Author |
Message |
Evilphoton
| Posted on Friday, June 25, 2021 - 02:57 pm: |
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anyone find a cracked frame lately? found a hairline on the right side, clearly leaking fuel. i reckon i can find someone to weld it. just frustrating.
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Tpehak
| Posted on Friday, June 25, 2021 - 05:12 pm: |
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How did you find it? |
Evilphoton
| Posted on Friday, June 25, 2021 - 06:44 pm: |
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it started leaking fuel on the right side. first i thought maybe it was the vent but no such luck. |
Mark_weiss
| Posted on Friday, June 25, 2021 - 07:09 pm: |
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A guy I used to race with was an aircraft mechanic. He used to bring a two-part fuel tank sealant to races. It cured quickly, could be applied wet, and seemed permanent. It saved a lot of racers' days. I don't recall the name of the product but do recall that it was packaged in a silver pouch. |
Poochie71
| Posted on Saturday, June 26, 2021 - 06:51 am: |
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Hi, I think you are referring to PRC, it will seal the leak but it wouldn't stop the crack propagating. You may get away with stop drilling and PRC. |
Tpehak
| Posted on Saturday, June 26, 2021 - 10:50 am: |
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You have to drill the crack ends to stop cracking and then weld it. |
Evilphoton
| Posted on Saturday, June 26, 2021 - 05:57 pm: |
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i’ll track down someone who will weld it. hopefully without taking the whole bike apart. is cracking common with these frames? |
Hughlysses
| Posted on Saturday, June 26, 2021 - 10:01 pm: |
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is cracking common with these frames? Yours is the first one I’ve ever read about. |
Ourdee
| Posted on Saturday, June 26, 2021 - 10:03 pm: |
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Is there some kind of plastic lining in the tank? |
Tpehak
| Posted on Sunday, June 27, 2021 - 03:42 am: |
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No |
Mark_weiss
| Posted on Sunday, June 27, 2021 - 09:27 am: |
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The difficult part is going to be cleaning all fuel from the tank and then ensuring that no fuel vapor remains. The battery, ECU, and speedometer will need to be disconnected. Probably not a bad idea to disconnect the alternator and voltage regulator leads as well. |
Froggy
| Posted on Sunday, June 27, 2021 - 09:49 am: |
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quote:is cracking common with these frames?
I've seen like once, maybe twice on here before. I found this thread: http://www.badweatherbikers.com/cgibin/discus/show .cgi?142838/354419 |
Ourdee
| Posted on Sunday, June 27, 2021 - 11:44 am: |
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Vern posted in the other crack thread pointed out by Frank: The aluminum can be welded, but as your fuel tank it cannot as it will burn out the liner material that keeps the fuel from eating at the aluminum. That is what I remember, and the reason for my question above. |
Tpehak
| Posted on Sunday, June 27, 2021 - 02:06 pm: |
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Make sure you purge the tank cavity with inert gas before welding so if there will be some fuel inside the tank it will not explode. (Message edited by TPEHAK on June 27, 2021) |
Vortec57
| Posted on Monday, June 28, 2021 - 10:17 am: |
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Talk to a good welding shop and they can fix that no problem. Empty of gas as best you can. Disconnect battery, maybe unplug ECU, If they arent able to handle fumes/gas they arent the shop to deal with. My friends used to do gas tanks, and cut up huge underground fuel tanks all the time. theres simple tricks to making it work, and having big balls |
Teeps
| Posted on Monday, June 28, 2021 - 12:23 pm: |
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I would try this: https://www.amazon.com/Rectorseal-97606-4-Ounce-Ep -400-Epoxy/dp/B0006945SS , before welding. |
Tpehak
| Posted on Monday, June 28, 2021 - 03:03 pm: |
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You could try epoxy but you need to eliminate stress concentration drilling the crack ends regardless if you are going to weld it or fill it with epoxy otherwise the crack will grow no matter if you welded it or filled with epoxy. |
Smorris
| Posted on Monday, June 28, 2021 - 05:53 pm: |
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Can anyone give a confirmation or denial on the frame having coating or lining? Thanks |
Hughlysses
| Posted on Monday, June 28, 2021 - 06:27 pm: |
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Can anyone give a confirmation or denial on the frame having coating or lining? Thanks It’s been stated many times on this forum that the frames have an internal lining/coating. I’d still weld it. You might hurt the coating in a very small area. I don’t think that’ll be a big deal. |
Tootal
| Posted on Tuesday, June 29, 2021 - 10:53 am: |
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Since it's on top of the frame it would be less of a concern. I think drilling with a tiny drill,(#60), at the ends of the crack and then grinding it out with a ball cutter on a dremel then tig welded should repair it fine. As mentioned above, getting rid of the fuel fumes is a must. Filling it with inert gas or even water would work. Ofcourse the water level would have to be below the crack. (Message edited by tootal on June 29, 2021) (Message edited by tootal on June 29, 2021) |
Vortec57
| Posted on Tuesday, June 29, 2021 - 01:20 pm: |
