chromoly?

[speedy400]

So, I got a "Fab-Tech" "Chromoly steel" swingarm off ebay about a year ago, brand new, lifetime warrenty... well it started bending about 3-4 months after I got it, I called him everything, no one answers the phone, I got hosed basically, its now bent to the point where its messing other things up(skid plate...aluminum air box, ext.). In the pics below you can see where it bent (linkage mount and the box its attached to)... So now I'm doing a winter rebuild I'm somewhat tight on cash so theres no way I'm gunna just throw this one away and get a new one...so I'm looking for ideas from you guys, my 1st idea is to cut the section out and basically make my own(I am quite a mechanically inclined person) linkage box/mount and then weld it in, but my wirefeed says it will go up to 1/4inch, this stuff is about that, can my welder weld this stuff? let me know some idea's/info. thanks very much-darren

[speedy400]

I cant find a pic of what the mount looked originally but it's bent down on mine 1/2-3/4inch, bent down about 40 degrees from orgininal.... my swingarm.-
pics-
http://community.webshots.com/photo/118110059/222057931HKMSEU

http://community.webshots.com/photo/118110059/222058097qpuDOX


ps- note I cant even get the linkage bolt out because its bent down so much
:mad: ... my PC is also ruined.-darren

[TC426EX]

Holy **** man, that thing is trashed... Thats why I always buy name brand **** as far as swingarms/a-arms and all that go. I know that doesnt help your situation, but I would say the only way you really could fix that would be to cut it out and weld a new mount in. I hope you can get that bolt out of there somehow, either way its gonna be a process... At least its the off season man (unless you live where its warm)...

[speedy400]

I live in southern MN,:) does anyone know if you need a special welder for welding chromoly steel? TC your right, I wish I would've known that before, but I had the idea they were a good brand because they used the "Fab-Tech" name, they make some of the best lift kits for all trucks, little did I know this is "Fab-Tech ATV" thanks-darren

[TCSMotorsports]

Wow that really sucks. I would recommend TIG welding it over wire feed because you can get a better penetration with the weld. Looking at my Houser I have on my 250r, there is a plate welded from the carrier housing to the linkage mount crossbar on both the top and bottom sides. I am a machinist not a fabricator but I would recommend cutting out the linkage mount cross bar and weld in a new one with the support plates like on the Houser swingarm I talked about to provide strength and rigidity on the linkage mount. Just my opinion though. Hope this helps.

Sean

[Toadz400]

I guess if you really wanted to, you could send the swingarm to me and my dad could cut it up and weld it because we have a TIG welder, which I'm sure would work quite well with that. I believe my dad can also get a hold of some high-quality metal (chromoly or better).

[Pappy]

im gonna geuss and say that swing arm isnt even chromoly

[speedy400]

pappy, are you serious? wow i really got screwed over on this one... whats the characteristics of chomoly vs steel?thanks-darren

[2stroketwin]

Chromoly is stronger and more flexible before bending than mild steel. Look its properties up under 4130 alloy. You can weld it with a mild steel filler metal. It can be mig welded but most things are made out of thin chromoly for the weight savings without sacrificing strength so it is hard to produce a small quality weld with mig.
If your swingarm is 1/8" or thicker you could probably mig weld it with the same wire you use for mild steel and be fine.

[Ralph]

Wow, i realy thought Fab-Tech was a respectable company. I think you should continue to get a hold of him and e-mail him a copy of this thread. If he doesnt hold his word with that warrenty and fix this A huge percentage of his possible future customers will find see this and hurt this buisness.

I think you should send it to somebody with more fabricating experience to get er' done.

[speedy400]

Originally posted by Ralph
Wow, i realy thought Fab-Tech was a respectable company. I think you should continue to get a hold of him and e-mail him a copy of this thread. If he doesnt hold his word with that warrenty and fix this A huge percentage of his possible future customers will find see this and hurt this buisness.

I think you should send it to somebody with more fabricating experience to get er' done.
I would like to stress its not Fab-tech thats the ppl that sold me the swingarm, it's Fabtech ATV I guess, they stole the fabtech name and added "ATV" so its a whole diffrent compant. I fixed the problem, I made a whole diffrent mounting setup that I got from other swingarms I've seen, then I also noticed the weld bead holding 1 side's 2 halfs together had a crack on the bead to I ground bolth sides down and rewelded it, I beefed it up pretty well. Kinda hard to explain what area rewelded, you'll see in the pic-http://image22.webshots.com/22/0/16/48/223301648ICztbc_ph.jpg
Thanks-darren

[speedy400]

This is what the old mount looked like when I cut it out, notice how thin the metal is, its like paper compareds to what I put in, it might be a tad heavier now but, I'd rather have it not fall apart:) .....-http://image18.webshots.com/19/0/80/15/223308015NQvzze_ph.jpg
-darren

[Ex_Rider43]

if you change the position of the mount the rear end will probably act really different now but it wasnt cracked at every place you welded was it??? if so thats BS!

[speedy400]

accually I looked at some pics on how it was originally on this swingarm and made it so the position of where the accual holes are for the linkage, it is in the exact right spot. Was it cracked everywhere where I welded? no, you see in my new pic the 2 long beads that go almost all the way down the swinger, one side was cracked on the bead about 1/2 the length, so I didnt want to take my chances and have to do this all over again and just welded bolth sides all the way down.-darren

[Toadz400]

Nice job on the welding Big D. Didn't think you could do it:D . Looks like your hands weren't that steady though on one side, kinda swerves back and forth a little;) . Maybe you'll have to teach me how to weld someday, or maybe I'll just read the books and watch the videos that we have lying around for welding...and go out and use one of our 20 million welders:o .

[speedy400]

lol thanks, yeah I had a hard time seeing, my mask seems way too dark... oh well. Do you know if mike has gotten anywhere on that ramp yet?-darren

[Ralph]

Thats pretty cool, i hope it works out for you. Also, dont give up on fab tech atv. Try to get some money or something or atleast ruin their name:devil:

[Toadz400]

I agree with Ralph, keep bugging the hell out of them until you reach someone. Try looking around on the internet too to see if this has happened to anyone else or if there is another number/e-mail you can reach them at.

Darren - no Mike hasn't even gotten the materials for it, let alone draw out a plan for it. He wants me to stay after school with him to help weld but I don't think I will, considering I won't ever be using it.

[fasterz]

so what kind of weld did you end up using? mig? did you use gas with it? im asking becuase im looking to do things like this and i need to know what kind of welder can do that

[speedy400]

I used my lincon wirefeed.. inner flux core wire, no gas. I dont recall the version but it says it'll go up to 1/4th inch.thanks-darren

[speedy400]

yeah i'm working on ruining their name, lol I took off the "fab-tech atv" logo that was on one side of the swinger, I was thinking maybe I could get pappy to put his logo on it if he wanted when he PCs it, I'd like adleast someone with a respectable name on there. I found out the kind of welder I own, Lincon 100HD, I got it for 350$ at home depo, its a full starter kit, with 2 spools or the wire you'd need, and a mask, and a lifetime garantee:) .-darren