Foot Peg Repair advice needed

[Muggzy]

Hey All,
The prior owner of my Banshee brilliantly :mad: welded on the left foot peg and I was finally forced to repair it so I can change my sprocket (couldn't get the shift pedal off unless I removed the engine from the frame). Long-story-short, I got the pedal off and ground the weld back down to the original metal.(1st pic)

The front threaded part that's factory welded to the frame was loose and fell off as soon as the weld around the back was cut (maybe why he welded the peg to the frame), it was no more than a thick washer with the hole threaded. Under this, there is an oversized hole in the 1/16th in. thick metal. The hole is just the right size that I can pound a lug nut with the flange facing outwards (2nd pic) in to proper depth to match the old washer and weld it in place. I'll end up with more than the factory thread when I'm done with this hole.

The rear hole threads are in no shape to re-use but I was able to reshape the metal around this pretty close to it's original shape. The big question is this: Can I use a thread repair kit (like Helicoil or Time-sert) to repair this thread (3rd pic)? The metal's about 5/16" thick here. I've never used a thread repair kit before and I'm a little concerned about the torsional force from standing on the peg and the relatively shallow depth of the material for the insert to bite into.

Chime in on what you think of my plan or please suggest another.

[Muggzy]

Test fit the lug nut

[Muggzy]

Cleaned, set to depth and the rear hole is prepped for the helicoil. There's about 5/32 space behind that flange on the lug nut that I plan to fill with the weld.

[hondamancbr03]

My foor peg holes went bad on me and needed repair close to what you have going...At that time i was jumping my Banshee a lot and decided that there was no such thing as over kill!!! Having a foot peg bust off on landing could ruin your day. I took a pipe and threaded it for the original bolt, drilled a large enough hole to slide the pipe into the frame, cut the bottom of my frame open and weleded the inside and the outside of the frame, reused the piece from the frame i cut out and made it look like it never happened.

My two cents are...I would worry about that nut coming out if you do a lot of jumping.

[Muggzy]

Hey Hondaman,
Thanks for the reply - I really need somebody to bounce this off of. You make a really good point about jumping - it's one of my favorite things to do even though I'm riding mostly woods. I like your suggestion re. beefing up the frame but I've only got an old school arc welder and I'm really concerned about blowing a hole in the tubular steal frame (don't know how thick it is) so I'm trying to avoid welding that directly. The peg is also attached to the frame right where it curves up and there's some other stuff going on there too so sliding a reinforcement tube inside is gonna be really difficult - even if I take my engine out.
I think if I use the smallest welding rod I can get (3/32) and gradually overfill the gap all the way around the nut, it'll be at least as strong as the original.
My bigger concern is using a helicoil in the back hole. I've never worked with them before - my local machine shop says it'll be fine. I know they hold cylinder heads down but the twisting force on a foot peg is different. Any experience with them?

[hondamancbr03]

My local machine shop says helicoil's are as good as the original if done correctly....I've installed them in cylinders without any problems.

Are you using a grade 8 nut?

Sounds like you're doing the best you can with what you have....Do you have access to a wire feed?

[Muggzy]

Hey Hondaman,

Yeah I'm using a grade 8 nut (lug nut from the banshee - same size thread as the foot peg). Looking for someone with a wire feed welder now and I'm gonna try the helicoil even though the application is VERY different than a cylinder head.

At least there'll be plenty of meat left on the frame to play with if this fix doesn't hold up.

I'll post pics as I go.

Thanks for your ear.

[Muggzy]

I got a buddy to weld the nut in place using a wire feed welder so I didn't go and blast a hole in the frame. The weld he did was great but there isn't much surface area for the back of the foot peg to rest against. With the peg mounted there was a LOT of flex. In time the mounting bolt would have just broken off.

[Muggzy]

So I built up the weld built up some more and filed the mounting surfaces very flat. Using a straight-edge and a file I was able to make the surfaces around the two holes perfectly flat to each other. Just filed a little and rechecked until there was no light coming under the straight-edge.

Now, when the bolts are pulled up tight, there's plenty of surface area for them to pull the plate up to.

[Muggzy]

A little primer to keep the rust away...

[Muggzy]

Re-assembled the peg and nerf bar and it looks as good as new... (well, close enough):D

I took it out and hit a few decent sized jumps on the new foot peg and It seems like it'll last forever.

[Hondamaster5505]

Nice job dude. Foot pegs can be a huge pain... the one on my bike has what seemed like a stripped hole, but I ran a fresh tap through it to clean it up, and a new bolt, and it tightens up great.

And on the other side the idiot welded on the stud. But the peg is tight when I put the nut on.