Well, I figure someone else might be interested in this so I'll bomb
the list with it. 8-)
"David Brady" writes:
> Paul, like most TR6 owners, my TR250 is blessed with frame rot at the
> rear semi-trailing arms. Can you post a description of the repairs
> that you undertook? Ascii art would be helpful.
I think David meant me, and I'm not too good with ascii art, but I'll try...
Paul Gilders wrote:
> Sorry to hear about your frame-rot. Actually, I think (touch wood)
> mine is pretty much ok, so I haven't had to touch it (yet). However I
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Touch the wood? Man with wooden trailing frame pieces, it's amazing
that they don't have rot in them. :-)
Ok, here's what was done to my rear frame pieces.
-------------------
| o _ o |
| |_| | <--- ascii art! (note big hole)
| o rot,rot,rot o |
----xxxxxxxxxxx----
The little 'o' are the holes where the brackets mount for the rear
trailing arm pieces. Typically, the rear frames on TR6,TR250's rot
here because there is no place for water to drain out of the frame.
The worst part on both sides for me was the bottom and the lower third
of the backside on the frame piece. (see diagram :-) The driver
side didn't have a single hole in it, but was really rotten. Any good
hammer or pick can give this information.
Anyway, we first cut out the rot with some kind of spinning cutting
tool. We had to cut back to the bolt holes. One of the bolt holes
was completely rotten as well, along with the bolt! We replaced that
with a piece of steel pipe found in the plumbing section of the
hardware store, and welded it inside the frame. This was important,
as you could crush the frame by tightening the bolt. After cutting
away the rot, we welded some angle iron on the rear part of the frame
piece. You must cut away all the rot so that you have good strong
metal to weld too. If this cannot be done, the frame piece should be
replaced. We cut pieces out, then would weld, then cut more out, then
weld...etc... This was to try and keep the alignment as close as
possible to original.
The angle iron was plated on top of the old piece (rather than
sectioned in) for two reasons. It is stronger than putting it into
the frame piece itself, and it's much easier. :-) (we did section in
the some of holes) We then plated the bottom, and made brackets where
the bolts go through the front of the trailing arm. These were just
plate with two holes drilled in for strength. After welding
everything in place, we grinded down all the welds, primed and painted
all the work. You have to look close to see that these are not
original trailing arms, but someone familiar with this problem could
tell. They should also notice that this fix is stronger than
original. The steel we used was slightly thicker than the original
stuff as well.
If you had to replace these pieces, you would have to cut the old
piece out of the frame which can really be a problem. A good frame
place would have to make a jig to support the frame, then cut the old
piece out and weld the new in. I've heard quotes in the neighborhood
of $1000 to have this done. You would also need to purchase the frame
pieces for about $50 each.
All the work I had done was accomplished for under $250. This was an
amazing deal, and I'm still not sure why I was able to get this for
such a low cost.
Now, I just have to find a good 4 wheel alignment place before I start
the trek to Boulder. So much more to do, such little time to do it...
Cheers!
-Scotty
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