Bent frame

[Hitcher]

Hi, I had a front end crash, low speed. At the time the righthand crash knob had been broken of by a thief, so the bolt to the frame was just sitting there. No there is a gap (see photo), people have said the frame is bent but others say it cant bend as its alloy. I have checked for cracks and there's none. I dont want to try and replace the bolt incase the stress cracks the frame. My question Can the frame be bent???? And would a bolt be pulling it in that much, the gap is 17mm.
Thanks
Drifter

 

[Crashz28]

That is not good did the bolt break off or did it stay in there and the aluminum break? If the bolt broke drill it out get new bolt heat the frame up in that mounting area where it comes off the main part of the frame then slowly thread the bolt back ina and hope it does not crack keep the frame hot and look up the melting point of the aluminum you want it prob between 600-700 degrees do not qoute me on that though not hot enough to melt it but hot enough to soften it!

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

As I understand, the slider bolt was in the frame but WAS NOT securing/tight the frame "arm" to the engine..

Its quite obvious the frame "arm" did in fact bend. If you look inside the frame, there are numerous re-inforcing "catacombs"(probably not the correct word) that make up the frame. I would probably pull the tank, air box and what ever to look inside the frame for any cracking at the top of that "arm" (inside)...

You have nothing to loose at this point however, instead of just putting a bolt and trying to pull in the arm, get/make a metric threaded rod and spin it into the block of the engine and snug it down. It will be considerably stronger when you pull that "arm" in.

Once the stud is in, put a washer (that fits inside the frame cutout), put a metric nut (same threads as the stud) and gently tighten it and pull the arm in.

I have to doubt, it'll stay pulled in all the way after the stud is removed (it may pull out a little bit). If it still separates a good amount, I would leave the stud in the block permanently, washer and nut it. You DON'T want 1 thread (on the stock bolt) trying to pull that frame in, you will strip out the engine threaded hole...

Once its in, either get the stock factory bolt and replace is or if putting in another slider, try to get something that will use most of the threads in the engine block.