Broken rack

[Guest]

As u can see from the picture the tube is broken. It had been welded before by the previous owner. They put a bolt inside and put it back together and welded it. Has any one had any luck welding this stuff. Can u get a good replacement somewhere?

[IMG][/IMG]

[motoman]

Not unusual, that's where that rack normally breaks. Had two like that, but gave them away already. The one I used to have had been brazed where that one is broke, and I lightly sprayed Duplicolors Hi-temp silver over fix. Was hardly noticable, cept by me, so it got replaced with a NOS identical rack. Check here on site or watch fleabay, they come up regularly.

[skids]

I don't know how they got a piece of bolt in there to do that unless the other side also needed the same. Braze it and keep an eye on it.

[CaptonZap]

That seems to be a common place for the racks to break.
And if the weldor isn't on top of good practice, they can screw it up some more.
Welding melts the base metal, and any contaminates that are on the surface, inside and outside, are melted into the pool of metal. Now the alloy is changed, and usually for the worse. Chrome is one of the worst metals to get into the melt, with copper (Copper strike in plating operations) being not far behind.
If you want to weld something like that, take a Dremel or equivalent and grind the plating down to base metal, back from the break at least 3/16 of an inch, each side. There is not much you can do about the inside, but with a shallow weld bead, not too much penetration, you should be OK, since the plating is next to nothing that far inside. A bead with a height of the thickness of the metal will provide enough strength to last for a good while. A TIG is recommended, but a competent MiG weldor can do almost as good. Just remember, that is a high stress point, and should be inspected often, to avoid embarrassment.
On the plus side, a bolt or tube stuffed into the inside of the tube, and then welded, is an approved technique, used in aircraft repair, as well as more earthbound pursuits.
A coat of paint, to match the factory applied paint on the joints of the factory "post plating" welds on the exhaust pipe, would not be too far out of character,
CZ

[Aches n Pains]

Sent you a PM.

[fredintoon]

As u can see from the picture the tube is broken. It had been welded before by the previous owner. They put a bolt inside and put it back together and welded it. Has any one had any luck welding this stuff. Can u get a good replacement somewhere? - - -

Hi Virgil,
as has been posted, welding is dodgy because the plating can get mixed in with the weld to spoil the metallurgy so try brazing.
Take the broken part right off and remove the PO's reinforcing rod.
Replace it with a tubular reinforcing piece that's a snug fit inside and about the same wall thickness as the rack tubing.
Polish up everything squeaky clean, slather the joint with brazing flux and use low temperature brazing rod or silver solder.
Alas, the chrome around the repair can't be saved.
A silver paint touch-up won't look too bad.

[jayel]

another way would to drill cross holes then insert a slug and weld thru the holes fill them in and the slug locks the pieces together

[Guest]

I got it welded. I will have to just give it a try. I don't think the rack was designed to have a truck mounted on it along with a few things in it and the fact that the bike rides very ruff. Thanks to all for the very good advise. If I could get the thing to ride a little softer that might help.

[motoman]

I got it welded. I will have to just give it a try. I don't think the rack was designed to have a truck mounted on it along with a few things in it and the fact that the bike rides very ruff. Thanks to all for the very good advise. If I could get the thing to ride a little softer that might help.

Glad you able to fix it. Actually they WILL carry a heavy load. Picking up the rear of bike by the rack is what starts the metal fatigue.......the wrong direction. By design and location of the angled upright supports is IMO to allow a somewhat of a load within reason. All though I know I've had my tail trunk over-weighted several times over the years.