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Plastic Peg Repair

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JDweld98

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I have a 2014 Polaris Sportsman 850XP and what I'm currently trying to fix is just two small plastic pegs on the bottom of the seat that pop into place and keep the seat in place. I've found that they work great unless you install the seat incorrectly then sit on it... So now I'm left with two broken off pegs. I'm not just gonna leave it and I figured I'd at least try to fix it before I spend $350 on a new seat. The pegs need to be pretty strong and I haven't done any repairs that are too comparable to this so I don't know exactly how to go about this. I've got a few ideas but I'd love to hear any ideas from somebody who might know a bit more than I do. Thanks!

Here are some pictures are of both the damaged seat and the undamaged seat on my other Sportsman for reference.
99d586e60d85fb755c7db576f44f27cb.jpg
b9df0f9e1eb2d801af6e5128535dad6c.jpg
 
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TheEquineFencer

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Unless you're taking the seat off and on a lot, I'd put a big glob of clear silicone on the bottom of the seat, put it on and let it sit up for a couple of days, it'll stay in place.
 
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EdT

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If you can get to the other side of the seat bottom, I'd drill a thru hole from the side on the picture centering on the stub of the peg. I'd then drill and tap a hole in the peg pieces and screw them back in place.Drilling in a lathe would be best, but if not available, free hand it Carefully. You want the hole in the middle of the peg Countersunk screws may be required. If the plastic is poly ethylene or poly propylene, which is appears to be, you could probably get away with a just drilling a hole in the peg and use a sheet metal-type screw. In any case I'd shoot for a screw about 1/2 to 2/3 the diameter of the pin. There is no adhesive that I know of that will fix that permanently. You will have to create a mechanical joint.
 
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FigureItOut

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It may not be the easiest solution, but my technique for plastic welding has always gotten me good results. With a soldering iron start "poking" your joint lightly and pretty rapidly. You want to move quickly around the circumference of the peg. As the two pieces start to melt, you'll want to start pulling up on the peg and pushing it back down, in maybe 1/8" up and down movements. As you pull the joint apart and push it together and start heating more, the joint will get kinda stringy, like the cheese stretching out as you pull up a slice of pizza. When you have enough heat that the joint doesn't separate anywhere when you pull it up, you've got your molten plastic fully fused, and you can push the peg into position and hold it until it solidifies.

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stanward

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Plastic weld with stainless steel mesh for reinforcement. Also add a screw from behind too for extra support.


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Guster

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I would first try and pre-drill the stud/peg and secure it with a course threaded self tapping screw with a large washer to support it from the back. You could also plastic weld it at this stage to help secure it.

Alternatively I would sand the remaining surface flat. Drill two holes at the stud locations and turn a new stud secured in place from behind with a screw and large washer.
 
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owenst7

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Based on my experience with the manufacturing practices of polaris, those are probably a standard item from the McMaster catalog that have been welded to the plastic base.

ATV seat frames are usually HDPE or PP, so finding an adhesive to work might not be that easy. That joint probably wouldn't be very strong that way anyway.

If you remove the staples for the PVC cover and remove the foam (hopefully its not glued down with spray adhesive), you should be able to get to the back side of the sheet/frame/whatever. If the foam is stuck well, you could probably use an olfa knife or something to core out the foam there without shredding it.

Once you have access to the back, you could get a cylindrical bushing from a hardware store to take the place of the shaft. Its been a lot of years since I owned a polaris, and I don't recall if that come shaped head is part of the retention. You could probably fabricate something from a carriage bolt with some grinding. Then pass it through the bushing and secure it to the inside of the seat with the biggest fender washers you can find. Feather he washers out to the plastic sheet with some light sheet metal shaped/contoured to the plastic with some snips if you can. Probably want to use some Loctite on it so it can never loosen up on you.

If you need to try to weld plastic back in place, your local industrial plastic supplier will have cylinders that you can carve/machine down. There will probably be a marking on the plastic molding that will tell you what the seat is made of. Just use the same stuff. Ideally you'd want a hot air plastic welder like a Leister for doing that vs a soldering iron.
 
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owenst7

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TheEquineFencer said:
Unless you're taking the seat off and on a lot, I'd put a big glob of clear silicone on the bottom of the seat, put it on and let it sit up for a couple of days, it'll stay in place.
Click to expand...

An ATV seat is the equivalent of a car hood. You typically have to remove them to access the relays, fuses, air filter, carb/injectors, starter, etc. Polaris used to put the electrical up in front of the handlebars, but you still had to remove the seat to access a ton of stuff.
 
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JDweld98

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Pointbock said:
Are the pegs hollow? Can you get under/behind the baseplate?
Click to expand...
The only way I could get behind the baseplate is by taking off all the upholstery and if I did that I think getting that back on would be even more of a problem than the pegs. The pegs are solid though.

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J

JDweld98

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TheEquineFencer said:
Unless you're taking the seat off and on a lot, I'd put a big glob of clear silicone on the bottom of the seat, put it on and let it sit up for a couple of days, it'll stay in place.
Click to expand...
I take the seat off fairly frequently. The seat has to come off in order to access the airbox to change the air filter. The way I ride I usually change the filter every 200 miles or so. Plus after spending what I did on the machine Itself I just wouldnt feel right gluing it on.

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JDweld98

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owenst7 said:
An ATV seat is the equivalent of a car hood. You typically have to remove them to access the relays, fuses, air filter, carb/injectors, starter, etc. Polaris used to put the electrical up in front of the handlebars, but you still had to remove the seat to access a ton of stuff.
Click to expand...
The battery, fuses and relays are up front but other than that yeah everything is under the seat so I do have to take it on and off pretty frequently.

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owenst7

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Reupholstering those seats really isn't that difficult. Use a hairdryer and take your time. If you find your local commercial textiles place that suppliers auto upholstery places and stuff, you might even find a nicer material to use. The thin unreinforced vinyl that those seats come with typically tears really easily, althoughi kind of remember polaris have pretty nice seats.

My newest ATV is an '01 since I got in to rock crawlers, so my info is a little dated, but we used to have to reupholster the seats on dirt bikes and 3 wheelers every couple years due to them cracking in the cold in Alaska. A lot of guys just used duct tape, but my family owned a roofing business and I always used roofing membrane Lol.
 
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CJM8515

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Eh had the same issue with some that broke on a honda. I drilled holes and used JB weld to glue bolts in place. Suckers couldnt be removed, they were in there super secure.

If you wanna reuse what you got I highly suggest drilling through it and using rod of nail of some kind and some epoxy to reinforce it. Then plastic weld it back on as well.
 
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