Bought a pig in a poke

[jeepwm69 7,601]

Late last week an 05-06 500 popped up about 2 hours away.  Kid had it listed at $1650 OBO.  Way too high, but said he was negotiable. 

 

I was second in line, first guy bought it. 

 

Then yesterday I see it relisted as a part out.  Had a straight front bumper and racks, and good green fenders with no snorkel holes.  I call the guy and ask about quite a few parts (fenders, bumper, knuckles, CV's, front rack, 12" OEM wheels) and he says "Want to buy the whole thing?  $1K"

 

I headed out to get it, and realize that the FB location that was listed was not the address the guy sent, so I went from  75ish min drive, to a 130 min drive.  Was 20 mins from the house before I realized that, so I pushed on.

 

Got there, and was in a hurry (I know, I know, stupid) as I was supposed to be home and cleaned up to go to dinner with the family at 5:30, so I have it a quick glance, and rolled it on the trailer.

 

This morning I gave it a better look.  Hacked up wiring harness, but worse, the right upper a-arm mount has some bubba welding job on it. 

 

Guess this one will be a parts bike.  I certainly won't try to build one on a frame that looks like this. 

 

That's one of those "did I really just drive two hours each way and then overpay for THAT?"

 

Oh well, win some, lose some. 

[Wheeler 2,525]

@jeepwm69 not sure if u seen the one I went to look at but I’m glad I didn’t buy it. Worse than he said as well. I was in same boat.. he gave me different address than where I ended up!

[jeepwm69 7,601]

16 minutes ago, Wheeler said:

@jeepwm69 not sure if u seen the one I went to look at but I’m glad I didn’t buy it. Worse than he said as well. I was in same boat.. he gave me different address than where I ended up!

 

 

Yeah, I saw that.  Almost posted this in your thread, but didn't want to hijack your post.

[shadetree 5,882]

yeah bro, i think most of us either have been where your at ?..or will be !..lol. this trx500tm i'm working on has cost way more money than what it's worth ?, but oh well, too deep into it now to look back...lol.

[jeepwm69 7,601]

[_Wilson_™ 6,564]

wow, with a break like that i just wander what caused it? but you say the plastics are good from the front bumper, and rack ? i meant to ask wheeler was the one he was going to build a face book find .. 

[Wheeler 2,525]

@_Wilson_™ no mine was a Kijiji find. 
 

man that is brutal... sorry jeep 

[sled_22 845]

32 minutes ago, jeepwm69 said:

This "welder" must not believe in a grinder.... this looks like a clamp the ground on and hope the stick welder arcs.

[jeepwm69 7,601]

Yep, it's bad. 

 

Fenders are not busted at all, and the front bumper doesn't have a single dent in it (but the skid plate mounting bolts are all broken off).  Maybe it was wrecked and "fixed" with parts from another wheeler.

 

No idea what happened.

 

Now I have this frame with bubbaweld on it, another with a bent front end (my 09 my sister wrecked) and another with stripped out swingarm bolt threads. 

 

Guess I could cut them up and cobble one together!  LOL

[_Wilson_™ 6,564]

hey, I've cut frames in half and made one from two, just never tried this idea on a honda atv, might be worth a try ... gawd knows that frame (front )  is useless ... we've seen guys redo frames eat up with rust, so... .. not a bad idea IMO .. 

[jeepwm69 7,601]

Tore into this one a bit over the last few days, mainly getting bits to finish putting together this 07 I'm more or less through with.  Had to rob the front rack off of it for now (supports were broken off my "spare" rack) and a fender support rod.

 

Went ahead and took the fenders off as this one will be completely stripped down per the usual.  Found a bunch of allen head bolts that replaced the OEM fasteners.  Of course, several stripped, leaving me with 2.5 hours of drilling out bolts and rethreading the holes on the front bumper.

 

This was obviously kids who didn't know and didn't want to learn, trying to cobble together something that worked. 

 

Not sure what that voltage reg is off of, but it's twice the size of the stock unit, and was loosely held onto the frame by one bolt.

 

Better pics of that beautimous welding job on the frame.

 

Wiring looks like they chopped it up and then tried to put it back together with whatever they had on hand.

 

Will turn this one into a build thread when I get ready to strip it all the way down.

[jeepwm69 7,601]

This is now a build thread.  LOL

 

Got a frame from @1080PowersportsPartsLLC a while back.  Got it painted and ready to swap everything over.

 

Pulled the engine a couple of weeks ago, tore it down and have started putting it back together with a new crank.  Interestingly enough, someone's been in this engine.  No gaskets on either the rear case cover or the stator cover, just hondabond.  Oil rings were sitting on top of the crank (rod was shot, of course).  At least one helicoil in the head.   That said, the 1st gear was already updated to the 09-11 style, so at least that "saved" me some money.

 

My daughter's boyfriend mentioned buying a wheeler.  I told him he could have this one for what I have in it when I'm through with it.  If I had to guess I'll be around $2k assuming the front and rear ends just need bearings. 

 

Thus far I've had to do crank, seals, gasket sets, and it will need top end work.  Seat needs recovered, meter was gone (ordered one on ebay) and had to get a battery.  I'm sure it will need bearings in the knuckles, but hopefully nothing else major will be needed.

[Fishfiles 20,145]

1 hour ago, jeepwm69 said:

This is now a build thread.  LOL

 

Got a frame from @1080PowersportsPartsLLC

Did you notice the huge load of Kawasaki 's that Powersports is getting  in this month , and assortment of 4 wheelers and 3 wheelers , there is even a Tecate in the mix