1997 Conquest cracked by headlight

[mackdog75]

From what I have read its pretty common for them to crack by the headlight. My question is has anybody come up with a repair for it? And is there a way to prevent it from happening again in the future? I have access to a plastic welder but wasn't sure if it was worth it or not or if there was something better.

[JohnF]

I welded mine one nice warm fall evening a couple years ago. The cracks came back in the frigid cold of winter. I think if you weld it when it is cold it may work. I keep meaning to give it a try.

[guyfox]

I have read that the cracks are stress cracks from to much hard/incorrect winching. If you do repair them then be careful in the future when using your winch. I have an 02 conquest and do not have any stress cracks and I have had to winch myself out several times....

[JohnF]

Mine had them when I got it so I wasn't there when they showed up but watching the cracks through the season I am inclined to believe stress due difference in expansion/contraction between the plastic shell and the steel frame attached right behind where the cracks form.

I've never had to winch out. Usually have someone nearby to tow me...

Perhaps the front tow loop is to blame?

[mackdog75]

what kind of plastic are they made of? If I weld it I want to make sure to use the right stuff.

[ARGOJIM]

If you weld it I would try removing most if not all rivets from the metal hoop opening support, even better if you could remove it and inspect it. I recently did ours and though it was clamped with all the front and first 2 sides removed it still fought me and is ugly. I suspect that the hood support is bent outward from the winch tube being over stressed and tweaking it.

Check to see that all of your front rivets are still in one piece.

Just my thoughts from my machine which was over stressed for sure. The winches are designed to be pulled from and not yanked on.

[philipatmaxfour]

Just my thoughts from my machine which was over stressed for sure. The winches are designed to be pulled from and not yanked on.

I think it says in the owners manual Not to use the winch to tie the Argo down on the trailer but I see a lot of owners doing that. Must cause a lot of stress on some roads.

[JohnF]

HDPE

[JohnF]

... I suspect that the hood support is bent outward from the winch tube being over stressed and tweaking it. ...

Interesting. The winch hoop isn't attached to the hood support. Did you have pulled rivets? I'll have to put a straight edge against the hood support but mine looks fine; no rivets missing or pulled etc.

... Not to use the winch to tie the Argo down ...

I can imagine this and in fact imagine a hard tiedown using the fron towing eye could do the same. If we have any conquests with the cracks but no winch that would be interesting.

But, like I said before, on a hot summer day you would be hard pressed to see these cracks and in the middle if a winter cold snap there will be about a 3/16" gap. (on mine)

By the way, if you need plastic for filler then contact Argo. I sent an email and they sent me some scrap.

[mackdog75]

Good info guys. Thanks!!!

[shot410ga]

HDTP just means heavy duty truck plastic. I looked HDTP up and there is no qualifying chemical nomenclature for HDTP. Perhaps, it's just heavy duty polypropylene? I suppose HDTP can mean anything the manufacturer wants it to be.