| Author | Message | ||
     Rick_a |
My swingarm came back from Revolution Performance. I think there were two people welding on it. They extended it an inch...that weld looks good, is virtually seamless, and there's no defects in it that I can see. Everything else reads like a book of what NOT to do.       I'd almost be okay with it if I had a friend do it for me, but I paid for this. I'd be embarrassed if this came outa my shop. It is the ugliest welds I've ever seen on a motorcycle part. Some of it I'll have re-done and the rest is going to take a lot of grinding! | ||
| Ratbuell |
Send them the pics, and see if they'll take it back and try again. If you're *really* dissatisfied (I would be), mark it in an inconspicuous spot, send it back and demand they replace it instead of fixing it. Then check for your mark when the "new" piece comes back just to be safe. I have no idea how to weld...and *I* could do the stuff in your pics. | ||
| Bake |
Geez I coulda done that for ya  | ||
| Rick_a |
Well, it took about a month and a half to get it back the first time...I have a track day next month...the math says things aren't looking good. | ||
| Bad_karma |
Rick That is something like I want done to my spare swing arm. But if thats welding, I'm not going to let them have at it. Sorry about the job. Joe | ||
| Wile_ecoyote |
Looks like bubblegum. Find a new cat that knows what he's doin. | ||
| Spiderman |
Good news is, the first pic looks great! Bad news, Those are the worst welds I have ever seen. I don't think those would even pass tech. Take it to a local welder, one who does TIG and he may be able to fix it... | ||
| Rick_a |
My wife is a pretty talented welder, but she isn't working now. The shop she worked at closed soon after she left. She's going to see if she can find someone who'll let her use a machine. If we had access to a tubing bender and the materials we would've made the brace ourselves. Two of the welds on the brace actually look very good, the rest is crap. The fitter did a very good job...as some of the butt joints are visible it's evident that everything was cut and fitted very accurately. Unfortunately that level of craftsmanship is not evident throughout. They apparently don't respond to email, so I'll fax them the pics and see if they'll compensate me for the time to fix it. | ||
| Bartimus |
Contact Blake and email him the pics, Revolution is a sponser here, and he's one of their biggest fans. He may be able to expedite the re-work for you. I'm sure someone here on the board has a spare swingarm laying around they can loan you in the meantime so you can still make your trackday while you wait for the part to come back... | ||
| Buellfighter |
Oh my gawd those have got to be the $%&@#ist welds I have ever seen. I've seen better welds on 30 dollar huffy bicycles. | ||
| Phatkidwit1eye |
Yikes..... | ||
| Rick_a |
I don't know...most of it should be structurally sound but is a real eyesore, 3 of them definitely need a going over. One thing is for shure...it'll be wrinkle black and not powder coat. That Rhino Lining idea sounds pretty good right now! Definitely not what you'd expect from professionals. (Message edited by Rick_a on April 14, 2007) | ||
| Blake |
Rick, Call Brian Nallin and let him know about your situation. He runs the show there and he'll do what it takes to make it right for you. | ||
| Mmmi_grad |
Revolution Performance ?????????? What revolution ? A cave man could do it? LOL Damn man you got hosed. | ||
| Rick_a |
A co-worker of mine was an assistant welding teacher at a vocational school. He told me that none of the welds on the brace would even come close to passing a visual inspection, and that the swingarm welds looked acceptable. My wife tells me that even if welds look ok they sometimes will not pass a structural test. She wants all this well documented in case "something happens." On top of that I took a closer look at the welds on the fork legs, and who ever cleaned them up took way too much off the edges. That'll never look right, either. (Message edited by Rick_a on April 14, 2007) | ||
| Panic |
I'm curious - why didn't they attach the front of the brace to the shock tower? The front strut (connect the forward end of the brace to the arm) should be in compression, but it's angled back - probably safe but not how it should be. I also see (?) a second hole for the shock's heim joint, but it appears to be lower (= shorter distance to the pivot shaft) than the original, yes? If so, this has the effect as lengthening the arm - increases the wheel's leverage against the shock. Normally, a new shock mount will be farther away to retain the same ratio to minimize suspension set-up. The ratio looks like 2-1 now, so the new hole would be 1/2 the extension distance farther away, which requires the tower to be modded also. I have some comments on swing-arm design in general here: http://victorylibrary.com/brit/chassis-2a.htm | ||
| Rick_a |
