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[Specter]

Just got news a friend is in the hospital in ICU.
Says his 4 wheeler locked up on him and he flipped several times doing about 30 mph.  Brain bleed, ribs crushed among other injuries.

Im trying to picture what would cause a 4 wheeler to just lock up at 30 mph?

The only thing I can picture is the chain coming off and binding in the axle like could happen with a bike.
I can't see the motor seizing at that speed, wouldn't it be more of a howl as it welds itself if he ran it out of oil, or just grenade?

Ideas what went wrong?? 

Thanks
Aaron

[Fran K]

First thing that came to mind was the Bosh abs on a Harley trike misbehaved and got repaired and misbehaved again.  I don't have a link but likely is searchable

Second thing is was it in the transmission.  The chain yes buy are you sure it is not a drive shaft four wheel drive four wheeler.  I call the onew with handlebars quads or atv and the ones with a steering wheel side by side.

[TheRan]

The transmission is a good bet, there's a lot of rather hard gears that could shatter and jam the whole thing up. Bearings in the rear axle could also grenade but I would think that's less likely to lock it up. The same could have happened in one of the front hubs, and if one side suddenly stopped and dug into the mud that would be very likely to result in a rollover.

[Specter]

thanks guys, they have him heavily sedated so can't really talk to him and see if he has any ideas what went wrong.  Just seems odd that going that fast, yes I know 30 is NOT fast on a 4 wheeler, especially when some of those things can hit 100, but to just lock up, the inertia not tearing it up, seems odd and curious HOW that happens?

Fran, I have no idea what kind it is, how it's driven, chain, direct drive, I have no idea, but yah can see a tranny acting up.

Aaron

[Curt]

Sorry about your friend Aaron.

3 years ago I my friend's dual motor e-scooter front wheel locked up while I was doing 30 mph on it. It sent me like superman over the bars. I was lucky to get away with "only" a bunch of severe rash on both knees, both elbows, side, shoulder, etc. I still don't understand why that happened. I replaced all the electronics and he still rides it -- but I won't.

Hopefully you and he have better luck getting answers by inspecting the 4 wheeler.

[TheRan]

With hub motors there are a few things that could cause them to lock up, or at least drag significantly. The first two are mechanical (and so probably didn't happen to the scooter if you didn't fix them and he's still riding it). If it's not properly sealed then water can get inside and cause rust to build up between the magnets and the stator, and if it gets hot or is just low quality then the magnets could come loose. Another way is if there's a short between the phases (and possibly elsewhere further down the line) then it's like having regen on, you may have inadvertently fixed that if you replaced electrical components.