Smashed up my front end - need advice

[dsiomtw]

Craziest freak accident today. (If you're curious what happened it's at the bottom of the post!)

Anyway, the front end of my beloved cart is trashed. It has some kind of A-arm setup with coilovers. I'm guessing it all came from a place called Baja Ready as that's what it says on the rear components, but they seem to be out of business.

You can see in the 2nd pic how the whole front end is sort of just rotated backwards - the bottom of the steering wheel is literally about 6 inches off the seat. Surprisingly there isn't as much damage as I expected. It looks like the rear crossmember (whatever it's called) took the brunt of the impact as you can see in the 3rd pic. Fortunately my relatively new Trojans, EMP motor and electronics all seem fine.

Anyway, I'm trying to decide if I should try to fix this thing up or just get another used cart and move over all my goodies ...

Would it be worth trying to find someone who could fab me up the piece(s) I need? The a-arms, shocks, etc. actually still look fine. Or should I just pick up a Jake's kit which is around $650 I think? Either way I think I need a new cowling and some misc body pieces as well so it's not going to be cheap. The steering rack looks OK, but maybe there's more damage that I'm not seeing as well ...

Anyone have any advice for me? I'm in the San Diego area if anyone knows of someone or a shop, etc. that might be able to help me out with some of this. I changed out the motor and speed controller when I converted it to 48V and I'm decently handy, but this is going to be a big job and I don't really have the time right now as I just moved, etc. We use the cart literally every day and I'd love to get it back in service ASAP.

Anyway, here are some pics ...









What happened - so I got a big box delivered to my place and balanced it somewhat precariously on the front seat of my cart. Went to go sign the paperwork with the delivery guy, and somehow the **** box falls off the seat and lands right on the gas pedal. Next thing you know my cart is smashing head on into the lift gate of the delivery truck going about 25mph. Could have been worse - the other delivery guy was standing about 10 feet away from where it hit with his back turned. For some dumb reason I left the ignition on, which I rarely do. Had it been off as it should have been this would have never happened so remember to turn off those ignitions when you're not in your cart!

[scottyb]

Sorry to see this, we all do it. I've seen lots of unattended carts take off - I remember one apt. maintenance cart incident - a step ladder put on the back slid forward and dropped onto the gas peddle. The worker tried to run and jump in the cart but, the old guy fell next to the cart and caught his ringed finger on the cart. It dragged him full speed accross the parking and banged him up pretty good crashing into a parked car.


Your front end looks like a Strech Plastics long travel. Salvage it if you can. They don't make em any better or any more. I have a used pr of those progressive shocks if you need one.

[eflyguy]

No brake, either?
..a

[dsiomtw]

Originally Posted by eflyguy

No brake, either?
..a

Brake was on. It releases when the gas pedal is pressed.

[dsiomtw]

Originally Posted by scottyb

Your front end looks like a Strech Plastics long travel. Salvage it if you can. They don't make em any better or any more. I have a used pr of those progressive shocks if you need one.

Thanks for the reply. Aside from the body pieces it seems like the only thing that's damaged is the main tube "frame" in the front that everything connects to (don't know what you call that piece). The arms, tie rods, shocks, etc. all seem fine. Amazingly enough the lights didn't even break which is hard to believe. So would I just take everything apart and take that tube frame piece to a metal fabricator and say "make me another one of these" ??? It's crushed/twisted pretty bad at several key joints and I don't think this one is salvageable. Would a fabricator be able to copy the dimensions and angles exactly so that everything lined up when I put it all back together? Don't know anything about this type of thing!

[scottyb]

He might need the whole cart not disassembled. There may be something amiss the untrained eye can't see. Call him and ask.

Next thing you know my cart is smashing head on into the lift gate of the delivery truck going about 25mph.

and people ask me why i don't speed up my 12mph cart
thank Zeus no one was hurt

[dsiomtw]

Thanks, will do. Last question - do you think there's any chance I could find a used strech plastics piece somewhere out there? I'll contact them just to see what they say, but curious what you think. I read a post you made in April that said you had 15 kits or something ... any idea where I might be able to get my hands on just the tube frame (or an entire kit if necessary) ??? Thanks!

[dsiomtw]

Originally Posted by crash test dummy

and people ask me why i don't speed up my 12mph cart
thank Zeus no one was hurt

Your 12mph cart is probably more like a 16-18mph cart with no 180+lb driver.

Try dropping a box on the gas pedal and I guarantee it's a lot faster than 12mph!

I've got an EMP torque motor and my cart climbs hills like a mofo. With me driving it's probably no more than 18mph tops on flat ground. I had never given any thought to how fast my cart would be without a driver lol but that's the first thing that went through my mind when it took off is "holy **** why is it going so fast"

im only 150lbs
your set up is great i'd see about doing what scotty says

i was at a local shop the other day and they had a cart in smashed on side roof tore off .. i asked about it and was shocked to hear a guy had been riding his 2 kids on the roof and flipped it
he's charged with child endangerment ..i hope i get jury duty soon !!!