Frame Restoration

[Steve Little]

Welding front engine mount

Then I pre heated the weld area before welding.
I used the TIG to weld this, as it was a narrow gap to get into and it in this instance I could ensure a cleaner weld.
Front engine mount 007.JPGFront engine mount 009.JPG
When the welding was completed, I post heated the weld.

[Steve Little]

When it had cooled down I used the die grinder to clean and shape the weld. When this has been sand blasted and painted, I think most traces of the repair will dissapear.

[c.o.]

I'm still watching this thread with great interest Steve. Thanks for taking the time to show what it is you do with these frames.

[Steve Little]

Thanks Cory.

Next item on the adjender is to replace the bottom tubes. I have turned down some sleeves to go inside the replacement tube sections.
The sleeves are hollow and are about the same thickness as the parent metal.
A good rule of thumb for the length of a sleeve is 1 1/2 times the diam of the tube into each side of the repair.
A sleeve should be hollow for any repair of a motorcycle frame tube.
A hollow sleeve will happily flex with the rest of the tubing. A solid slug will not.
I drill staggered plug weld holes in the tubing. This staggers the plug welds. The tube will also have a penatration gap between them for the weld to penatrate into the sleeve.

[Steve Little]

Fitted all tubes into the neck and brazed it up

[Steve Little]

I think in a frenzy of picture tacking and pressing buttons I lost a few pictures of the lower tube repair. I jump onto the repair of the upper tubes. The end of the tubes had been ground down and the ends had a 1 1/2 cut off them. The white line on the backbone indicates where the rounded end of the tube should be

[Steve Little]

Pressed a couple of pieces of tube and ground the end radius to make it look like the end of the upper tubes
rear axle carrier 008.JPG

TIG welded these repair sections to the end of the tubes. I left a gap of a bit over a 1/6” inch for weld penetration.
This shot shows how much of the original tube had been ground away.
I pad welded the section of missing tube. There is a crack visible on the right hand side. This shows how thin the top of this tube had been ground. I used the TIG to weld this thin section until it was thick enough to blend back in.
When all was linished and contoured to shape I laid the last two welds to make it look original.

[Steve Little]

Time to remove the Tiawan tool box bracket.
These Tiawan made toolbox brackets are easy to identify. They are 2 1/4 inches wide. All Harley toolbox brackets are 2 inches wide. This is the toolbox bracket that was sold by Paughco, Santee, V-Twin and others. They were made at one place in Tiawan and sold through all the distributors for about the last 30 years. These toolbox brackets have been around for so long that a lot of people think they are original

[Steve Little]

These pictures show how a original size unit fits inside the Tiawan unit. The Taiwan unit usually has 2 extra holes drilled in the centre section. The new unit on the right is ours, and is the correct width and shape

[Steve Little]

Axle carrier restoratio

Using a couple of small pieces of 3/8" scrap steel plate, I drilled a 3/8" hole in the corner of each one.
Then bolted each piece to our small rotary table and milled off all the surrounding material.
This left a raised pad, the same size as the rear stand mount on the rear axle carriers.
Next I stencilled the shape of an original axle carrier on some white cardboard.
Then put it on the back of the modified axle carrier of this frame and traced a line around the modified carrier. This gave me the shape of the missing bit.
I then put mark out die on the steel and then traced around the cut out section.

During my apprenticeship (Boiler maker and Structual steel) I went to Trade school, one day a week. At Trade school they taught us to put a series of light centre pop marks along a line to help during an oxy cut.
I never used this method outside of Trade school and all through my Trade years as I could see perfectly well through my cutting glasses.
Nowadays I need all the help I can get while doing a oxy cut

[Steve Little]

Oxy cut the shapes and then a bit of weld prep for penetration

[Steve Little]

I used a C clamp and a peice of thick plate clamped to the back of each axle carrier. I had about 1/8" weld penetration gap so that the weld would fuse through the crack.
Then tacked each repair piece with the TIG welder and then welded them. I am happy with amount of penetration (as seen in the shots from the other side) that was achieved.
Then I laid a fillet run over the top. Even after I linish it to shape it will be very strong.
It is Friday afternoon here and the frame was complete this morning. I am away for the weekend so I will finish loading the last few pictures and descriptions then.

[Steve Little]

The provoking thought of the week end.*
If you where to ask yourself, which component is most important on you'r Harley,.....what would it be?*

I will table the argument for the humble, sturdy old frame.
On a Knuckle, U model or rigid Pan, no other part of the motorbike plays such a significant and critical role in so many areas, as the frame.
Set aside the crucial issue of tracking and handling of the motorbike, and consider all the components that must bolt up to the frame correctly.*
Eg, Bearing cups, gas tanks, dash base, oil tank, engine, transmission plate, transmission, forward control plates, rear fender, inner primary, toolbox, rear wheel, exhaust squish pipe, brake cross over shaft, seat post, seat T, etc.*
To balance up the view, lets look at the poofy old engine.*
Its connected to the *primary chain, inner primary, exhaust pipes, oil pipes, and of course...the humble old frame.
See!! *Lightweight in comparison.

[Steve Little]

After completing the welds on both axle carriers, I used a range different grits in the linishing grinding pads (5" 3" & 2") to get a nice finish all along the weld area. The right axle carrier came up pretty nice. I sprayed a bit of black paint to dull the shiney surface to give a better perspective of the finsh. I also bolted an original axle carrier (rust coloured unit) underneath for comparison.
Once it is blasted, painted, and a rear stand bolted to it, I dont think anyone will pick it.

[Steve Little]

axle carrier 018.JPGThe left axle carrier took a bit more work to make it look ok.
Here you can see that there is a strengthening rib that runs along the axle carrier. I have hi-lited the area that needs to be built up to make it stronger and look more original