TOPIC:

Here's another way to rake, I don't know if this will apply here, but back in the 70's we built a Harley chopper. Dad raked it by cutting the downtubes and lengthened them by installing 2" long slugs at the cut. He had to heat the top backbone and bend things up and back but it worked great, and he didn't have to mess with the neck area at all. It let us install 12" fork tubes and keep the bike level.

hey andy
there is a post on dragbike.com about raking,gives a pretty good look at how its done.do a search for (frame work)on there and see what ya think.

where did you find it on dragbike .com?

try this
www.dragbike.com/forum/search.asp?KW=fra...SM=1&SI=TC&FM=0&OB=1

he had some nice equipt to work with,but the outcome looks pretty crude to me:unsure: i dont know about anyone else,but appearance is a big thing with me:whistle:

it can be made to look good after you are done with some 1/6th plate and tidy welds and little body fill to clean it up even more.

i always slice the gusset under the steering head cut 3 top tubes and pull steering head back while heating downtubes to keep them from kinking and weld everything back together i personally think it looks a lot better, once everything is ground down smooth its hard to tell unless you know what you are looking at.,2-3 degrees on a streetbike isnt going to move the steering head back that far to cause clearance issues:) goodluck,happy wrenching

some pics of the cut the backbone, heat, and pull back method.

not saying this is the best way, but it's what was done on my drag chassis. probably gonna cut it all out and do it over. 8^(

first shot. notice the un-welded cut in the gusseting.


another angle.


where the cut was made and welded.


top view, buckle in the top tube, behind neck.


stock neck, for comparison.


clearance of pinch bolt to tank.


tank on frame.


that's about it for tonight. hope this helps illustrate.

--r

i think we can doll that up a little bit solomrus,send me a pm so we can hurry up and finish that bathroom and you can get back to wrenching!

solomrus,

You are my favorite person for the day and I'm officially nominating you for sainthood. One question, the unwelded cut in the gusseting you mentioned. Is that the (almost horizontal)line just below that mounting hole (can't remember what it's originally used for).

What degree of rake is on your front end and did it cause any clearance issues.

Thanx,

Andy

yes, that is exactly the cut i am talking about. that shouldn't be there.

i haven't measured it yet. it's a lot more than i would have put in there. i suspect, tho, it's in the range of 38-40 degrees.

what i think happened, was that they initially brought the rake down, but decided that it wasn't enough, so they heated it again, and cranked it down until it looked right.

that's just a SWAG on my part, and knowing who did the rake...

wire... i'll get with you about the bathroom in a couple days. have to talk to the boss about it.

--r

Post edited by: solomrus, at: 2006/02/23 09:57

sainthood? all applications for sainthood must go before the board of directors and be approved by KING WIRED GEORGE,who has been nominated himself on several ocassions but due to that little incident in texas with him and CRUISING RAM with that dog sled pulled behind barney the carb test bike i still dont understand how they got it on top of that house but youre still the king in my book WIRED GEORGE!