why did the swing break on Polaris 90 Sportsman

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Hey , thought I would post pics of this here and see if I could get some input as to why it broke and how I could rebuild it(I say rebuild because it is too thin to repair). Just some quick history. It is a 2009 Polaris Sportsman 90. My son is 50 lbs and the quad has only been ridden in our back yard supervised. It has never been beaten, abused, ridden on hard traails etc. There is no way this should have cracked like this and I found many instances on the internet of similar problems. Polaris told us to drop dead so I see no point in spending 200$ on the same piece of junk arm. Look at th epics and tell me why this cracked ? I think the steel was too thin and it cracked next to every weld because the welding beads further weakended it ?Also How can I build a new one stronger. What kind of steel should I use ? Should I use box tube on the two arms or stay with round tube and use a thicker tube.Thanks Attached ImagesLincoln Ranger 8Lincoln 140c MigLincoln Tombstone(doesn't everybody have one ?)Miller 200Diesel/Heavy Equipment MechanicLead Plant Mechanic Municipal Water
Reply:More pics.. Attached ImagesLincoln Ranger 8Lincoln 140c MigLincoln Tombstone(doesn't everybody have one ?)Miller 200Diesel/Heavy Equipment MechanicLead Plant Mechanic Municipal Water
Reply:Also notice how the round tube goes into the mounting side plates. It tapers down to a point. I don't have a way to replicate that. Does it matter or can I just square off my new tube ?Lincoln Ranger 8Lincoln 140c MigLincoln Tombstone(doesn't everybody have one ?)Miller 200Diesel/Heavy Equipment MechanicLead Plant Mechanic Municipal Water
Reply:How involved do you want to go in this? You could take your time, and create a much stronger one, but chancing it getting it all aligned will be quite hard without proper equipment.Could you not get a used one and reinforce it? Instead of starting from scratch.Also.Who owned the quad before you? There is no way it could have broke from normal use. This has abuse written all over it!
Reply:I think Polaris makes some pretty junk stuff. I find it funny they put the American flag on their product while it is made in Mexico. I think Polaris has some of the worst welding I have ever seen on manufactured items. No way they told you to drop dead. It is out of warranty by a long shot however Polaris bends over backwards to take care of its customers. Probabaly 5 years out.It looks to me that the atv has never been maintained. If it was you surely would have caught this before it got to being in pieces.If you think you are getting your moneys worth by spending hundreds on smaller stuff and thousands less on larger vehicles by buying Polaris in stead of something from Japan this is what you should expect.
Reply:Factory welding looks poor to say the least.JasonLincoln Idealarc 250 stick/tigThermal Dynamics Cutmaster 52Miller Bobcat 250Torchmate CNC tableThermal Arc Hefty 2Ironworkers Local 720
Reply:Originally Posted by Canadian WeldingHow involved do you want to go in this? You could take your time, and create a much stronger one, but chancing it getting it all aligned will be quite hard without proper equipment.Could you not get a used one and reinforce it? Instead of starting from scratch.Also.Who owned the quad before you? There is no way it could have broke from normal use. This has abuse written all over it!
Reply:Sorry for lousy typing. My worn out old hands dont work good on this little phone.
Reply:Looks like a bad design to me.  Also, prolly the worst factory mig welds I've ever seen.  Lots of spatter too.  It cracked right along the weld on both sides.  The "America Pride" sticker makes me cringe. It's deceitful and was put there to confuse people into thinking it was made here.  I would tack together, refit on bike and get geometry perfect.  Take off and make a quick fixture/Jig.  Weld it to fixture to keep it all straight, then cut all the crap out and rebuild it.  Add some gussets.  The problem is that when you strengthen it, another parts gonna give.
Reply:You guys spouting off about made in mexico and chinese rebadged crap...Do you have any proof?  I can't speak about all of Polaris products, but I have walked through one of their plants near me.  They were welding, painting, and assembling ATV's and motorcycles right here in the midwest.My name's not Jim....
