check your CRACKS!

[cache]

just before my first pass at the dragstrip yesterday, another racer pointed out that MY FRAME IS CRACKED!!!!


we had a nasty wreck in '03, when I rebuilt the bike I was very careful in checking it over. had NO cracks in the frame.

This is now the second Hayabusa that I know personally that has developed cracks in the frame some time AFTER A WRECK!

Both times no visible cracks after the wreck, but develops some much later.



IF YOU ARE RIDING A WRECKED BIKE, please check it for safetey issues occasionally, not just once after the wreck.


c.


p.s. I'll post photos tonite..........

 

[him]

Where was the crack becasue i fall into this catagory.

. Will insurance fix that?

 

[BusaAdmirer]

Developing cracks 2 years after the wreck.. that sounds strange.. is it a stress fracture or something

 

[cache]

not sure if the crack has been there for 1day or 200days... it was just noticed yesterday.

will post pics tonite of location.

 

[Narcissus]

D'oh. Thanks for the reminder. I need to check mine as I rebuild it.

 

[tbonebusa]

Damn, Cache....that blows. Hope it doesn't turn out like that boat manifold fiasco from a while back.....

 

[rubbersidedown]

metallurgy is a facinating yet fugged up field.

For instance... you weld a piece of steel , some cold roll perhaps, 20 minutes later, yer good 2 go.

You weld a piece of alluminum, and its nice an' strong...

80 days later.

just call me... Mr.Science or ...

 

[cache]

I'll keep an eye or 4 on it.... continue to race it... if the crack gets bigger, time to fix. strip and ship.


todd...... you just HAAAAAD to bring that up.

 

[cache]

left side by inner fairing, easy to see weld....

 

[HeliBusa]

For anyone who lives near a large airport, you can bring critical components into a Non Destructive Testing (NDT) facility. There are a lot of such businesses that support the aviation industry.

The cost is not too bad if you have the parts stripped down and clean. Also does not hurt to shop around. There are a few different tests that can be done, depending on the base metal.

I have seen several instances where components APPEARED to be flawless and an NDT process determined that the part would have had a catastrophic failure if installed.

For those on a tight budget (tightasses) or not near an NDT facility, you can buy kits and do some of the tests yourself. If anyone wants to go that route, drop me a PM and I can dig up some vendors for you.

What Rubbah wrote is very true, you have to treat aluminum and other non-ferrous metals very differently than plain old steel.

 

[HeliBusa]

Excuse me, I meant to say "What Mr. Science wrote"

Sorry Rubbah, errrr Mr. Science.....lol

 

[GMbusa]

This "cracks" me up.

Ok, that was bad.......



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[stkr00]

Dam cache...that sucks!

Might want to look into having the frame magnafluxed or have a dye-penetrant test done on each weld area. Stress cracks will show up that are not visible to the eye under normal conditions.

Good luck

 

[HeliBusa]

Cache,

There used to be a guy who was operating a small fab shop right off of Hwy 99 in Aurora. The place was called Popeye's Welding. The owner is a bit eccentric (engineer type) but is actually a welding guru. He was one of the very few people certified to weld repairs on turbine blades for jet engines. It has been a few years since I was there, but he was actually fairly reasonable for non-aviation type work.

I used to live in your neighborhood, well not far anyway (Eby Road).

If I were you, I would also have the welds in the area of the fork bearings inspected. If you are not going to fix that right away, you might consider doing a spray on NDT test to either give you piece of mind, or to light a fire under your butt to fix it....

 

[cache]

heli... already had a fire under my butt..... for real. flames comin out from under the seat last year in the pits. was not fun, but fun to laff at.


going to strip the frame down and send to a place on the east coast that will fix the crack for about 30bucks, and check the rest of the frame. ............. .. after racing season is over... unless it gets worse first. crack can kill.

 

[rubbersidedown]

just say no to crack...

 

[HeliBusa]

Yeah.......Crack is BAD.......KaaaaaY!!!

 

[paineless4u]

wow sry to hear the bad news, I hope you get her fixed up soon.

 

[ks-waterbug]

Wonder if you could stop drill it........ Just to get you through the season! Then get it welded up.

 

[shenoyp]

Does not look good cache!!!

... But from whatever lil i know about metals, structural damage to most metals does not take more than a couple of days to surface!! So IMO its not from your previous crash!! Some one correct me ifim wrong!!

...