Did this in my recent accident.

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn308/aroar/GS%20Wreck/GS500Wreck023Medium.jpg[/img]]

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn308/aroar/GS%20Wreck/GS500Wreck022Medium.jpg[/img]]

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn308/aroar/GS%20Wreck/GS500Wreck027Medium.jpg[/img]]

The part of the frame where the left-side rearset is mounted/screwed into the frame seems to have been bent-in during my crash. This is causing the rearset to angle inwards towards the bike so that the peg is now angled backwards rather than being perfectly perpendicular to the bike. I guess I can live with the peg being positioned slightly back like that but wanted to throw it there to see if there was any possible remedy. I don't know how I would fix that part of the frame (in the second pic) where the rearset is mounted other that to try beating it back outwards a little using a hammer and 2x4.

I can think of two ways - retap the threads in the frame so that it will accept a larger bolt, but compensate for the angle. It probably won't be easy though, drilling through the frame. Or, if you have a acetylene torch, you can heat up the rear set and bend it. It's much easier to do as opposed to when it's cold.

Mine was the same. Right or wrong I just put some pliers on the rear set and bent it back out.

Quote from: 510 on June 10, 2008, 04:30:53 PM
I can think of two ways - retap the threads in the frame so that it will accept a larger bolt, but compensate for the angle. It probably won't be easy though, drilling through the frame. Or, if you have a acetylene torch, you can heat up the rear set and bend it. It's much easier to do as opposed to when it's cold.

Yeah, I thought of your first proposal but thought otherwise after thinking about how difficult that would be to drill through. Now, the second idea seems more feasible. Would I heat and bend it while mounted or should the rearset be taken off first? I assume the bending should be right behind the screw-holes of the rearset? Would a machine shop do this for me? Thanks a lot 510

a prybar works the besr just heat the frame a little and bed the rearset a little bit past where its straight so when you release pressure it will go back a tad but youll be fine. its your frame that is bent not the brackets

Quote from: GI_JO_NATHAN on June 10, 2008, 04:35:28 PM
Mine was the same. Right or wrong I just put some pliers on the rear set and bent it back out.

Really? The rearset's pretty thick. Must of been some big pliers. Anways, if you did this while it was mounted, did it do any damage to the threaded holes in the frame where the rearset mounts up? I imagine if I could crash the bike and it not ruin the threads that what you did wouldn't do anything either but wanted to make sure.

Quote from: mach1 on June 10, 2008, 04:39:31 PM
a prybar works the besr just heat the frame a little and bed the rearset a little bit past where its straight so when you release pressure it will go back a tad but youll be fine. its your frame that is bent not the brackets

Did you mean to say heat the rearset? If I'm bending the rearset, why do I need to heat the frame?

Looks like you could insert a crowbar in the bracket with it attached.With the bar forward ben :Dd toward the bike front.

I bent mine back out with a big screw driver slid in the peg bracket from the back.I simply pulled out while holding the bike steady on the center stand.Worked.No need to torch the paint off with heat.

Option 1:
Bend back the rearset with visegrips,crowbars,whatever will work

Option2:
Find long bolt of the same thread ,heat the area, thread it in and hammer it till it's straight again ,hoping the bolt won't break

when mine did that the frame tabs was tweaked not the peg bracket so I heated the tab on the fram and straightened it. yours may be different

The left peg on my 02 was bent back like that when I bought the bike.  I went to the hardware store and bought a couple socket head capscrews about 2" long and a couple hex nuts to fit them.

The bend is in the frame and bulges out in front of the bolts.  I screwed the nuts on the bolts and then screwed the bolts in the frame far enough to go thru the threaded blocks inside the thin sheetmetal frame and then tightened the nuts down tight on the frame.

I then heated the frame where the bulges are in front of the bolts and tapped the bolt heads forward with a hammer until they were perpendicular to the frame.  Worked real nice and easy and came out perfect.  When the peg mounting plate was bolted back on it covered the black heated area of the frame and it never showed.

There are some threaded blocks inside the hollow frame that must be tack welded in place and you don't want to break them loose.  The nut tightened down on the frame keeps them in place while you hit the bolt head to straighten.

First off, thanks everyone all for your help. I thought I was just gonna have to live with a tweaked rearset but apparently not. Cool.

Quote from: Affschnozel on June 10, 2008, 05:21:57 PM

Option2:
Find long bolt of the same thread ,heat the area, thread it in and hammer it till it's straight again ,hoping the bolt won't break

Quote from: gsJack on June 10, 2008, 07:50:43 PM
The left peg on my 02 was bent back like that when I bought the bike.  I went to the hardware store and bought a couple socket head capscrews about 2" long and a couple hex nuts to fit them.

