Ok to Lay Bike on it's Side?

Hey Guys

Was hoping to get opinions if it's a bad idea to lay my bike on it's side?
(it's an 82 XJ650 Maxim)

My kickstand broke the other day and I'm looking for a welder to weld it back in place.
One welder I'm talking to asked if it's ok to lay the bike on it's side to do the work?

I initially said no, but figured I'd get a second opinion.

Also thinking if I drained the oil and took the gas tank off and drained the carb it might be ok to do so?

 

The carbs will dump fuel, so avoid laying it down if you can.
Prop it up with something sturdy if you can. An unexpected tip-over can hurt someone or hurt the bike.

 

Take the tank off, drain the fuel from the carbs or run it until it stops, remove the battery, as you say. It will be fine.

 

Battery removal is a must if it's a normal Wet Lead-Acid battery. If it's anything else it can be left in place.

 

lay it on its side not if your rolling down the road

 

Disconnect the ground if your not going to remove the battery...welding can do strange things to electronics.

 

Drain the oil , and the carbs , and has been stated remove tank , and battery you are not going to have it on side for long .

 

If your engineer can't weld in-situ I would question their ability, recommend getting someone else to do the job.

 

if your welding the kick stand bracket to the frame you should make sure there's a frame there to weld to
that's where frames rust from the inside

 

Yes you need to drain the engine oil or it can go into the air box and saturate your air filter via the PCV vent hose.

 

This is a very important point. Why is this broken? How about a pic?

 

Thanks for all the advice guys.
It seems like the welder will be able to it without tipping it.
It didn't look very rusty to me, I'll post a pic.
(Excuse the pictures it's sort of tough getting a photo under the bike)

Beside the removing the battery is there anything else welding could damage that I should protect?

 

That weld failed because there was no penetration.
Clean it as best you can, remove the wiring in the way, remove the paint, try to remove the old weld filler.
Get the bike leaned over so your welder is comfortable, once he sticks his head under there he won't have room to work his stinger.

 

Wow, the weld had no penetration!

 

I'd be inclined to unplug the TCI.

 

I know nothing about welding ....
That's why I'm looking for someone for this job.

Funny it lasted so long.
I've owned the bike for at least 7 years myself.
Nothing is telling me this has been repaired in the past either; but I know nothing about welding lol.

I had the bike standing all day at work on the kick stand and it didn't fail.
Went to a gas station to fill up on my way home and almost dropped the bike cause it was like the kick stand wasn't there.
Could have been worse I guess, would have sucked to find my bike on it's side in a parking lot or my garage.

 

Why not just use the center stand?

 

I have been. I like the kickstand a lot better.
I read the "tricks" for the centre stand on here cause I was having a tough time with it.
Definitely made it easier when I knew how to do it properly.
But I'm not the largest guy, if I had maybe 20 more pounds to me I think it would be easier.
I just miss my kickstand .....

 

A competent welder would be able to fix that up nicely. I'd make sure he grinds off the old weld first and cleans that area thoroughly before laying a bead. Should like nice and tidy when it's done and ready for some primer and paint (or an epoxy paint directly like VHT).
https://www.amazon.com/VHT-ESP65200...ocphy=9052058&hvtargid=pla-570326742625&psc=1

 

I literally rode my bike for 20 years and never could get it on the center stand by myself...until I read correct technique on youtube one night. I went into the garage at midnight to try and viola....easy peasy when you use the right technique. I was laughing at myself so hard in the garage moving the bike on and off the stand repeatedly... my wife came out to see what I was doing....LOL.

 

It's like riding a pedal bike one day you just cycle away. Centre stand is the same.

 

it is almost like the bike jumps by its self to get on the center stand

 

I like putting it on the center stand rather than picking it up off of the road. Geez...... reminds of when we were kids and would just let the bicycles flop onto the ground—- lol

I hope that you at least have not clothespinned a baseball card to the fender brace!!! brbrbrbrbrbrbrb

dfox

 

I imagine just about every long-time bike rider has had this experience: Put the bike on the side stand and start walking away...then you hear or sense something & turn only to see the bike falling to the ground as if in slow motion, and there's not a damn thing you can do about it.

 

Seems to happen on fresh asphalt on a hot day.

After I learned to put the bike on the center stand *cough* I have come out on a hot day in fresh asphalt to see the center stand pegs sunk into the pavement. At least the bike didn't fall over.

 

So I ended up getting it welded today.
We ended up taking the tank off and draining the carbs and leaning it to an almost 45 degree angle so he could get right in there.

I don't think it was the weld that didn't penetrate. The weld was still attached, welder said it was the heat stress beside the weld that failed and the kick stand bracket just sort of peeled away from there.

 

Say what???

 

Like I said I know nothing about welding. But from what I was able to digest is that the weld did not fail, the metal broke where is was stressed from the heat of the original weld ?! I could have heard wrong

The green is the original weld I think it sort of broke beside it.

 

Found out why the 900 Seca was leaning so far over while on the side stand and while oil was leaking out. The frame has peeled apart like a tin can and the top of the kickstand punctured the crankcase cover. (I've already drained the oil.)

I didn't know the frames were that thin. To fix this should I a) have it welded or b) replace that while bottom portion with a actin from a different frame? If b) does the don't section have to come from a 900 Seca frame. I have a friend that's offering a frame actin from a 750 Seca, would that work?

 

That is just too torn up to weld repair. There are cracks running in several directions. You need to remove by grinding all cracks before filling with weld.
Any cracks left behind will probably return. A lap plate welded on top could provide extra strength but there's no room for this as the motor is a tight fit.

The 900 may have a larger & thicker wall tubing, not sure but this might be an option if the OD's are the same.
Unless your welder is very good (thinking TIG pressure tickets) a backing insert should be put in place and that means putting your welds in a straight section of the frame.
The roots of the weld will be very important.
The frame likely contains some level of chromium content so suggest ER-90 type TIG wire.
With backing inserts a good stick welder could do it E8018 or E9018 rod.
Have a look at this sketch as a suggestion where to put the butt-welds, they are all under stress except the lower front which leans me to suggest a replacement frame.

If it was an 82 750 a replacement frame would obviously be the only sensible option but 83 Seca 900 frames will be scarce, still it IS THE BEST option obviously.

 

if you can eliminate all the torn steel and put your weld in the green location this would be a better location but impossible to get the 2nd insert inside the tubing.
Put an insert in the rear location and TIG them.
MIG could do it but your welder is not going to buy a spool of chrome wire for 2 small welds.

 

Yikes!

XJ900 frames use a larger OD tube than all of the other XJ's (about 32.3mm), so you can't use a donor section from some other XJ model............but if there's a motorcycle graveyard close by, you could take your calipers and see if you can find a section of some other model that would fit.