Issue link: http://trailridermagazine.uberflip.com/i/792642
Two steps forward and one step back. Sound familiar? at's where I am with this project. Ran into a minor snag with the motor. e crank looked great when I pulled it, but upon closer inspection I found some corrosion and pitting on the mag side, right where the crank seal sits. My fi rst thought was that this would be okay as is, but then the more I thought about it, the more it wore on my brain, so I decided to pump the brakes and repair the corrosion. Better to fi x it now so I don't end up with a leaky crank seal and have the engine fail leak down testing. e repair plan was not neces- sarily diffi cult, but rather tedious. e photos show before and a er of the repair. First step was to fi ll the pitted area with silicon bronze weld. is particular weld wire has a very low melting point (1800 F) while the steel crank has a melting point of 2700 F, so I'm able to do the TIG weld repair using very low amperage (65-70A) and the molten bronze fi lls the pitting on the crank without melting the crank. is approach reduces the risk of potential distortion to the crank with excessive heat while doing the repair. e next step was to turn down the weld repair in the lathe to the same O.D. as it was originally. e end result looks great and will last. I would be remiss if I didn't add that I just learned that I could TIG weld with the silicon bronze wire. I've been using it forever for oxy-acetylene brazing, but it never occurred to me that I could use it in TIG operations. I learned this little trick from my buddy Bob Bennett, the local "Ossa Guru" and a retired welder. It seems you really can teach an old dog new tricks — chalk up another win to networking. Roach Resurrection: Installment III By Kevin Donovan 32 Trail Rider www.TrailRider.com