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Even water beyond the crack. This fun thing about heat, itll boil the water and be a vapor barrier between the water and the weld. Just need the tank to be vented so the steam escapes and doesnt pressurize the tank at that point. Like I said before, a good welding shop will know how to knock that out in no time. If they're afraid of it at all, go to the next shop. Any sort of JB weld or anything short of welding it is just a bandaid and will fail again |
Ourdee
| Posted on Tuesday, June 29, 2021 - 05:18 pm: |
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Last time I took a uly to a bike shop for weld, they let me do the welding. Then took my number in case they got another job like mine in. |
Evilphoton
| Posted on Thursday, July 01, 2021 - 10:50 am: |
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1. #60 drill bit 2. epoxy, i’ve seen a few different types or/next 1. reputable welder, find, discuss 2. drain tank (i need to replace the fuel line in the pump anyway) 3. drill crack 4. fill with water or inert gas thank you for your support! |
Etennuly
| Posted on Sunday, August 15, 2021 - 07:19 pm: |
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In my day....before all of this techno mumbo jumbo.... A nice seasoned mechanic, who spent lots of time welding or soldering gas tanks in the rusty North East, showed me his tank clearing method. His was to first rinse with water, then connect a piece of exhaust pipe from a warmed up running engine's tail pipe to which ever opening of the tank fit best. He would run the hot gasses through the tank until the tank was pretty hot and completely dry. Then for sport he'd wave his torch flame over any port in the tank. He lived into his mid 90s. |
Figorvonbuellingham
| Posted on Sunday, August 15, 2021 - 09:00 pm: |
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When we used to weld gas tank we just filled them with water then welded them. Drain afterwards. If there is some sort of liner in there then it will be damaged. I’m not sure why they would need a liner in there. Lining a fuel tank sounds like trouble down the road. |
Ourdee
| Posted on Sunday, August 15, 2021 - 10:24 pm: |
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I'm done here. |
Hughlysses
| Posted on Monday, August 16, 2021 - 08:26 am: |
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The lframe internal lining business was first mentioned here shortly after the XB was introduced in ~2002. People were talking about customizing their XB’s by powder coating the frame a different color. Someone (maybe an Anonymous poster at Buell) warned against it as the frame was internally coated. Of course, powder coating would involve heating the entire frame to cure the powder, very different from the limited area that would be affected from TIG welding this small crack. |
Vortec57
| Posted on Wednesday, September 22, 2021 - 09:50 am: |
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Etennuly, the exhaust gas wasnt as much to heat or dry the tank, but as we all learned in science, the CO in the exhaust is heavyier/denser than oxygen. So it pushes the O2 out of the tank. Then weld away. because oxygen is an important part of the fire triangle, take it out, then its safe to weld |
Nillaice
| Posted on Wednesday, September 22, 2021 - 01:03 pm: |
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or fill it with argon ... if it hasnt allready been repaired |
Rayycc1
| Posted on Monday, October 04, 2021 - 12:12 pm: |
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If you haven't already fixed it... drill both ends of Crack and use jb weld steel stick... it'll fix that no problem...6 months ago I had a bolt break that holds the footage mounts to the frame... when I tried to drill it out.. the bit went thru the bolt and then thru the frame... gas poured out everywhere while I was still drilling. I literally cried. Then I did some research and found that many people have used steel stick in aluminum racing applications for fuel tanks...I mixed some up abs pressed it into the hole... put it all back together and haven't lost so much as a drop of gas in 6 months and 14k miles of riding. Trust me when I tell you this works. Tried and tested. |
Etennuly
| Posted on Friday, October 15, 2021 - 10:37 pm: |
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Vortec57. Yes that is why he used exhaust gas. His theory was that after a water rinse, the hot exhaust gas would dry out the tank to avoid leaving water in the tank. Almost every rusty tank of the 60s had more than one leak. So being dry he could flip it around as needed. I was there the first time he tried exhaust gas alone. It seemed a tiny bit of liquid gas didn't get evaporated. From the seams or somewhere. He flashed the flame of his torch over the gage/fuel line hole, no problem. Then he flipped it over and flashed the flame at the filler neck. WHOOF! She gone! Good thing the overhead door was open. It didn't hurt the tank. It went about 30 feet out the door, rocket like. After that he went to water then exhaust. He'd use just water for a single spot repair. Nowadays it may seem stupid to go through all of that. Just pop the $350 and get a new after market tank. Back then $350 was 2 weeks wages. The tank cost the same back then, AM did not exist and the junk yard tanks were worse. Shop labor rates were $12 per hour and you'd be fixing a family's only car that likely wasn't worth $300. |
Woody74
| Posted on Thursday, October 21, 2021 - 10:36 am: |
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Well your frame is not the only one to crack. I went down in May on my 06 Uly and after reading your thread here I inspected my frame... Same crack as you have. I will be purging the tank and welding this. The crack happened due to high stress and it needs to be welded. Epoxy or JB weld is not sufficient in my opinion. As for the lining if there is one. It will be damaged but people make tanks out of aluminum all the time without coating them. I think the lining is less of a risk than an cracked frame. (Message edited by Woody74 on October 21, 2021) |
Woody74
| Posted on Thursday, October 21, 2021 - 10:37 am: |
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