today the car in front of this bike today flipped up something from the road and it punctured the block on this 09 GL1800. has anybody had any luck welding one up. Or any other way to repair this.
It can't be welded properly without being taken apart and even then it doubtful because of oil saturation. I would get a piece of aluminum and using a ball peen hammer shape it to fit the area and cleaned very thoroughly with something like Prep-Sol, etc. Then use JB Weld to glue it into place. Even then I would worry about how much material is inside floating around.
a) if you want to take it off the bike, a welding shop that welds aluminum can easily fix it ( like Derby Welding and Machine in Louisville 502-966-0232 http://www.derbywelding.com/)
b) want to leave it on the bike?...
c) stuff some paper towels up in the hole, grind down some of the adjacent "ribs" to give you a flat surface ( you have to increase the surface area for this fix wtih JB weld)
d) clean off the flatten area with lacquer thinner/acetone
e) find/buy a piece of 1/8" aluminum and cut/form it to cover the hole...it must overlap the hole
f) rough up both the "holy" case and the "patch" with 80 grit paper...claen it off again with lacquer thinner/acetone
g) mix up the JB weld 50/50 and apply it to the patch
h) IMPORTANT- pull out the paper towels!
i) apply patch to hole..add additional JB weld to the outer edges of the patch
j) use a small jack/duct tape/gorilla tape to hold the patch in place...wait 24 hours before you fill it back up with oil
here's a link on a similar fix to an aluminum oil pan on a car ( you tube is your friend)
Case in point on why we should have a belly pan!! $70 is cheap compared to what it will cost to fix that hole. I'm sure a belly pan would have blocked or dampened the blow.
I have Macgyver's belly pan that I purchased from WingStuff. It sits against the bottom of the engine in places so there is very little cushion to soak up a blow like that. I don't think that the diamond plate of the belly pan would stop a strike that would poke a hole in the block. OTOH, I could be completely wrong. I did not stay at a Holiday Inn last night and I've never played a mechanic on a TV sitcom. :laugh:
I have Macgyver's belly pan that I purchased from WingStuff. It sits against the bottom of the engine in places so there is very little cushion to soak up a blow like that. I don't think that the diamond plate of the belly pan would stop a strike that would poke a hole in the block. OTOH, I could be completely wrong. I did not stay at a Holiday Inn last night and I've never played a mechanic on a TV sitcom. :laugh:
This of course is just my opinion, but I think the belly pan would have deflected the object enough to not poked the hole. The reason I think this, is the ribs in the case tend to allow things to jam, widge, and try to lift the bike against the roadway. Anything that smooths out this surface to allow crap to slide across it and not catch a rib is a good thing. I know Honda casts those ribs for strength and maybe a little cooling effect, but I think they should have cast them on the inside and kept the outer casing smooth.
Back to the question on repairing the engine block:
The engine does not sit on a frame and is a stressed component.
I know of 2 owners who had similar punctures.
The only way to repair the engine is with new cases.
Welding compromises the stressed aspect of the engine block.
The insurance company will hopefully and likely insist on new components and will only pay for such as long as the write-off value of your bike hasn't been met or exceeded.
It's a very expensive job to remove the engine and rebuild it with new cases.
If you decide to avoid an insurance claim and have the part welded, you will compromise the structural integrity of engine and thus the bike.
If you had an accident or collision and the weld was found to be at fault, you would have no insurance coverage on that claim.
First let me say that it is very unfortunate that the engine case took a hit like that and left that gaping hole. My wallet is crying for you and it is well accustomed to crying believe me. No one has mentioned this at all, trying to be nice and politically correct. When I was driving big rig for thirty years I learned real quick how quickly a shredded tire or other object will appear from underneath the car or truck in front of you, leaving you next to no time to avoid it. How closely were you following the car or truck you were following? Obviously, way to close and I hope in the future you adjust your following distance. There is next to no reason if you weren't tailgating or following too closely that you would not have seen it in time to maneuver the bike to miss it. It had to be big enough that you actually saw it....maybe you even fixated on it.... which is a common reaction as we all have done. I believe there might be more to this story that you haven't shared as you don't hit something big enough to cause all that damage without seeing it.
