Freedomflyer 1,585 Posted February 17, 2020 TRX, Here's the photos of the plastic repair I did on my one Rancher, too cheap I guess to buy new foot well and rear fender. One of my foot wells was pretty busted up, I drilled holes, ran zip ties then started melting it back together with the soldering iron, flipped it over and smoothed it out with the flat tip that comes with the gun. It wasn't perfect but looked better than the zip ties showing, and actually the zip ties kind of melted in with it. I melted the crack around the hole on the rear fender from underneath and smoothed it with the soldering iron on the top, you can see the dark line where the crack was, I then put the graphic kit on it and never had a problem with the crack on the fender or the cracks in the foot well for the two years I rode it. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
toodeep 1,716 Posted February 17, 2020 Those 420s was bad at cracking around that rack mount. I have an electric/air plastic welder I use. I've been welding plastic for years. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TRX Student 145 Posted February 17, 2020 Well done! Thank you for this post. I feel like you've helped me get pushed in the right direction with the simple soldering iron method. Will give that a shot, practice on a bucket first. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Freedomflyer 1,585 Posted February 17, 2020 Yeah, I don't have one of them, LOL I'm stuck with a soldering iron. Where'd you get the welder? is it pretty easy to use? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Freedomflyer 1,585 Posted February 17, 2020 You might want to into a plastic welder like toodeep is talking about, I may look into that myself Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TRX Student 145 Posted February 17, 2020 I haven't bought a welder yet, but I do have a cheap soldering iron that I've been trying out, installing led lights on some hondas. It gets pretty hot, so I think it will work. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Freedomflyer 1,585 Posted February 17, 2020 Cool, good luck! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Freedomflyer 1,585 Posted February 17, 2020 Was just looking on Harbor Freight site, It's probably junk but they have one for $75 I may go pick one up to give it a try, I have a few plastic things that need a fix LOL Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
toodeep 1,716 Posted February 17, 2020 They are pretty simple after a little practice. I have a cheap one from ebay I'm using now. I dont do it enough anymore to justify the good seeley ones (lost that one in the fire). A couple things you can do with that method is melt some mesh in on the underside to help reinforce it or if you have some old fenders around use it for material to help thicken/reinforce it. Prewarming with a heat gun can help the soldering gun penetrate a little deeper for a good bond. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Freedomflyer 1,585 Posted February 17, 2020 That's a great Idea, I did do that a bit with the footwell repair I found some black plastic somewhere that was compatible with what I had. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
