Can a hole in a chainstay be repaired?

[GasX]

Want to cobble together a mini BMX race bike for one of my kids. I had an aluminum frame that cracked, so it was a loss. I got hold of a steel frame cheap, but when I went to wire brush it for painting, I discovered a hole in the chain stay. Can this be salvaged or am I SOL again?

It is about a quarter inch across.

 

[Bigcam59]

I had a hole in the outside of the chainstay in one of my cruisers and had a welder patch it right up, no problem. 8)

 

[outskirtscustoms]

The hole can be repaired as long as the metal surrounding it is solid enough to weld to. If it is all rusted out then you will have to replace the entire tube back till the rust stops.

 

[thom]

I found the same thing recently on a bike I wanted to fix.Obviously water has gotten into the tube and caused it to rust out from inside.I decided not to fix mine because I figure there is more rust inside that has not shown up yet.If any part of the frame breaks while the bike is being ridden it could be serious. It's your decision. :?: :?: :?:

 

[Walker]

think of how long that bike was ridden with an out of wack wheel for a rubber tire to wear a hole like that in a piece of steel. That looks totally fixable to me as well.

 

[GasX]

It doesn't look like rust cancer, so I have some hope...

 

[jwm]

A BMX bike is going to get ridden hard. I wouldn't risk it. Frames are cheap and easy to come by. I'd junk the thing and find a better one.

JWM

 

[Craiggo]

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=69795&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=30

just keep scrolling, I pulled it off with some help. mine was rust-assisted but the initial cause was wear from the crank arms.

 

[sensor]

I found the same thing recently on a bike I wanted to fix.Obviously water has gotten into the tube and caused it to rust out from inside.I decided not to fix mine because I figure there is more rust inside that has not shown up yet.If any part of the frame breaks while the bike is being ridden it could be serious. It's your decision. :?: :?: :?:

I got a junker from the mid-west that had water pop the stays. I repaired that and they were fine. But It had rusted from the inside out on the front triangle(wasn't visible at all when I stripped and prepped the frame) and well....the wife wasn't too happy!

She was fine and this was after 7 or so years of almost everyday riding. Best part is, the repairs I did outlasted the rest of the frame! :lol:
It's an easy fix if you do go that route. Just section out about 1" in front and behind the rusted areas and patch with new tubing(while it's open make sure it isn't heavily rusted inside the stays) and I'd suggest sleeving the stays when you weld the new tubing in for extra strength.