A Huge Day In The Garage

[Guest]

Hello friends,

With the amazing help of Mr. Nessism, we had a very successful day in the garage with my "Jessie". For those of you who don't know, I had an "unplanned dismount" due to a tangle with a rock slide on Angeles Crest Highway on June 20th. My bike flipped me off and it landed hard on the right side of the tail end. This resulted in the two upper arms of the rear end of the frame being bent behind the shock mounts. Mr. Nessism and I decided that we were going to straighten things up as best we could. This is where we started...



Above, we are looking toward the rear of the bike over a straight edge on top of the center tube. As you can see, one arm of the frame is lower than the other and both arms are tweaked toward the left side of the bike. Looking down over the rear tire, you can see that things are not quite symmetrical...



So Nessism brought over his bottle jack and we got a couple of cheap 2x4's from the local Home Depot. The frame was first braced against the main ceiling 4x12 rafter while we cranked up the bottle jack on the lower of the rear frame arms...





That's 4 pictures. We'll continue in the next post...


.

[BassCliff]

Hi. I'm back.

Once we were successful getting the rear frame arms level we started working on the lateral issues...



Using our same two 2x4's (nailed together) to brace the frame in front of the bend, we used a 5 pound sledge hammer to whack the arms back in line. Ed was great at measuring with a right-angle square, calipers, string, and his eye balls, until everything looked straight...



We bolted the rear wheel back on to be sure, took more measurements, whacked it a few more times with the 5 lb. sledge, and I'll be hornswoggled if the bike doesn't look like it will ride straight and the seat and fender will fit properly.

I am indebted to Ed for all of his help. That guy, I tell you... He drove all the way from the other side of LA, worked on my bike all day, and I still had to arm wrestle him to let me buy him lunch.

I've got a ways to go, both me and the bike, but I expect to be riding again next month sometime. I was kind of worried about straightening the frame but now I'm very pleased with the results. Since the bent part is to the rear of the shocks I don't expect the handling geometry will be affected. I won't know for sure until I get her back on the road but I'm feeling much better that I will get her back on the road now.

My thanks again to Mr. Nessism. He is one of those guys who embodies all the good qualities of your fellow man and the GSR community.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[azr]

ok....you guys are nuts!! 2X4's and sledge hammers?? I will be watching your posts with great enthusiasm. Glad to hear you, and Jessie, are on the mend.

[Nessism]

ok....you guys are nuts!! 2X4's and sledge hammers??

Brute force is a beautiful thing! Cliff swings a mean sledge.

Stuff kept falling off the wall in the garage as Cliff pounded on the frame since the frame was braced to the structure. Great fun!

Oh and it's a little hard to tell from the photo but we managed to persuade the frame back into alignment within a couple of mm's.

[SqDancerLynn1]

Hey Cliff, I told you some 2x4s would do it !!

[salty_monk]

Ed & I have partaken in quite a bit of "red-neck" engineering with good results! Glad to see you're both on the mend...

[simon kuether]

Bravo gentlemen . Bravo . Glad to hear both you and young Jessie are on the mend.Cheers , Simon.

[1948man]

Very clever. I'm forwarding this to Mr Suzuki. Wish I lived more in the midst of a GS community.

[cadmandu]

Thank You Mr. Nessism,

It is a real blessing to have friends like Ed Nessism. I am really happy for you Cliff, and the progress you and your ride have seem to be receiving.
Wish I could help in some way.
God Bless you and yours

[Road_Clam]

Guys, great job on the "frame machine" rework, however, if you have not already, make sure you have a REAL close look at the immediately affacted joint welds in close proximity to your repair area.

I am not 100% sure what GS frame materials are made of but if it's chromoly, that material does NOT like to be repetedly forced, and the result is cracked welds....

[Raven457]

Great work gents, wish I was closer and could have come to lend a hand.

[Octain]

I guess I need to get out of the tech folder every once in a while. Heck Basscliff, I dint even know you had a quick dismount.
Assuming you're ok though, swingin sledge hammers and all.

Heh.
Fine time to cafe that puppy huh?

[srsupertrap]

Guys, great job on the "frame machine" rework, however, if you have not already, make sure you have a REAL close look at the immediately affacted joint welds in close proximity to your repair area.

I am not 100% sure what GS frame materials are made of but if it's chromoly, that material does NOT like to be repetedly forced, and the result is cracked welds....

The gs frames are thin wall mild steel, but as Road_Clam I would also check the surronding ugly frame welds. What did you guys brace it against in the garage

[Nessism]

I did a cursory check of the welds and they seemed fine except for that thin loop on the back of the frame - came loose on one side. It wouldn't hurt to have a better look I suppose just to be sure, but I'm almost sure it's fine.

[marvinsc]

Great post Cliff, brings back memories. When I was in High school Auto Mechanics class someone brought in an Audi that had been T boned. Since it was totaled anyway we attempted to straighten the frame by chaining one side to a Column beam of the building and the other side to a fork lift. Taking off gently wasn't doing anything so some slack was allowed in the chain and the forklift took off WFO. The building didn't fall but the frame wasn't perfectly aligned either.