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frame extension

  • Thread starter Thread starter bigmacstang424
  • Start date Start date
B

bigmacstang424

Guest
I was looking at the bike yesterday and wondering if I could maybe extend the frame or lenghthen the swing arm. I was rinding with my buddy who has a chopped out 78 sportster. Its long as hell and makes my bike look real small. I want to sit lower in the bike and put drag bars on it so my arms are around shoulder length. Might have to make up some risers too. I have a shaft drive that I would have to make longer. I was wondering if anyone has done this or seen it done.
 
pretty much no way to make a shaft longer.

i believe you could if it were chain, but let me ask you.. have you considered the fact that it will significantly alter your ability to turn and the ride?
 
No-can-do on shaft drive. It would be easier and cheaper to just buy another bike that's chain driven.

I think you can do lower and drag bars, but not longer.
 
Yeah, lowers easy, hardtail or soft, but longer aint gonna happen, unless its in the front end.
 
Now that attitude stinks guys 3 of you say with authority you cant extend a shaft driven bike well i'm here to tell you thats utter bull

Of course you can, extending the arm is no more difficult than extending one on a chain driven bike & extending the shaft just takes a bit of knowlage & the use of a lathe

Things to watch out for...
Check & re check alignment of the arm during welding

The longer you go the more of an angle your CV joint will run at (max before it touches is around 34 degres on most)

Extending the back will also lower the back if the shock positions dont move to compensate so you may well need to drop the front too

yep ive done it & will probably do it again its not THAT hard it just takes patience & a small amount of skill
 
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ok, well, let me rephrase.. there isn't a simple and safe method? :P
 
seuadr said:
ok, well, let me rephrase.. there isn't a simple and safe method? :P
Click to expand...


Thats your opinion my friend but i guess you've never tried it have you ?

I have :-) i find it relitively simple & its certainly safe or i wouldn't do it the last one i did has been used HARD day in day out for the last 7 years with no problems whatsoever
 
tone said:
Thats your opinion my friend but i guess you've never tried it have you ?

I have :-) i find it relitively simple & its certainly safe or i wouldn't do it the last one i did has been used HARD day in day out for the last 7 years with no problems whatsoever
Click to expand...

Got any pictures?
 
Sorry if my posts on this irritate guys but i do see a lot of negitive comments on threads posted by people who just think things cant be done without looking into it properly, thats just a mindset that really annoys me as my thoughts are so different

The way i look at things is if a man can make it another man can modify it, after all its only lumps of metal

appologies for being an abrupt englishman but the statements stand it can be done

Btw i'm not a pro fabricator i work in a 16' x8 shed in my back garden with basic tools & am self taught simply because i dont really like stock bikes & am too tight/obstinate to pay for work to be done when i can do it myself

cheers tone
 
tone said:
Sorry if my posts on this irritate guys but i do see a lot of negitive comments on threads posted by people who just think things cant be done without looking into it properly, thats just a mindset that really annoys me as my thoughts are so different

The way i look at things is if a man can make it another man can modify it, after all its only lumps of metal

appologies for being an abrupt englishman but the statements stand it can be done

Btw i'm not a pro fabricator i work in a 16' x8 shed in my back garden with basic tools & am self taught simply because i dont really like stock bikes & am too tight/obstinate to pay for work to be done when i can do it myself

cheers tone
Click to expand...

if you did it.. great. i take it back. it can be done. but personally, having worked in a transmission shop for a few years.. i have seen a ton of problems that stemmed from improperly fabbed up driveshafts and other issues related to home jobs. i'm glad you've had no problems.
 
seuadr thanks for that
I have done it a few times both for bikes (chops) & extended & shortened a few shafts for trikes etc but do know what you mean about the quality of some of the home produced work for example bevel boxes used to extend the drive sideways to clear silly back tyres but misaligned to the extent the the bearings last about half an hour

As the the guys who want pics well maybe this thread will remain useless to you as i dont have any, i dont feel any need to prove to you what can be done & rarely take any pics of my work, in fact ive only owned a camera for a year & only have that cos it was given to me in part payment for a job i did for a mate

Nothing to prove here guys just stating the facts that i know to be true
 
That's cool, dude. We stand corrected. I'd love to see some pics of one done, but understand your position.
 
tone said:
As the the guys who want pics well maybe this thread will remain useless to you as i dont have any, i dont feel any need to prove to you what can be done & rarely take any pics of my work, in fact ive only owned a camera for a year & only have that cos it was given to me in part payment for a job i did for a mate

Nothing to prove here guys just stating the facts that i know to be true
Click to expand...

I don't want pics to "prove" anything. I wanted to see how you did it and what it looked so I could decide if I may want to add that to my winter list. I would love to drop and stretch the 850 :)
 
I've got an '80 850G as well and was wanting to stretch it at one point and was told....well, basically the same information I regurgitated. I think I'll end up cafe'n it. It's a project I'll get to at some point in time....just not now.
 
why not make an extension that would bolt up between the driveshaft and the trans. So instead of having them bolt up to each other, you would have the extension in there instead? yes, if you did this, you would have to not lengthen the swingarm, but instead move the pivot point it's self backward. I would think that a cool 4-6 inches could be done this way pretty easily... Maybe I'll whip something up that I could use to show everyone what I mean.
 
or maybe even just ADD a whole additional set of bushings and everything the 6 inches back so it's less cutting and just more welding. then it would even be possible to go back to stock at some point too... oh the ideas.
 
Ive cooled down now guys so heres what ive done & some of the problems ive faced....

You could make a spacer plate for between the uj & the output shaft & thats fine for a couple of inch stretch but the extra weight does put some more strain on the uj itself & you would need to extend the area the uj fits into on the arm

my way of extending the shaft is to cut it nearer the back & use an extension to join it back together, imo its stronger this way

The extension piece is made as an interfearance fit to the shaft & the shaft is pressed into it by 2" either end with the required stretch being the length in the middle of the two sockets, the wall should be thick enough to take a decent weld 4mm seems to work ok

once its together i weld it all up then drill & pin it both ends & weld the pins (probably a bit overboard but it works) the welds are dressed then its spun on the lathe to check alignment, the centre of the extension can be waisted down to an hour glass shape to keep weight down at this point but keep well away from the 2" sockets either end

if you are looking at something like a 6" stretch on a sprung bike you are getting close to the point where the uj will lock up so please check how far you can go BEFORE chopping anything up, i mock everything up by moving the arm back on blocks & checking the shaft run before making the first cut, remember to take suspension movement into account

thats enough for one night guys i'll post about the swingarm itself tomorrow if anyones still interested
 
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I had to chime in om this. Shaft drive swing arms are commonly extended. They are just not commonly extended on Suzuki GS's because, well, I don't know. However, the BMW crowd does this quite often to their BMW dirt bikes. If you want pix, go to the links. HPN is the main company doing this and they do very nice looking work. It's not trivial to do it but it is not impossible either.

http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1371833

http://www.hpn.de/english/english.html

I'd be willing to bet that there is a company here in the U.S that you could send it to to get it done. The only question is how much money do you want to spend?
 
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