn't hold your breath on them covering the hood. But you never know.

[ARGOJIM]

For what a hood costs. I'd have drove back the 1 hour.
Yes the body and bracket would flex that much with the weight, the hitch has much less leverage.

BTW been there done that, sucks!

[glen1971]

That sounds like a crappy day... Hopefully your dealer will step up and make things right..

[jeffery9076]

I tried moving a smaller shed years ago with my f-150 and then tried with the explorer which moved it fairly well. Usually my friend comes over with his f-350 dump truck and we move it easy then. Good luck with the argo

[philipatmaxfour]

treetop62- Sorry to hear about your really bad day. Can you yell us a bit more about the bent hitch? Did the ball bend or the receiver bolted to the machine? Were the mounting bolts loose. Hope you start getting better luck right away.

[treetop62]

The hitch is bent down in the rear. The piece that comes from factory, not my receiver. It has been at the dealer for the last week and I haven't had a chance to look at in detail.

[treetop62]

UPDATE!

Here is where I am with this whole fiasco!

Sent to ODG!
Message: I recently purchased a 750 HDI and currently have about 400km on the machine. I have already had 3 flat tires, to which only one of can be blamed on driver error. I am running stock tires with argo rubber tracks and these tires keep cutting sidewalls. I am following the argo recommended air pressures as well. I would like to know what ODG's solution to this problem is. At $200/tire I will not be buying argo replacements and feel there is no way that these tires cannot hold up with the limited amount of km I drive. 90% of my driving is lease roads, 10% off road on maintained trails. Please let me know what ODG's solution is.

There response:
Dear Mr.******

I'm sorry to hear of the problems you have had with the tires on your new Argo 750 HDI. Have you spoken with your dealer about these failures yet? Are you or your dealer able to email some pictures of the damage to me? If you can provide me with some more information, I would be happy to assist in determining a cause.


Best regards.

My last reply to them:

The Dealer has no answer. Tires have 400 kms on them. They still look new. I want to clarify, you want me to take a picture of the tire plugs? Or of the invoice from the dealer to fix these repairs? FYI prior to buying this argo, I had a Polaris Ranger with 5000 km on it. Driving the same area as I do with the argo, without 1 flat tire. Three flats in 400kms seems like a bad batch of tires to me. They are the 25” if that matters.

On a totally unrelated subject, on the same trip. I got to use my winch for the first time, hooray! As I winched I heard 2 loud popping noises, I let off the winch and inspected. Nothing visually showed up. I winched again and heard 2 of the same noises. I did not let off the winch and went and inspected and here my front plastic to where the winch is mounted is pulling way out. So far that it blew the 4 rivets that hold the plastic to the frame at the front on top. I stopped winching and proceeded to pack up my argo as I have numerous times. Sometime on the way home my hood flew off on the highway (and wasn’t recovered). My only guess is, that because the plastic wasn’t in the same shape as it was supposed to be that the hood did not fit snug. I took it into the dealer and explained what happened, they had a look at it and after a day or two, they called explaining that “they (the dealer) forgot to install “a plate” for the winch mount.” Those are the term used by the dealer. They also explained that they had ordered a hood and were going to talk to ODG about what could be done. Fast forward to today, I spoke with my dealer and there is no warranty offered by ODG on the hood. They said that ODG “expects me to take the hood off and put it in the cab of my truck during transport”. Wonderful, where would you like my passengers to sit? In the argo? Give me a break. The hood when I packed up my argo for transport was secured by the 2 latches from factory and has been the last 14 times I’ve taken it anywhere. For the record I transport my unit backwards. So this hood came off its hinges, off its straps, and cleared the laid down windshield after one of your dealers forgot to put a MAJOR plate in for the winch, and I AM expected to pay for a new hood? Not happening. The dealer even offered to split the cost with me, still $400. Not Happening. This is not customer error. This is flat out faulty workmanship by the dealer, period! If I don’t do something correctly at my work, I fix it, period.

So I ask you, are you telling me that ODG does not stand behind their “dealer installed” accessories? I would doubt that is the case. The new camo hood is apparently sitting at the dealership today. I am picking up the unit at 5:30 p.m. Friday Aug 7, 2015. I would hope there is a solution to this blatant faulty workmanship and warranty is offered.

After spending $30k + on this machine. To expect your customers to have to disassemble, your machine prior to transport, and store it in the cab of their passenger vehicle is ridiculous. Why don’t you flip the hinges so the hood doesn’t come off? It also suggests strapping the hood down. Where would you like me to strap it to? Who is covering the friction burn that the strap will do (from wind, bumps etc.) to the plastic? I strapped down my canvas cab and the bungee strap already wore through( from wind) the bag that encases it. Maybe ODG should offer a travel tarp that works with all the accessories installed (ie. Mudflaps, brush guards, winches etc.)

Sincerely

[Deedeelin1]

B