fixing argo's body

[brebett]

Hi, does anyone know a good way to fix the body of the avenger argo? It has a long crack over the rear tire under the seat. I was thinking of fiber glass but maybe it won't be flexible. Any suggestion

[Mike]

Hi Jack, if you will use the search here on the site, there are several threads on this topic. Your body is HDPE so fiberglass would not be a good solution but the good news is that you can plastic-weld it back together. Take a look at some of the threads on that topic. Here is one to get you started:

http://www.6x6world.com/forums/general-6x6-atv-discussion/14701-max-ii-tub-repair.html

[Alan Berube]

Plastic bumper repair products work great, they are made to stay flexable and bond with a chemical reaction that creates a lot of heat. Once it bonds you can't remove it. I have used it on quad plastics with no issues.

[brebett]

Thank you for the info from you guys. I don't have a garage so I'll wait for spring to try to fix it since I have good info now. It's too cold here to do that outside.

[moos-a-boo]

Just curious brebett, how did the crack happen, better yet I have seen modifications to the avengers to prevent this from happening. I have seen a brace from the top of the hitch going upward in a "Y" to the under side of the body, a stiffener or support. I assume to prevent this from happening on the avenger, I think rockdoctor posted an article on this a year or so ago. Good luck with the patch & or fix.

[brebett]

Hi moos-a-boo, I'm not sure how it happened.That's the 3rd argo and the 1st time it happens. I beleive it happened while I was "jacking" the argo when I was stuck in heavy slush on the lake ( unfortunately I don't have tracks). Maybe it was too cold and wasn't flexibale. It's not under the argo, it is underneat the back seat. I use a " jack all" and jack it by the border. I know it's not a good way to do so but I've always done that and so far no problem. I'm thinking of putting a heavy steel bar all around the argo to reinforce it. The brace you're talking seems interesting. I'll try to find a picture of it.
thank you

[brebett]

Hi , I jsut fixed the body. I used a treated 2x2 and screwed it on the body so it would sqeeze the large crack together. Once that was done I used some flexible plastic epoxy repair kit, Pro form PF 704. It did a good job.

[lttljhn]

To maybe save you, and maybe some others time on searching, I'll share my 2 cents worth of repair experieince. We had an argo that had loose tracks that ate large holes in the tub above the wheels before we noticed. Our oops, but I paid for it when the argo sunk. Anyway, to repair it, we got soldering irons with large tips from the hardware store, and plastic flowerpots that had symbols that matched the plastic symbol on the tub of the argo. (This was before I was enlightened about the actual names of plastics, such as HDPE, which is the kind on an argo tub). We then cut chunks of the flowerpots up into bandaids, and melted them onto the argo's plastic, just like welding metal patches onto steel. It took a couple of days, but it is still holding strong now, several hundred rough miles later.