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Failure point heads up

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Bikesmith01
Posts: 46
Joined: Sun Jul 12, 2020 4:55 pm

Failure point heads up

Post by Bikesmith01 »

Hey guys,

I just wanted to share a heads up about something I just encountered. While prepping the headlight ears from my 1959 R60 for paint I noticed they were both cracked in the same place:
IMG_20210429_114522252.jpg
There's a stress riser right at that point of transition where the folded-over bit ends. I figured I can't be the only one to have cracking there and thought you guys might all want to take a peek and see if yours are cracking too.

The good news is it's really easy to fix.
IMG_20210429_115330270.jpg
Ten minutes per ear to weld up the crack and a little dremel grinding to ease the radius on that transition. I don't know that I totally eliminated the stress riser, but I figure I can just reweld the thing every sixty years whether it needs it or not ;)

-Jon
******************************************************************
Jon the Bikesmith
1959 BMW R60
1940 Royal Enfield WD-C/O
1942 Chevy 3/4-ton special Flatbed
1985 BMW K100RS
******************************************************************

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caker
Posts: 201
Joined: Sat Nov 12, 2011 10:49 pm
Location: Haddonfield, NJ, USA
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Re: Failure point heads up

Post by caker »

Very common problem, sadly. I have a pile of cracked ones :(

Nice fix!

-Chris

User avatar
Bikesmith01
Posts: 46
Joined: Sun Jul 12, 2020 4:55 pm

Re: Failure point heads up

Post by Bikesmith01 »

Yeah, I figured it was likely a known issue. But a quick search for "cracked headlight ears" didn't come up with anything, so I thought I'd mention it.

Hey Chris, I have an idea! Why don't you send me your pile of cracked ones, I'll weld them up, then we can sell them and split the profits :lol:

-Jon
******************************************************************
Jon the Bikesmith
1959 BMW R60
1940 Royal Enfield WD-C/O
1942 Chevy 3/4-ton special Flatbed
1985 BMW K100RS
******************************************************************

User avatar
caker
Posts: 201
Joined: Sat Nov 12, 2011 10:49 pm
Location: Haddonfield, NJ, USA
Has thanked: 1 time
Been thanked: 5 times

Re: Failure point heads up

Post by caker »

pretty sure we'd likely make more money off the shipping and handling fees... :p

-Chris

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