I want to weld a sidestand bracket onto my 2002 FC550.
Any cautions or recommendations when it comes to welding on the frame?
Any cautions or recommendations when it comes to welding on the frame?
Disconnect the ignition control unit (and battery if you have one). Try to place the ground as close to the area being welded as possible.
I am an electronic tech, and that stuff is easy for me to understand, thanks for pointing it out though!
My question is more about the metallurgy involved and any weakening of the frame that may occur if I weld it. Specifically I'm worried about making the area around the weld brittle.. I believe these are Chromoly frames and I would be welding up a home-made mild steel bracket for an OEM stand. I'm a DIY welder with lots of experience and I can do a nice job with my wire feed MIG welder.. but I don't fully understand the metallurgy aspects.
Hoping someone can provide some guidance on how I should approach this welding job, if I should indeed be trying it at all.
My question is more about the metallurgy involved and any weakening of the frame that may occur if I weld it. Specifically I'm worried about making the area around the weld brittle.. I believe these are Chromoly frames and I would be welding up a home-made mild steel bracket for an OEM stand. I'm a DIY welder with lots of experience and I can do a nice job with my wire feed MIG welder.. but I don't fully understand the metallurgy aspects.
Hoping someone can provide some guidance on how I should approach this welding job, if I should indeed be trying it at all.
I had to weld up the kickstand mount on my '96 FE501 a couple of times (they were a bit flimsy) and never had any issues.
Hi Duane,
the frame is to my knowledge 'chromoly' steel... most probably something like the AISI 4130. Welding such material well is often the subject of entire books as the metallurgy is a little complex... but fortunately it's quite easy to distill into some simple practical rules:
The fact you'll be welding a low carbon mild-steel to the frame is going to help as the mild steel will dilute the overall carbon content of the weld pool. Try to minimise the heat input, but at the same time take care to get good fusion... not so easy with MIG! If you've access to TIG and have the experience, go with that by preference. TIG with low-carbon steel rods was the route I followed a few years ago when the stand fell off my FE400, and the same when a big 'off' ended up with a broken sub-frame. Both repairs have survived well through plenty of abuse.
However, at the end of the day , if the weld fails on a side-stand it's very unlikely to be life threatening.... So just go for it!
Incidentally, if you're interested in reading a relatively 'light' article on welding 4130 from a welding journal, here is a good place to start: http://www.aws.org/wj/apr03/AWfeature.html
Cheers... Paul
the frame is to my knowledge 'chromoly' steel... most probably something like the AISI 4130. Welding such material well is often the subject of entire books as the metallurgy is a little complex... but fortunately it's quite easy to distill into some simple practical rules:
- * avoid rapid cooling of the welds to avoid embrittlement from the formation of Martensite (a very brittle iron / high carbon alloy); use pre and post-heat if appropriate,
* ensure everything is very clean to avoid embrittlement from hydrogen migration (from paint, oil or anything else you tend to find on frames),
* use a very low-carbon filler such as ER70s-2 (AWS number) to avoid... yes you've guessed it, embrittlement.
The fact you'll be welding a low carbon mild-steel to the frame is going to help as the mild steel will dilute the overall carbon content of the weld pool. Try to minimise the heat input, but at the same time take care to get good fusion... not so easy with MIG! If you've access to TIG and have the experience, go with that by preference. TIG with low-carbon steel rods was the route I followed a few years ago when the stand fell off my FE400, and the same when a big 'off' ended up with a broken sub-frame. Both repairs have survived well through plenty of abuse.
However, at the end of the day , if the weld fails on a side-stand it's very unlikely to be life threatening.... So just go for it!
Incidentally, if you're interested in reading a relatively 'light' article on welding 4130 from a welding journal, here is a good place to start: http://www.aws.org/wj/apr03/AWfeature.html
Cheers... Paul
Thanks Paul, that's exactly the kind of feedback I was looking for! I will go read the material you mentioned... my grandfather used to tell me... a day that you don't learn anything.. is a wasted day!!
Thanks!
Thanks!
Joined Jun 2007
4K Posts | 1K+
south east WA Australia
all good advice here, awesome !
FWIW I killed my footpeg return springs clipping the earth clamp onto the footpeg
FWIW I killed my footpeg return springs clipping the earth clamp onto the footpeg
Joined Jun 2007
4K Posts | 1K+
south east WA Australia
yeah its a weird one! the steel is really really shagged I tried heating them up and requenching but it wont take, I make my own springs from time to time for suspension components very odd, DC current at about 20 amps max on and off for 15 min and its changed the steel 8O 8O
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