Rust Hole in Frame

Pulled off my exhaust/headers to give them a good scrubbing to get rid of all the rust and when I as under the bike I noticed this....



Not sure what the best way of patching this will be. This is the on the right side (looking from the front) beside the header. I is right where it starts to curve up and partially on the curve. So a pain in the %&^%& spot.

I have a 110v wire feed (but don't have it set up for mig right now). Not sure if I could weld it with this or even how I would.

Any help appreciated.

Andrew

 

could you back up a little and take another picture, like show the engine with it

 

Better pic...

 

A wire feed machine will work fine for the repair. Make sure you clean the rust off the best you can and weld to solid material on both sides of the weld. The repair will last for years if you do it good. Keep an eye on the area a couple of times a season and watch the areas immediately adjacent to the weld because that is where it will crack if in fact it does start to crack again. The area might be a pain to get at but the up side is that even if you are not that good at vertical welds so what - no one will ever see it. Just make sure you paint the weld so it doesn't rust again.
Best wishes.

 

Maybe I'm wrong but something doesn't look right with the engine guard the way its sitting against the frame. There could be soft spots in the metal above the crack as well. because that cracked area looks pretty thinned out to me.

It looks to me like the frame is about to give out.

I don't mean this in any condecending way but if your asking how to fix this, then you better take it to someone who really knows how to weld. This is your life riding on this frame. Sixty miles an hour and the frame lets loose whoa!!

1-if the 110v welder can handle it depends on the welder and if it can handle thickness of metal. Should be able to. Read the manual.

2-your skill level.


If you really insist on doing it yourself my unexpert opinion is to get a piece of steel tubing the correct thickness and run practice beads.

Cut a cross section of the steel tubing and practice welds to see how far the weld penetrated the steel tubing. (again this is practicing on a piece of steel tubing off the bike not on your actual bike). You don't want the weld to just sit on top of the metal, you want the weld to melt with the steel to create a strong joint.

When you obtain the correct penetration then you can determine for yourself if you want to tackle the frame repair.

 

Don't know about a better picture, but it is definitely bigger, you a drive in screen to see it all.
The way to repair the frame is to crush in the weak area & lay in some bar maybe about 5mm x 12mm, build up plenty of weld & then grind it back to the shape of the tube, rustcoat or galvafroid, then 2 coats full gloos paint. It might be a good idear to dill a 4mm hole in the bottom of the frame to release any trapped H2O.

 

Engine guard is far away from the frame, it is just the angle I took the picture on. Sorry about the big pics, I should have re-sized them.

Andrew

 

Better pic, took a wire wheel to the spot.

No rust on the upper inside, seems to be limited to the area only. Will treat with rust converter. Might take it to the welding shop down the road tomorrow and see what they can do. I am just curious how one would patch this though.



Andrew

 

I think I would pull the engine and graft a new peice of tubing in there and tig weld it in nicely. For sure cut enough away to get back to some good metal. There are alot of XJ's that have leaked water into the frames and caused similar problems. Let us know how it works out for you.

MN

 

all those are very good ways to fix it if you decide to fix it without pulling the motor make sure you get all that oil and grease away from it just in case you dont need a fire