RidgeRunner frame repair

[wolverine350r]

I just bought a rather abused 05 RidgeRunner 700, the last thing the previous owner did was from what I can tell a high speed forward roll of some sort.

1st Point of damage: The main over the driver area-the basket is toast. They rolled onto the drivers side pushing the A-pillar to roof bend back to nearly flat. It appears that this also pushed the vertical hoop behind the driver somewhat crooked as I can see a small kinking of the driver rear down tube.

My question is would you attempt repair of this or cut it off and build a new one?



2nd point: Driver headlight surround, I will likely just bend this back and weld the crack in the frame - or cut them both off and change the lighting out since the mounting system on those lights is a little weak.


3rd point: passenger rear suspension. however they landed it was hard enough to pop the tire off the bead, bend the rim center which bent the brake disc and shattered the caliper and snap the half shaft off just outside of the CV boot. The suspension arms and shock look fine, but the forward upper arm mount is definitely pushed in.


If you look carefully you can see where the drive coupler ate through the metal under the mount point I am open to any thoughts/suggestions on how to fix this area.

Also the front seems to have some extreme toe out, but that is the least of my worries.

Thanks!

[K-fab]

Welcome to MBN!

Being that the Ridge Runner's been defunct for a while, you may have to get creative on repairing and finding parts (I'm sort of referring to the axle thread). You may consider talking to Neil at ATV Racing (623) 516-8640 (don't waste your time e-mailing - call him). I know they did a bunch of mods and repairs on the RR's when they were available, so he may have a line on what and/or where to get stuff.

Time to cut and rebuild on parts of that cage. Where it's torn out, I'd cap it - split a piece of tubing and then lay it over the damaged area.

There are a lot of very creative people with many resources so hopefully someone with some ideas will be able to hop on board and help you out sourcing stuff.

I'm going to move your threads over to the Ridge Runner forum.

[wolverine350r]

Thanks for the info.

No problem with moving them, I mainly posted to those places because this forum hasn't been touched in 3+ years.

[K-fab]

New posts will pop up regardless of the forum.

Sometimes it's nice to have one of the older ones come back from the dead. (kinda like some of my projects... )

[rgvkid]

Just saw your post asking for ridge runner help. Im not a ridge runner owner but I am a Metal Fabricator with and array of cage builds under my belt and I can tell you right now that the Ridge runner cage and engineering isn't very good, as you can see from the way the cage buckled. I can probably guarantee you that the pan is most likely tweeked a bit also.

First off, lets find out what kind of Drivetrain we're working with. What engine and trans does the RR have? I thought I read that the 800 was a Polaris engine.
If you can post some more full length side pics that would be helpful.

From the looks of where the front light guard tube tore off of the Main frame, it looks like the chassis is made out of .060 or .075 tubing, which is to thin for a 2 seater weight buggy. As you can see on how the light guard tube tore off of the main frame right on the outside of the weld, thats a sign of too much heat from the weld. The Guard tube should have folded before tearing. Which brings up concerns for the rest of the chassis.

As for axle stuff, your gonna have to start pulling things apart to figure out specs, length, CV Star Splines, Outer CV Splines, etc. to try and find a match. There are 1000's of options they could have used for Half Shaft.

Once we figure if the Engine is worthy of keeping and if you got it at a great price, then we can determine your options on getting rid of it or if its worth putting time into it.

I can tell you right now, that if you don't already have a good welder, Angle Grinders, Bender, and other miscellaneous tools then you can count on investing at least $1500 in tools alone unless you have buddies to borrow from.

[mech_head6]

As far as I know the RR used primarily mid - 2000s Sportsman 700/800 drivetrain.

Based on some of the pictures, it looks like they are stock Sporty axles that were chopped and lengthened.

[wolverine350r]

This one uses the 05 700 EFI powerplant/transmission/rear end. It appears that the brake parts are also from the ATV as well as the rear knuckles. I also believe that mech_head6 is correct about the axles.

For the axles, do you think it is probable that someone makes a shaft that could use the polaris ends?

I am in Ridgecrest, CA.

I'll try to get some more photos added, the bent rear wheel/broken shaft really makes moving it a challenge.

And thanks for the replies guys!

[mech_head6]

Yes, there are companies that make replacement shafts.

RCV will custom make any length shaft with any spline. You could also consider some of the Mud ATV companies that make longer axles for their lift kits. Gorilla, Highlifter are two of the common mud names. Depending on your width, that would likely be a custom job as well.

[wolverine350r]

Thanks for the info, I will probably just do as they did to get it up and moving, but want options for something better later.

[hansshanks]

I am a owner. you can look at my build thread on here. Drive train is out of early 2000s Polaris sportsman atvs. 4x4 efi. They reuse most of the rear drive train. Engine, trans, diff, both clutches, rear bearing carrier, hubs, brakes. They basic option axles are just the cut and lengthened stokers. Or you could do like I did and have gorilla axles installed. I am not sure what your time line for repairs is. But over the course of the remainder of this year my buggy will be going under the knife and getting a complete remodel including new wider suspension front and rear as well as a power plant swap. So I will be getting rid of my stock parts as I replace them. Basically the complete suspension will be replaced. So I will be looking to get rid of parts as I do this.

Last I talked to Bruce, (the now owner of RidgeRunner, former lead fabricator) He has a extra frame already built. And he still has the frame jigs. He has the ability to build any of the ridge runner specific parts you may need. I still live in the area and talk to him from time to time. I had him do some frame repair work for me year before last.

I hope this information helps some. I have been through a lot of stuff with my buggy. I bought it new and worked out many of the bugs that builds after mine benefitted from.