Side Heat Exchangers- Repairable????

[Cubby's RX-1]

Yo, I got nice green stuff coming out of one of my side heat exchangers. When I get home tonight I am gonna drill out the polished rivets and remove it. Does anyone know if a crack can be welded or repaired? My friggin dealer is closed on mondays so I cant even order a new one until Tuesday. I am sure this thing is not cheap and the crack (caused by something I hit at Houghton Lake) is only about a 1/4 inch long and right on the edge near the track. Anyone? Bueller?, Bueller?.......................Cubby

 

[RX1 Yooper]

How about leaving it on sled, grinding the surface clean, and using JB weld?

 

[POWERHAULIC]

A competent welder should be able to repair easily.

Do not use JB weld it will just pi$$ the welder off when it starts leaking again and it has to be removed before welding

 

[Bob Miller]

HELIARC

 

[Pinball Wizzard]

Have had them welded before and on the sled in depending where the crack was.

 

[rupprider]

Cubby must have polished right through his heatx's! RR

 

[LEOPAJM]

Screw that .... get a NEW ONE !!! I don't need to hear anymore crap about your sled !!!!

Whatever you do .... it better be done B4 saturday !

JM

 

[Black 1000]

Take it to a local rad repair shop and they should be able to repair and pressure test. Put a hole on my rear exchanger of my 95 Vmax 4 and was repaired sucessfully and very economical.

 

[Mighty]

Simple job for a good aluminum welder.

 

[impalapower]

For the 100th time, weld it.

 

[nhrxrider]

You'll have peace of mind if you have it welded by a competent aluminum welder. Last season when I managed to bung one exchanger when clearancing for the bolt for the Cat skid mount, I couldn't find anyone around here who could do aluminum, the dealer couldn't get a new one for at least 2 weeks, so I used JB Weld to get me through the ride I was prepping for that weekend. 1500+ miles later and not a drop has leaked. 1 exchanger is almost $200, but far cheaper than taking a chance on loosing coolant on the trail.

For anyone who ever goes the JB weld route, take my advice. Drain the coolant, then tip the sled on its side to that exchanger is up. Use Brake cleaner (NOT carb cleaner...it leaves residue) to clean in and around the crack. Use course sandpaper to roughen up the area the JB Weld will cover, then use brake-clean again. Let it dry a few minutes and apply the JB Weld.

I tried using the so-called waterproof JB Weld that comes in the stick, and it didn't work at all, so I cleaned it off with a file and used standard JB Weld and it worked great.

Jim

 

[LICKETY SPLIT]

We have repaired two zrt 800 cats this year the front heat exchanger was damaged by a blown track with studs in it,removed the track and drivers,sand blasted the holes and welded them closed,on a hi low, tested them with 20#air for 1 hour. These sleds are back on the trail no problemsThe cat sled heat exchanger is the buckhead also,one piece construction,the dealers charge several thousands to change the bulkhead.Remove the heat exchanger sandblast the area and have it welded.

 

[scott boddie]

i put a hole in my front heat exchanger on a rock getting into tunnel and cutting 2 small rips in front heat exchanger i put in bars leak radiator repair it almost completely stopped so i could ride but after going 124 mph. on back lake in pittsburg n.h. i stopped and didnt let my hifax cool and track welded to hifax then i looked at my track and found very bad track damage from rock getting stuck ripped out several studs and put in huge holes on track i cant beleve how much damage was done in 1 second but i didnt get killed but i had to spend 570 on track and have to now repair leak maybe jb cold weld sounds good anybody else have this problem

 

[nhrxrider]

Be careful with radiator stop leak products...I refuse to use them any more, and I make sure to tell all of my customers not to use them. In fact, now I won't even do a radiator replacement on a vehicle if the owner used any form of stop-leak, because it doesn't take long before the water pump will be leaking, and I don't want customers running back to me because their Jeeps are leaking coolant a couple weeks after I put a radiator in.

Jim