My Bad Boy Ambush Utv review and customer service.

10 Ringer

New Member
Aug 20, 2016
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I have just now joined this forum, in hopes of getting some help/advice on my situation, as well to inform others and learn more about Utv's. We bought a new 2016 Bad Boy Buggy Ambush Is in December and these are the problems we have had with it. The company or dealer isn't being any help.
On the 1st night that the dealer delivered it the buggy wouldn’t crank/turn over in gas mode. The next day another member in our club helped us get it to crank by jiggling wires and filters.
2nd day we took it down one of our club trails in electric and it would not crank in gas to be put into 4wd. It later would not go forward or backward in electric which left us stranded for about 15 minutes while we turned the switch and buttons on and off, jiggled wires,etc.
3rd day We took it to the Eastern section of our property down a logging road which is all electric to go hunting that evening. Upon us getting back to the buggy at nightfall, the buggy would not move in electric so we had use gas while we discovered that we did not have any headlight. Therefore, we had to drive approximately 5 miles back to camp with a flashlight. The rest of the season we had to travel using a flashlight and auxiliary lights to travel, and we didn’t feel comfortable traveling far from camp.
The next day the parking brake came loose so we had to take it to our dealer. When we took it to our dealer, he said that we shouldn’t use the parking brake unless we were on a steep hill. We had to adjust the parking brake handle twice afterwards ourselves and then adjust the rear parking break caliper cable.
2 weeks later we found out why the gas wasn’t wanting to crank/turn over sometimes. We found a disconnected plug going from the switch to the starter. We reconnected it and it started up in gas. In late January, we took it to our dealer to have him fix the headlights. He had to replace a 48-volt converter, and which fixed the headlights, taillights, and 12-volt outlet.
We brought it back home to North Ga from South Ga and the next problem we had was when we were driving it around at home and the front right cv shaft started popping. When we turned to go around a curve it blew out of the boot and we almost flipped, with grease and ball bearings falling everywhere. It would not go anywhere in electric, so we drove it up on the trailer. When we told Bad Boy Buggies and our dealer whom we purchased it from that it broke, they told us to take it to our nearby dealer and they would fix it. We took it to. They said it would be 1.5 to 2 weeks before they could get around to looking at it, which we were fine with. They ended up ordering the front right cv shaft and strut assembly and it took them 2 months before they got it fixed so we could pick it up. When we got it back we noticed that it was leaning to the left on the back side and the front right strut assembly was higher than the left side. We took it off the trailer and then the front right cv shaft blew out again. When we jacked the front end up, we realized that while the wheel was connected to the body, there wasn’t anything to prevent the tire from rotating side to side.
As we loaded it on our trailer, we discovered that we didn’t have any normal foot brakes. We then drove 200 miles to take it to our original dealer (which said that he would fix the brakes, cv joint, strut assembly, and measure where the buggy was leaning to the left and where the right strut was higher than the left one. When we got it back two weeks later he said that he fixed everything, and that there wasn’t anything wrong with the brakes except that there was a little bit too much fluid even though we never added any. He said that he measured the buggy and everything was level. We took it to our hunting club 70 miles away, and when we went to take it off the trailer, it didn’t have any brakes and it rolled backwards off the trailer. When we called the dealer the next day, he said that everything was working when it left his place and suggested that we bled the brakes and check the fluid. We did that and they were working fine, and we went riding down one of our club roads and didn’t have any brakes which caused us to loose control and nearly flip when we had to dodge a tree, while we ran into a briar patch. We topped the fluid level back off and brakes started working intermittently. Now the cart is leaning to the left and the left hand front cv boot is ripped apart and the right front cv joint is popping again. We brought it back to North Ga and parked it in our storage building. We then measured the front side and the strut on the right is 2 inches taller than the left hand side even though the tire on the right side 1-2 inches lower on the right side.
Since it first arrived we have noticed that the front cv joints/axles are at an angle whereas our other members’ same year model and make bad boy buggies as well as the one at Bass Pro Shops goes straight out from the motor to the wheel. Ever since the first month we have tried to get Bad Boy Buggies and our dealer () to buy it back because it is a lemon. Bad Boy Buggies says that the dealer would be responsible for giving us a refund. Our dealer said that Bad Boy Buggies would be responsible for refunding our money. All they will ever say is that they can fix it if we take it to them. We have had so many breakdowns that we decided to buy a $80 technicians/service repair manual. It has been broken down for over 4 months and this is will just be month 7 of us owning it. It has had us scared to death that we would get in the woods and leave us stranded. It has always been very tippy and it seems prone to want to roll over. It will only go 10 miles on a charge our hunting land. What would you do or have any past experience with anything similar to this. I hate having a one ton 15k paperweight sitting in my garage.
Disclaimer: This is MY experience, dealing with the dealers and people that we have. This is MY Bad Boy Buggy that I own. Yours may not give you any problems and may be the best hunting vehicle you have ever had, but this is to inform others of MY experience. Have a blessed day.
 

10 Ringer

New Member
Aug 20, 2016
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1
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As of now this is all the repairs that have been done by dealers and Manufacture(Not counting the off record things to get us out of the woods with). If this thing ain't a lemon I don't know what is.
Dealer Number 1. (original dealer we purchased it from)
A. February 2015
1.Dc-Dc Converter
B. Late June
1. replaced (2) steering arm brackets right and left front
Replaced (1) hub assembly right front
Replaced (1) strut with bearing assembly right front
Repalced (2)anti rattle brake pad springs right front
Replaced (1) CV axle right front
Dealer Number 2 April 1st- June 10th
Cv axle assembly
STRUT assembly, Front LH
Right Front Strut Assembly
Textron Specialized Vehicles (manufacture)
All 4 struts were replaced, this included all 4 brake rotors, and brake calipers as well.
All brake lines as well as the master cylinder were replaced, the brake system was filled and bled per specifications
The park brake was adjusted per factory specifications
The drive clutch and drive belt were replaced
The engine oil, oil filter and air filter were changed
The battery connections were all tightened to specification and batteries were cleaned properly.
The inspection board on the back of the unit was replaced.
There was fault in history that indicated a Main Contactor issue, the main solenoid was changed.
The motor wires were all tightened to factory specifications.
 

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