The shock pivot was "relocated" after first raising the rear ride height one inch. The swingarm angle really made the rear suspension feel a bit stiff for my tastes (I like running the rear a bit on the loose side), so I binned the original setup and tried this. I think with some shock adjustments and a stiffer spring I could still make it work again...or I'll just use the original hole and use a different front mount. As for the brace, looks to me like they were going for the simplest solution. I'm a bit concerned about chain clearance under a compressed suspension. Looks like it'll be too damn close. These look a bit better:   (Message edited by Rick_a on April 14, 2007) | ||
| Rick_a |
I just went and checked...the chain runs right into that brace. Now this thing is truly junk. | ||
| Panic |
Isn't this the factory braced arm, as seen from the axle looking forward? Notice where the brace intersects the shock tower.  | ||
| Aaomy |
dose that brace wrap all the way around.. the only ones i have seen were braced on both sides but had a brake where the chain or belt would go threw like the one above but with a support rail for the arm on the right that went forward but never connected with the arm going down to the shock.. i have also thought about modding a swing arm this way for my s2t.. i currently run the al one and love it for strength and looks but on a s2 you loose swing arm travel... more picks of yours and other modded ones please.. rick a,, we still have snow up here!!!!! good thing you got away.. aaron | ||
| Rick_a |
I'm not sure. I believe the factory style brace was also braced on the other side, but the brace ran much closer to the swingarm on the right side. (Message edited by Rick_a on April 15, 2007) | ||
| Panic |
  | ||
| Rick_a |
That's the one. Man, I wish mine looked more like that. The more I look at this thing the more disgusted I get. They must've forgot that a belt or chain runs along the other side.  | ||
| Oldog |
Rick: I would consider Blakes advice along with your wifes, contact RP and document it! [ HERE ON BAD WEBB too ] it took about a month and a half to get it back the first time... That seems a little excessive for what you indicate was done Give rev-perf a chance to make it right, and see what happens, a phone call is a good place to start and well worth your time. Before you do any welding or other work on the arm, make the call. Other wise your all ready invested time and money are wasted. Oh and keep us posted. } | ||
| Nevrenuf |
rick, if you want, get ahold of buellistic over here in tampa and ask him if he ever checked to see if my old swingarm was anygood after my daughter got hit in the rear. if nothing else, if he hasn't been able to check it out then maybe we can take it into a shop to see if they can do it. but if you need one then there's no reason why you can't have that one if it is good and if so we can get it to you somehow. but see what buellistic thinks about the swingarm. | ||
| Panic |
Based entirely on what they did to yours, I'm not sure I would want anything from them but a replacement (stock, undamaged) arm, all your money including return postage, and an apology. If they didn't realize what was wrong with it, I would have little faith that the correction would be sufficient: 1. bad welding 2, bad fit (chain) 3. bad design It appears to me that the person who designed this (and may not have done the actual welding) does not understand how the forces operate on a swing-arm, and chose to ignore several excellent models. The engineering may have been forgiven if the chain cleared and welding was acceptable, but not as-is. | ||
| Rick_a |
I agree Panic. With so much welding and grinding already done on it I'd hate to see what I'd end up with if it was ground off and re-done. Thanks for all the suggestions and support. I'll have an update as soon as I can get things sorted. | ||
| Panic |
If they make you eat it (i.e., don't want to pay the postage for the return) it's still a good core for someone who wants to modify an arm. | ||
| Lake_bueller |
Rick...I have a spare swingarm you could borrow until you get yours fixed. You'd just need to pay shipping both ways. Let me know if you get into a bind and need something quickly. | ||
| Rick_a |
I have proven my rough guesstimation about chain clearance. Brian Nallin assured me it'd have enough clearance, and that all the braced swingarms were done this way. There's no way it works for me here. Ryan (Frausty12R) came by to give me a hand (his hand clearly visible in the pic). Well...here's how it ended up. The rear shock pivot is set up for raising the suspension 1" and also adds 3/8" of wheel travel. With the shock fully compressed (suspension at unladen, topped-out ride height) this is what I got:   Very close, but not yet touching. There'd be some serious chain slap damage going on here. Note that the wheel is softly touching the ground. Here, with two two-by-fours (actually measuring one and a half inches each) simulating 3" of suspension travel. This is actually where the chain would not allow the wheel to move any farther and would be making serious contact:   Using the factory rear shock pivot point would've made things worse, but I wanted to show how it works in the configuration that I'm using. So obviously I was right and at least got some documentation of that, so it isn't a total waste of time. |