The bend is in the frame and bulges out in front of the bolts.  I screwed the nuts on the bolts and then screwed the bolts in the frame far enough to go thru the threaded blocks inside the thin sheetmetal frame and then tightened the nuts down tight on the frame.

I then heated the frame where the bulges are in front of the bolts and tapped the bolt heads forward with a hammer until they were perpendicular to the frame.  Worked real nice and easy and came out perfect.  When the peg mounting plate was bolted back on it covered the black heated area of the frame and it never showed.

There are some threaded blocks inside the hollow frame that must be tack welded in place and you don't want to break them loose.  The nut tightened down on the frame keeps them in place while you hit the bolt head to straighten.

I assume you two are talking about the same process? I think I like this the best as it will correct the source of the problem, which is in the frame. A few questions...

1. GSJack, did you put two nuts on each bolt on either side of the frame or just one? If only one, does it matter what side of the frame (inside or out) the nut is secured on the bolt?

2. What did you use to heat the frame? I don't have anything to heat it with other than a blow dryer. I'm assuming this is not going to be enough heat to make the frame more malleable.

3. Ugh, what are socket head cap screws?

4. For the bolts which I'll be screwing into the rearset mounting holes and pounding to straighten the frame, do I need to buy bolts that have the exact thread pitch as the stock recessed allen head bolts or just something close enough. My concern here is potential damage to the threads of the holes themselves while pounding on the bolts. I'm thinking the closer the thread pitch to the stock bolts the less chance I have of damaging the female threads in the frame.

5. "There are some threaded blocks inside the hollow frame that must be tack welded in place and you don't want to break them loose.  The nut tightened down on the frame keeps them in place while you hit the bolt head to straighten." >>>>  Can you please explain more about this and what I need to be careful for. I'm not sure I understand what's being said here. What is it exactly that I don't want to break. Since I can't see what it is I'm not supposed to break, a little more detail of what's going on inside that part of the frame would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks guys.

! one nut on each bolt and you cant get the bolt out the back of the frame on both holes only one so the ygo behind the bracket directly in front of the tab

Quote from: GI_JO_NATHAN on June 10, 2008, 04:35:28 PM
Mine was the same. Right or wrong I just put some pliers on the rear set and bent it back out.

can do this, works fairly well. damn near impossible to break it as well. and if the threads are destroyed or unusable, always teh option of a longer bolt/nut combination

Yes,gsJack and me are on the same method

Socket head cap screw:


You can try it without heating but it helps to persuade the metal back into shape

Here's "artist's" expression  of the process:

The screw must be of the same thread as the original ,just take one with you when you go shopping 

Yep, that's the way I did it.  I heated the frame where it bulges out in front of the hole so it would bend back in there and not pull out more on the rearward side of the hole.  I heated with a propane torch that I bought for less than $20 at the same hardware store where I got the bolts and nuts.  I needed a new torch anyway and it's been very useful since.  It will probably work without heating but I thought it would be best to heat and not risk further frame damage.  I used socket head screws because they are the strongest grade 8 type made of heat treated alloy steel and quite cheap enough to buy anywhere.

Affschnozel, thanks for your diagram. That's the way I had envisioned it through your and GSJack's descriptions but the picture was very helpful reassurance. Thanks for the pic of the socket head screws as well. I guess I could have done a quick Google search easily enough 

Okay, propane torch...Should I be concerned about using one of these so close to the gas tank? Should the tank be removed prior? I guess I'll go hunting for a cheap torch at Harbor Freight or something.

I hopefully will be able to get to this in the next week or so. Thank you guys so much again. I'll eventually report back once I am able to try this out.


P.S. Maybe this should thread should be stickied (maybe with a new title alluding to the fact it deals with tweaked/bent rearsets) given that it seems to be common with any bike that goes down.

might be a good opportunity to get woodcraft rearsets   i got a set with extra pegs from a board member for 80 bucks and i love them.

Quote from: frankieG on June 12, 2008, 05:56:24 PM
might be a good opportunity to get woodcraft rearsets   i got a set with extra pegs from a board member for 80 bucks and i love them.

Those'd be nice, maybe some day... Besides, I'd have to do this procedure regardless of what rearsets I have because the part of the frame where the rearsets mount is tweaked. If I don't fix that, then no matter what rearests I use they're not going to be aligned the way they should.


Anyone have any other suggestions (other than a propane torch) for heating the part of the frame where the rearsets mount before trying to bend it back ala GSJack's and Affschnozel's method? Uhh, will a blowdryer work if I hold it there long enough? And if I go with the propane torch, is it necessary to remove the tank beforehand? What about the gas in the float bowls and fuel lines? Do I need to be concerned about it if using a torch?