thanks for all the welcomes!! i was gonna take pics tonight, but dammit i forgot, i'll try tomorrow. right now i have all the wheels off and it's sitting up on a stool.
i'm going through it front to back checking everything i can think of. tonight i ended up tightening every single bolt on the front suspension...evvverything was loose...so i'll be checking every other bolt on the quad..b-o-r-i-n-g!! this thing wasn't really maintained, it seems it was just ridden. i don't think the chain has ever come off, i had to get a hammer and punch out to open the link up, so looks like i'm in for a chain & sprocket set for sure so far.
--matt