Heated up a arms to fix

[race24x]

Well any input from an engineer would be great. I hit a rock bent my A arms on the right side. I heated up the bottom a arm to straighten it and it looks better. Dont heat the top just bent it back (its aluminium) Do you think heating the tubing and bending it back will cause it to break?

 

[ecopter]

I took a bent steering column from a YFZ450 into a local welding/fab shop to have him straighten it. I told him I already tried heating and bending it back. He told me never to heat something up for bending purposes. He gave me a reason, but I forget why.

 

[sherlock29]

Changes the crytaline structure of the metal. it can work, but your metal now will have different hardness(softer)... so next hit will probably bend worse or even break. when heated, metal will need to be "quenched" in a controled manner to regain its lost properties.... if you know what temp it was heated to, and what it needs to be cooled to to regain those is the "science" behind it.

but if you feel its ok go for it.... i use torches to bend stuff back all the time, but normally its in metal parts that are not "load bearing"....

 

[race24x]

Thanks I am hoping to make it through a couple more rides this year (small normal ones) then I can fix it correctly in the summer. I rode it the last day of our trip up north all bent and the bolt looked like a Z LOL it handled badly but what can you do when you are up north for a week? It looks much better and I didnt break the bulkhead which would have been disasterous. Trying to get it all set up so I can add a mono suspension and new track plus a arms for next year. Should be an expensive fix in all.