I have been wanting to update my F2 with the tail from an F4i. Instead of bending the F2 subframe to get the F4i tail to fit, I wanted to just cut off the F2 sub and weld in brackets to mount the F4i sub. Since I know nothing about welding, I whipped out the yellow pages and started calling welding places. The first 4 I called basically laughed at me and said that I would never find anyone to weld on an aluminum motorcycle frame because of liability.
I was beginning to become worried about my safety, so I did some reading about aluminum welding by googling. Apparently, the metal has to be very clean, and the welds have to be done right or they can crack.
I decided to try one more shop... their yellow page ad claims 33 years experience, blah blah. The guy I talked to on the phone said he would at least look at what I wanted to do, and said his shop is contracted by Honda of Chattanooga (local bike shop) to do repairs on GoldWing frames. He also claims they stretch frames, etc..
Now to my question: does anyone think this is a bad idea? Is my life really at that much risk by doing this? Do you think a job like that would be really expensive to do?

 

not sure of the price...but you know...33 years of experience and if it includes welding aluminum then go for it...
remember the 05 (??) 1K gixxers that had bad welds at the steering stem? that was crazy scary!

when i was in maine, i saw this infomercial for this stuff called 'aluminoid'...that looked like it was the schiznit for DIY...but maybe not on a bike.

to be safe...make sure you lose some weight, take stress off the welds.

 

How did you know I'm a fatty??? Actually, I am going to the gym to try to lose some poundage... I got married and the weight just crept up on me!

 

i don't know how heavy you are. even if you were 140, i'd say lose some just to take stress off the welds ;-)

you think marriage puts on the lbs? wait until you have your first kid! muahahhahah

 

You're scaring me Tahoe! I tip the scales at 202lbs., so I don't know if I want to do this or not... I guess I'll find out when I go talk to the guy, possibly tomorrow.

 

First..the F2/3 frame is steel...so if you weld adapter brackets on it to mount an F4 subframe, you'll be working with steel....steel is very forgiving to welding.

Aluminum isparticular in its demandsto weld, but its not like its not done everyday....I know, I work for one of the leading US companies making welding equipment. Aluminum is a "hot short" material....basicly that means as soon as the weld solidifies and cools its under significant stress. Cleanliness is next to Godliness in all welding. Unfortunately the topic is much larger than can be covered here.

 

Are you sure the F2 frame is steel? I don't know why, but I always assumed it was aluminum. What metal is the F4i subframe? If they are both steel, my life just got a lot easier.

 

The f2 frame is steel for sure. Aluminum frames didn'tcome out until themore recent years of the F4II'm pretty sure (someone correct me ifI'm wrong). The subframe on the F4I is aluminum for sure. Your best bet is to have steel brackets welded onto your frame that will allow you to bolt the aluminum subframe to it. You won't have to worry about welding any aluminum that way. Good luck with it.

 

Very sure.

F4/F4i and newer is aluminum from head to tail

F/F2/F3 are all steel.

 

k5 gsxr1000's have very poor frame welds-i used to hear about frames splitting on minor
low sides-now i hear of them coming apart-on "very clean and well taken care" of street bikes!!!
the welds are not going all the way through the metal-if you do a search you will find some
very uncomforting pictures,given the power that this model bike has!!!