broken frame

[yz250roost]

Hey guys,
Well the other day as I was loading my YZ into the truck to go riding I noticed that the left side part of the frame (engine cradle area) was snapped in two, this isn't just a crack, it's a clean break, then after 3 hours of stripping the bike from the frame, I notice I have two more cracks, one on the other engine cradle and one just below the steering head, the last two cracks are at welds, but the break isn't on a weld. Is it ok to weld the break together, is the strength of the frame going to suffer? I was planning on powder coating the frame eventually so I guess this is a blessing in disguise. Thanks for any insight. I tried a search but came up with nothing.
Jeff

 

[bclapham]

jeff:

you might be ok to weld it, but i am no expert there. i would be cautious about powder coating though. i have a freind that races KX's, he said he will never powder coat again, since the powder coating might hide the cracks in the frame if it happens again- it happens a lot on kx's. i wonder if your engine mounting bolts were loose?

 

[yz250roost]

I usually check the engine mount bolts periodically and they have always been really tight every time, but it's a possibility, my next thought on how it happened is that I just got finished building some jumps at my house, really loose dirt built way to high on the landing, so the first few times I cased it pretty hard and the bike just stopped right when I cased it, it didn't glide over or anything pretty, it was just like putting an anchor onto my bike. So that is my guess so far, but it could be a number of things. Luckily I just found a guy today that does the frames for Yamaha of Troy and he said he'd be able to splice in a new tube and weld it up as well as reinforce whats already there with a few gussets. The powder coating will be free (my buddies dad does it) but I'll ask the guy at the weld shop for more insight about it hiding cracks. thanks again bruce
Jeff