Welding on the bike

[LoLoSama]

I want to make my sidestand foot print wider, is it ok to weld directly on the bike (not taking the part off) or its going to fry something ?

 

[Erik Marquez]

11 minutes ago, LoLoSama said:

 

I want to make my sidestand foot print wider, is it ok to weld directly on the bike (not taking the part off) or its going to fry something ?

 

 

Yes

Yes It might be ok
Yes It might damage the CDI or cluster 

At a minimum disconnect the battery leads and put your ground clamp as close to point of welding as practicable.

BUT as easy as it is to remove the side stand Id do that no questions asked.. It protects against the unlikely possibility of damage to electrics and or splatter damage to other items near the weld area..Plus it puts the stand in the most favorable position to weld in up off the floor ..welding horizontal instead of vertical   

[Password1234]

It's always a good idea to disconnect both terminals from the battery. I would also remove the tank to be safe. You should then be good to go.

[siscoken]

Make sure the ground clamp is fastened directly to the kickstand...not to another part of bike.... a problem may arise if accidentally strike on other part of bike... also disconnect battery....if you are not comfortable take the part off.

[LoLoSama]

Alright, thanks for the info. I think ill just remove it...im chicken..
[emoji16][emoji16][emoji16][emoji16]

[Rhinoracer]

I welded the steering damper post to the frame. Can't remove the frame for welding so I just removed the pos terminal.  Cut and rewelded the kickstand in place, welded other small bits to the frame. Haven't fried anything yet. YMMV.

Oh, and don't forget eye protection when reinstalling the kickstand spring.

[LoLoSama]

I welded the steering damper post to the frame. Can't remove the frame for welding so I just removed the pos terminal.  Cut and rewelded the kickstand in place, welded other small bits to the frame. Haven't fried anything yet. YMMV.
Oh, and don't forget eye protection when reinstalling the kickstand spring.

Good to know, im done. I removed it, in the begining i was trying to remove the springs first but that was stupid... Just removing the bolt completely and everything was smooth. Same way to put it back.
I never really noticed how much our stand is sticking out....i have only like 11k miles on the bike...[emoji16][emoji16][emoji16]
I made some line on the bottom, thinking (at that time..) That it may help...i'll probably remove them...lol.

[Noble]

Might depend on your welding process.  High frequency ark start common with TIG can do strange things.  I would not weld on any modern vehicle using TIG.

MIG, stick you will be fine.  As suggested put the ground clamp close to the weld.  I can't see that having the battery connected or disconnected has anything to do with it.

[Erik Marquez]

14 hours ago, Noble said:

  I can't see that having the battery connected or disconnected has anything to do with it.

Transient voltage from a item interconnected though battery by way of the cables.

Its a precaution I have seen listed in service manuals from Aircraft to heavy duty truck, auto and motorcycle. And Id never taking the time to confirm or disprove the idea...Seemed to easy to do and then not worry about it. 

[jayc250x]

23 hours ago, LoLoSama said:

I want to make my sidestand foot print wider, is it ok to weld directly on the bike (not taking the part off) or its going to fry something ?

Frying components during welding is pretty much a myth.  However, just to be safe, put the grounding clamp close to the area being welded.  I've welded the frame of my old XR400 a dozen times without any issues.

Edit:  Oops - saw you're all done.  Never mind.

Edited October 16, 2018 by jayc250x

[waysherr]

21 hours ago, Noble said:

Might depend on your welding process.  High frequency ark start common with TIG can do strange things.  I would not weld on any modern vehicle using TIG.

MIG, stick you will be fine.  As suggested put the ground clamp close to the weld.  I can't see that having the battery connected or disconnected has anything to do with it.

High frequency is only used when welding aluminum, and with older machines. New inverter machines don't even have hi-frequency. If somebody wants to weld on your bike using stick or mig you need to find someone else. Your statement of not using tig is the exact OPPOSITE of reality

[Wait a while]

On 10/16/2018 at 5:04 AM, LoLoSama said:

 

I want to make my sidestand foot print wider, is it ok to weld directly on the bike (not taking the part off) or its going to fry something ?

 

 

What happened? Did it fall over on gravel or sink in mud or something?

[LoLoSama]

Lol no but when i was riding in the desert, going up on some dirt/gravel/and large rocks. I got stuck, rear wheel about half way in. I was able to use the side stand to move the bike around enough to get out of the hole. That's when i thought that i should make the bottom og the stand wider.
Here in NV desert often the ground is soft and the stand would sink.

What happened? Did it fall over on gravel or sink in mud or something?

[Wait a while]

Ah yeah, sometimes mine sinks too. Sand or gravel.

Sometimes when it's being difficult to re-start ('02 model) I put the stand down so I can give it some decent kicks. Sometimes then I wish the plate was bigger, as the bike is leaning further and further to the left with each kick, lol. 

[RK-REX]

On 10/15/2018 at 10:52 PM, Noble said:

Might depend on your welding process.  High frequency ark start common with TIG can do strange things.  I would not weld on any modern vehicle using TIG.

MIG, stick you will be fine.  As suggested put the ground clamp close to the weld.  I can't see that having the battery connected or disconnected has anything to do with it.

Agreed on the high freq thing. In my shop at home, sometimes my flatscreen tv will turn itself off while I'm tigging. No clue why and it's not all the time. The welder and TV are 30 feet away from each other and obviously on a difference circuit, 110 vs 220. It turns right back on, but it's strange. I've heard to not have your phone in a breast pocket when tigging either, but no clue if there is truth behind it. 

[jjktmrider]

Pretty much all the welders(99% TIG) here have cellphones either on them or near by so it's not an issue . I've not had any trouble the times I let a battery hooked up on something , not a lot of times really the parts left on the vehicle though anyways . We had decided to try to get away without removing a part from one of the cnc's to do a quick weld (3 hour setup plus an hour getting the part off) and had it as isolated as possible from the mill table with the clamp 1/2" from the weld . 1/10th millsecond after the arc struck, the mill was dead . Just popped a safety circuit board but still showed some juice will get everywhere .

 

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[RK-REX]

5 minutes ago, jjktmrider said:

Pretty much all the welders(99% TIG) here have cellphones either on them or near by so it's not an issue . I've not had any trouble the times I let a battery hooked up on something , not a lot of times really the parts left on the vehicle though anyways . We had decided to try to get away without removing a part from one of the cnc's to do a quick weld (3 hour setup plus an hour getting the part off) and had it as isolated as possible from the mill table with the clamp 1/2" from the weld . 1/10th millsecond after the arc struck, the mill was dead . Just popped a safety circuit board but still showed some juice will get everywhere .

 

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That solves that mystery for me. Thanks!