Question about welding on Spyder

[Spyderjockey]

I have the ongoing problem of rear fender brackets breaking or cracking. I believe this is the 3rd time I have had to deal with this problem. The first time my dealer covered it under warranty and replaced them. The second time he told me BRP won't warrantee it again and he shouldn't have waranteed it the first time. So I had them welded last year and they went the entire riding season until the last month or so when I noticed the right side had broke again. I have it off the bike and my son welded that bracket again. I now have another problem on the bike itself, one of the bracket angles that secure the fender bracket to the frame is broke in two. So I am going to make a new bracket out of angle iron and have my son weld that on top of the broken peice on the frame. My question is do I need to do anything except disconnect the battery to safely weld the new bracket on without messing up any electronics on the Spyder and is it even necessary to do that? Thanks for any help or suggestions about this procedure!

[Chupaca]

For safety I would remove all plastics in the area the battery for sure. Will it be torch, arc,or mig welded..??

[Spyderjockey]

For safety I would remove all plastics in the area the battery for sure. Will it be torch, arc,or mig welded..??
Ya I will be removing any vulerable plastic and sheilding any wire and hoses near the weld spot. It is on the other side of the bike away from the battery so that should not be a problem. It would be better to use a mig welder but my son's mig is down right now so he'll have to use his arc welder but it will require minimal welding to secure the new angle.

Thanks!!

[spyryder]

Are you welding on the swing arm? If so then attach your ground directly to the swing arm, not the frame. You don't want current flowing through your swingarm bearings.

[Spyderjockey]

Are you welding on the swing arm? If so then attach your ground directly to the swing arm, not the frame. You don't want current flowing through your swingarm bearings.
It will be on top of the swing arm on the right side. Thanks for the tip.

[Lamonster]

Are you welding on the swing arm? If so then attach your ground directly to the swing arm, not the frame. You don't want current flowing through your swingarm bearings.

This is correct and you can damage your ecm if your ground is too far from the weld area. You should be fine if you ground as close to the weld area as possible.

I was certified to weld on E-One fire trucks (http://www.e-one.com/) and one of the first things you learn is to disconnect the battery and the computer. It's a $20,000 mistake if you don't. :lecturef_smilie:

[Lamonster]

Now I'm really curious.
Since the Spyder actually has several computers (The cluster, the ECU to name two) how does one disconnect them all?
Simply by disconnecting the battery will remove the power, but can-bus lines go everywhere.

On the fire trucks you would disconnect the plugs at the computers. If you wanted to be 100% safe you would do the same on the Spyder.

I have done this same repair on two members Spyder at my bbq without disconnecting the battery or ecm. If you ground close to the weld area you should be fine.

[Lamonster]

Here's just one case I googled.
http://www.millerwelds.com/resources/communities/mboard/showthread.php?19113-tig-welding-on-cars-that-have-computers&p=208854#post208854

[CyncySpyder]

First off, let me make it clear that I know next to nothing about regular welding as we use Lasers here at work.
But I thought just to be safe, I'd throw this tid-bit of knowledge out there for consumption.

Not being all that mechanically inclined myself, I seem to be the exception to the rule about us men NEVER READING the DIRECTIONS :lecturef_smilie:

Soon after getting Teds Red Sled, which is a 2011 SpyderFest Eddition RT-S from Len (then at Cowtown) I decided to read up on all the paperwork that came along with all the Special Eddition mods & I noticed on the Elka Shocks paper work, it spelled out specifically NOT TO WELD on any body or frame that the shocks are installed on.

Not sure why, but it somehow could potentially mess them up, I'm assuming or they wouldn't have put that Warning Notice in there. For some reason, this has always stuck with me, and I don't even know if you have Elkas or not, but again, just thought I'd share this tid-bit with you, as I'd hate to think the worse could happen and could have been easily prevented if I shared, so there. Teddy sends lick'ns of hope that you get it fixed for good this time :thumbup:

Maybe John from Elka could elaborate on this to confirm or correct me if I read it wrong.

[Lamonster]

Once again it has to do with the ground jumping an arc. A shock is a hydraulic ram basically and if a ground path is through the shock the rod and the cylinder are not directly connected so the arc would have to jump to complete the ground. That's why you always want to ground as close as you can to the weld area so the path is direct and not making it's way through other components.

[jerpinoy]

Take the advice of Lamont, and make sure you eliminate any fuel fumes source and fire extinguisher is

available close at hand. On my observations you mention this cracked happened twice, For me I will find out

why ,how and what caused to prevent this again. If it happened in the weld then poor weld result.

[Spyderjockey]

Take the advice of Lamont, and make sure you eliminate any fuel fumes source and fire extinguisher is

available close at hand. On my observations you mention this cracked happened twice, For me I will find out

why ,how and what caused to prevent this again. If it happened in the weld then poor weld result.


I have a very light hard plastic mud flap installed on the fender that I need to keep my trailer cleaner, but not sure that has caused it to happen because the first time when the cracks appeared in the brackets the mud flap was not on the rear fender. I know also it is a very common problem with the GS/RS and I put on about 18000 miles on the Spyder last year before it happened. I have over 78,000 miles on the Spyder and it has happened 3 times so that averages out about every 26,000 miles which I can live with......it would be nice if it wasn't a problem, but I can live with it.

[Lamonster]

$0.02 worth:
A shock is electrically insulated from the frame by the rubber mountings.
The proximity of the shock bolt, nut and washers are close to the frame increases the likelihood of an arc which could ignite the pressurized oil and send shock casing shrapnel everywhere.

If there wasn't an arc and the weld current just passed through the shock no ignition would occur.

No likely that an arc would send shrapnel anywhere, I've welded on plenty of hydraulic rams that had leaks and what happens is the oil will catch fire and if it's pointed right it will hit your hood and the fire will deflect off of the hood. The funny thing is you really don't realize it when it's happening, you just notice your weld is funky and when you stop that's when you see you're on fire. :yikes:
Been there done that.
nojoke

You are right about the rubber bushing in the shock but if by chance the shock is touching the frame then it will be an conductor and my guess that's why Elka has that in their literature. The shocks are not a real concern compared to the electrical components and that's what this post started out about. ;)