As others have said this really is an insurance claim you should be making. If you think how much it costs to repair just that plastic on this bike , there is no excuse for just carrying the minimum liability as some riders do. I have an '01 and have always carried $100K/$300K liability; full comprehensive and collision; and $5K in accessory coverage. My policy has always been through Progressive and has never cost me more than $275 annually. That small amount extra for comp and collision is money well spent when you consider what just a complete front fender would cost in a laydown.
Maybe, I had an interesting claim on my wife's car once. A deer jumped a fence and hit the right side, rear passenger door as we drove by. It was covered under comprehensive with no deductible. If I had hit the deer in the middle of the road, it would have been a collision claim and cost me the deductible.
I agree with the belly pan I have one on my bike. One point comes to mind tho that was a hard hit and we would certainly hope that as techdude2000 say that it would have deflected or caused the debris to slide off. But there must be spout where the belly pan won't matter. In like a helmet I wear one believe in them but even the most expensive beat rated helmet won't help at 100 mph hitting a solid object... that hit seems like a hard one... just my 2 cents I hope you can resolve the issue one way or the other, best of luck.
Joe
Without reading thru all the posts - let your insurance cover it. Slowmotion had his block punctured a few years ago, he took it to GoldwingGreg in Florida - had the case replaced and his tranny done at same time. Greg did a great job for him, insurance took care of everything. .
For a number of reasons that others have mentioned; while "patching" the hole may provide temporary relief . . . . it will only be temporary. Simply the differences in the coeficients of expansion between the now distorted aluminum/magnesium alloy block, the epoxy and the metal plate used will lead at the very least to oil leaks directly in front of your rear tire. Even minor and/or infrequent drips would be a reason to not go down this road (no pun intended).
Essentially you have three options: 1.) The insurance company handles it, 2.) You pay to replace the block, or the entire engine (this may actually be less expensive), 3.) You sell the bike "As Is" or piece by piece on eBay.
Two words: "Belly + Pan" See a picture of mine attached. It didn't get that way just smoothing the air flow under my bike!
I think the louvers are unnecessary, the engine is water cooled and there is plenty of airflow between the case and a solid pan. The louvers do look cool. I prefer the smooth solid pan.
I have a question. I am guessing you lost all the oil but you DID NOT go down due to oil on the rear tire? You did not mention laying the bike down so I am assuming everything else is ok. But were you able to shut the bike off quickly? If you ran the bike more than a few seconds without pressure you might have other internal damage. If you replace the cases, the mechanic will have to tear down the engine then everything can be inspected.
Yea, that's because they need to keep the weight down and that part of the engine is really only holding oil. It's not a major structural part of the case as far as supporting the crankshaft goes. If he fixes it the correct way, both halves of the block have to be replaced as a married pair. They are machined together and you can't mix and match them. It's actually thicker than most car oil pans.
Back in the 70's CB750 Hondas would break the drive chain and it would break the engine cases in front off the countershaft sprocket. The service shop where I worked had 2 methods of fixing them. Replace the engine cases which was vey expensive.
The other was to JB weld a aluminum can over the hole. It worked quite well but splitting the engine cases for major repair was a PITA
the insurance co. paid the estimate of $7001 for the busted block. So since the bike has 115k I'm am in the process of patching with an aluminum plate and JB Weld. Will let you know how it goes.
the insurance co. paid the estimate of $7001 for the busted block. So since the bike has 115k I'm am in the process of patching with an aluminum plate and JB Weld. Will let you know how it goes.
Your lucky if they gave you the check. My experience with insurance companies is that they pay the company that does the work after its done.
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