Reply:Originally Posted by BoostinjdmYou guys spouting off about made in mexico and chinese rebadged crap...Do you have any proof?  I can't speak about all of Polaris products, but I have walked through one of their plants near me.  They were welding, painting, and assembling ATV's and motorcycles right here in the midwest.
Reply:I'll draw a picture later but I was thinking of taking some 1/8 plate and sandwich ing the whole thing or one plate in the middle connecting all three sides then cut a hole in the middle for relief.
Reply:Originally Posted by mikecwikI think Polaris makes some pretty junk stuff. I find it funny they put the American flag on their product while it is made in Mexico. I think Polaris has some of the worst welding I have ever seen on manufactured items. No way they told you to drop dead. It is out of warranty by a long shot however Polaris bends over backwards to take care of its customers. Probabaly 5 years out.It looks to me that the atv has never been maintained. If it was you surely would have caught this before it got to being in pieces.If you think you are getting your moneys worth by spending hundreds on smaller stuff and thousands less on larger vehicles by buying Polaris in stead of something from Japan this is what you should expect.
Reply:Originally Posted by snoeproeFactory welding looks poor to say the least.
Reply:If I'm looking at this right, it appears to have broken at the toe line of the weld.My guess, likely went too fast while welding and left undercut at the toe?Dave J.Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance. ~George Bernard Shaw~ Syncro 350Invertec v250-sThermal Arc 161 and 300MM210DialarcTried being normal once, didn't take....I think it was a Tuesday.
Reply:Post mortem on this kind of failure can be a little iffy.While it looks to me like Polaris should have used tube a bit larger and thicker walled, there is also the possibility that the failure could have begun when water entered one of the long swing arm tubes and then collected at the bottom and froze in cold weather.But that scenario would require that there already had been a crack or gap higher upstream for water to enter.I consider freezing as a possibility mainly because of the way the long "feathered/tapered" tube weldment extension sections opened up and separated.  It seems to me that those tapered weldment sections would have been the last place to break if it was simply flexion of the swing arm tubes leading to fatigue failure.  And in that case, the breakage/failure should have been a fairly clean and squared off parting line around the tube right where the tube leads away from the flat plate weldment.The flat plate weldment area offers enough local reinforcement that the tube should not have opened up like it did, unless freezing of trapped water jacked out the tubing walls enough to weaken them along the edge of the long bead (toe line, as mentioned by Minnesota Dave) in that area.Just my humble opinion.
Reply:Originally Posted by acesneights1I bought it from a close friend . It was still almost new as his son never rode it either. In the Peoples Republic of Ct atvs are banned pretty much anywhere but your backyard and they are working on that.It the quad looks lke crap in the pics because we did not wash it after it broke and the yafd is kinda muddy. It is in very good condition and has less than 100 hrs of use on it. Polarismdoes not bend over backwards, they suck. They did tell me to drop dead by saying we cant do anything its out of warrsnty , take it to the dealer. The joke is the American Pride sticmer knnthis chinese made rebadge but back to my question.I think I can square it up.Inwas gonna tack it backtogether and then replace one tube at a timewhile chdcking for fitment. Domyou think I need to worry about how they tapered down the original tubes ? Also as fad as a used one couldnt one for my year and besides the steelmis so thin I think by welding to it I creste a weak point like they did ? Or was the problem that it should have besn welded with multiple passes to spread it out ?
Reply:I would tack weld the old one so it was square and true to its original form,and build a jig to make a heavy duty one.
Reply:Originally Posted by BoostinjdmYou guys spouting off about made in mexico and chinese rebadged crap...Do you have any proof?  I can't speak about all of Polaris products, but I have walked through one of their plants near me.  They were welding, painting, and assembling ATV's and motorcycles right here in the midwest.
Reply:You know, thinking about them being made in America to me is even better. Some of the stuff I have seen in maybe a dozen years working around Polaris is a joke.