Bulkhead, replace or weld?

[yammi]

Just broke my right bulkhead yesterday at the point that holds the lower A arm. Just wondering if any of you have tried welding this piece back or just replacing it all together. My buddy just did it (replaced) for my other friend and it took him a lot of time. Any suggestions?

 

[MIDWAY]

I had to do this about a year ago, everyone I talked to said to replace it. The bulkhead will split and it is not to bad of a job, and I bought a half of a used bulkhead on this website.

 

[yammi]

So 8 or 9 hours and countless rivets and bolts to replace just half sounds like more time than you took or does this sound right?
BTW, I came off a a g-out pretty hard, heard a noise, and inspected, found the piece broken and nursed it home. Seems like maybe just the right side bulkhead and maybe a bolt or two that need to be replaced. It's the access that I'm wondering about. Can the other side remain in the sled or does it all have to come out? Thanks

 

[jorligan]

I just replaced my right side and had to take both sides out. I now have to help my wife's uncle with his bulkhead, broken left side. When you are doing it, you should also replace all of the bushings while you are there since they wear out, pioneer sells better replacements. Wouldn't weld it, the bulkhead itself isn't that expensive.

 

[MIDWAY]

Contrary to what some Yamaha dealers would say...you do not need to take out the motor and yes you can take just half of the bulkhead out. It is not that hard of a job . I'm thinking it took us about 4-5 hours.

 

[yammi]

I see in the frame section there's a ton of rivets, regular and blind, and also nuts and bolts which the dealer doesn't seem to have in stock. I hate to rip it apart and find out that I need a couple of little things that he doesn't have in stock. Oh well. I will order the bushings from Ulmer as many have raved about them. Just put fresh new Amsoil in and now have to dump it I suppose. Damn bump!

 

[LazyBastard]

You say right lower, is that front, back, or both holes broken?

Its fine to weld it, BUT, if you weld it, make sure that you add additional reinforcements, like strapping the bolt across to the other side... just take a piece of flat steel, drill a couple of holes in it, and use it to tie the two sides together.

 

[yammi]

Front hole broken, bolt bent and I assume rear tweaked also if the front and bolt look like they do; can't really see it without ripping it apart. At this point I think I'll replace it. I just hope I can slide it out without having to remove the other side completely. I know it's tight, but hopefully it's possible. On another note, Allen's bushing kit is not available for my machine until the end of March. How's the Pioneer kit compared to his, any good?

 

[MSRX-ERNIE]

I´m in the same dilemma. Weld or replace? Mine just have a little crack on the left bulkhead lower A arm rear bolt hole.

I think I will do it as Lazy bastard says. Weld it and put a flat metal bar to reinforce and tie the two sides together!

That should hold the rest of the season if I dont hit another damn rock!

 

[yammi]

Try to get one! For such a fatigued/vulnerable part it's crazy. Don't be in a rush or want to ride for over a week or so unless you second day air it or convince the guy on ebay to rip apart the salvage sled he's dealing with. It's crazy. THESE DEALERS MAKE CLOSE TO 100% sans shipping! Stock these things! Sorry, in the height of the season, if I owned a dealership. Enough. . . .
BTW insult to injury, same part no for as long as I can see, very specialized part, not !!!!!!!

 

[LazyBastard]

If you weld and reinforce, it will be STRONGER than stock. Additionally, it may be possible to repair without removal, which should reduce the repair time to a couple of hours.

 

[Rockmeister]

I really doubt you can weld it.
It is made of potmetal (like a matchbox car) with a high zinc content.
Has little to no aluminum in it.

Those kinds of parts are near impossible to weld.
I have seen a couple bulkheads on Ebay in the last few weeks though.

Thought about making a couple of cross braces of thin bar stock (~1/16") to tie the four bolts together at the front to help prevent this exact thing from happening.
This transforms the tensile stresses into compression stresses.
(The back bolt holes are under compression stress... unless you hit something in reverse. lol)
Potmetal can handle compression stresses much better!

I have used the Ulmer kit. It worked perfectly for not much more money than the factory bushings.
Highly recommend it!

 

[LazyBastard]

You're missing the point. You don't weld it for structure. You weld it to put it into the right shape. You add the steel reinforcement to make it strong. For that matter, you can just stick the broken off piece back on with jbweld or equivalent, then strap it from one side to the other with steel and it'll be fine.

 

[Rockmeister]

I agree lazy, I misinterpeted and thought you were indicating a structural weld.

Love the steel brace idea!

Man... Everytime I read a thread like this, Im glad I put on a skid plate, hoping it helps... lol

 

[dmsrx700]

The bulkhead is made of aluminum so welding would be the only choice to try for a repair. The proble with welding aluminum though is it softens it so it won't be as strong after welding and will probably eventually crack next to the welds. JB weld is a horrible idea. It isn't a structural glue and there is way to much force going through the mounts.

If you were to reinforce it it would be best to try to make a strap that could be bolted or riveted to the bulkheads because the forces are trying to pull it off to the side not really towards the front or back. It wouldn't hurt to tie it together front to back but from the side would be better.

The best choice is to replace the bulkhead. It is about safety. Save a couple hour and a few bucks but if the repair breaks and you crash and getr hurt what will that cost?

Trying to be cheap when safety's involved usually isn't a very good idea.