Topic: Small slide crash on my left, alternator cover possibly cracked

[Xander^]

Hey guys, not One of my best days, riding in the city with streetcar tracks I had my front wheel slip into a turning channel of the tracks and slide to a fall to my left side, bike fell on the left handle bar and alternator side case. Thankfully i was going slow and didn't get hurt, and no other parts were damaged.

After lifting the bike back up,  I immediately noticed drips of oil falling from the bottom of the Alternator cover, i figured the slide forced the gasket seal open and maybe a screw snapped, however on the face of the side cover towards the bottom of the HONDA circle, I believe the slide cracked the casing. Small line fracture maybe? Small drip of oil was scene today around that cracked line. What do i do now? Lol..

[754]

Lean it tyd othef way wipe with cleaner, apply sealer.. keep riding it .
 I think mine got a small crack and I did not hit anything.. strange..

[seanbarney41]

Yeah, that is all it takes to crack them.  A, nice clean replacement can be slightly hard to find and/or expensive.

[Xander^]

Lean it tyd othef way wipe with cleaner, apply sealer.. keep riding it .
 I think mine got a small crack and I did not hit anything.. strange..

Can you recommend the best sealer plz. Im going to drain the oil and replace the gasket over the winter anyways so sealer is a great idea

[grcamna2]

I don't know what the latest sealers are that will seal porous cast aluminum,but they are out there.You might consider sealing it on the inside so it won't show.I don't think that cover will ever be pretty again but it can be sanded and polished to remove some of the roadrash.. a better option is another cover.

[scottly]

JB weld

[grcamna2]

JB weld

I successfully sealed a porous casting area on the 1985 VF500F I had on the oil gallery area,outside of the left top crankcase back behind the countershaft sprocket area.The area needed to be very roughed-up and prepped/sprayed-off with Brakleen numerous times to wash the oil out and then sprayed-dry with compressed air.That patch did hold nicely,I used a heat lamp in my previous shop to cure it in the Winter.

[flatlander]

Can you recommend the best sealer plz. Im going to drain the oil and replace the gasket over the winter anyways so sealer is a great idea

is there any oil behind that cover on a 750? not on my 550.

[bryanj]

Yes the 750 is "wet"

[BenelliSEI]

I’m 1 hour N.E. Of Mosport, and probably have a spare one if you end up needing one.

[Xander^]

JB weld

I successfully sealed a porous casting area on the 1985 VF500F I had on the oil gallery area,outside of the left top crankcase back behind the countershaft sprocket area.The area needed to be very roughed-up and prepped/sprayed-off with Brakleen numerous times to wash the oil out and then sprayed-dry with compressed air.That patch did hold nicely,I used a heat lamp in my previous shop to cure it in the Winter.

Interesting, going to take the cover off and do it properly this winter. Clean it well and try to JB weld. If not i might have to go see BenelliSEI lol

[PeWe]

Lean it tyd othef way wipe with cleaner, apply sealer.. keep riding it .
 I think mine got a small crack and I did not hit anything.. strange..

Exactly what I did in the 80's.
I used a JB Weld like 2k product. Chemical metal, quick hardening.
I let bike lean to a wall, cleaned with acetone and applied the 2k putty.
Waited 15 minutes and continue to ride. It held up really well.

[spotty]

did the same to my first 750, rolled off the side stand and punched a hole right through

took it off, gave it a good clean inside and out and used two part epoxy glue ( araldite in australia) , used a bit of scotch tape to keep the glue inside while it was setting and it came out relatively smooth on the outside when it set

probably no different in effect than the much vaunted JB weld but a whole sh1tload cheaper

 it was still there and not leaking when i sold it to terry about 10 years later

[grcamna2]

JB weld

I successfully sealed a porous casting area on the 1985 VF500F I had on the oil gallery area,outside of the left top crankcase back behind the countershaft sprocket area.The area needed to be very roughed-up and prepped/sprayed-off with Brakleen numerous times to wash the oil out and then sprayed-dry with compressed air.That patch did hold nicely,I used a heat lamp in my previous shop to cure it in the Winter.

Interesting, going to take the cover off and do it properly this winter. Clean it well and try to JB weld. If not i might have to go see BenelliSEI lol

A really Thorough cleaning/prep is the deal maker. 
When a welder does tig welding on a part like that,they will clean every last bit of oil out of those aluminum pores that they can,then put it into an industrial oven so the open alloy pores release as much oil as can be,it takes a few applications like that:take it out of the oven and wash it oil free with something like Brakleen or another oil free solvent or hot water and Dawn,etc.The oven brings out more oil that's trapped inside the aluminum every time the part is set in there for a while, so there is a clean weld(in your case a tight bond between the JBWeld and the cast aluminum.