I'm thinking of tearing down my mojave this winter and having the frame powder coated and I'm wondering what I can expect for cost. Also does anyone have any good tips on were to do any reinforcing on the frame? It's not cracked but if I go thru all this trouble and end up cracking the frame next year that would suck. Any weak points? Thanks.

 

There is one place on the Mojave frame that needs to be delt with and your right to do it before you have it powder coated. The spot is the two lower frame rails where the lower a arms attach at their rear mounting points. You will notice that there is no cross brace between the rails there. These rails will bend in easy here if the front tires or a arms take a good lick. Most Mojaves are bent slightly on one side or the other here and the owner does not know it. Look close at the welds that secure the lower rear a arms to the frame rails and if you notice that the paint is cracked near the welds the frame is at least slightly bent. Straighten the rails if bent and then weld a piece of tubing in between the two frame rails where the rear a arm mounts are. This will make the frame much stronger because now it will have to bend both rails instead of one. If you cant find any tubing a straight section cut out of a pair of steel handlebars works really good. A neat trick that i did was to use the new cross brace as the skid plate support for my DG chassis skid plate. The skid plate normally uses a clamp across the top of the frame near the same area. I put the cross bar in a little to the rear of the a arm mount points right where the holes in the skid plate are. Then welded two nuts into the underside of the cross brace and bolted the skid plate there. No need for the frame clamp that did not fit anyway. Just a thought if you have it tore all the way down you may want to try. But be sure and put the cross brace in. You'll be glad you did.

 

I bent my frame at this spot also. I am going to get a new frame instead of straitening mine because I have many other cracks in my frame. Also the fact that a brand new frame is only $600 makes me able to afford one. Once I get the new frame I was also going to do the same thing you said mojaveaddict about welding a piece of tubing between the lower A-arm mounts. This is defanitely a must if you haven't bent it already.

 

most shops will do the frame a arms and swing arm for $200-$250 if you want custom 2 color paint like silver vein expect to pay about $100 more. We have had 2 bike done over the years and they still look like new well worth the podwer. Krylon just cant compare. take a look at the 2 bikes we had done on the link below. 1987 zilla and 95 tc405ex.

 

Hey guys thanks for the prompt and detailed info, this is exactly why I like this board so much! I just went out and looked at the lower a-arm mounts and there is some paint flaking on the right one. I see exactly what you were talking about Mojaveaddict. Chances are mine frame is bent there with the kind of riding I have done. How do you like the DG skid plate? I will probably get a skid plate at that time, thanks for the tip. I plan on having any powder coated parts/frame sandblasted or stripped first, anyone have tips or possible pricing on that also? Thanks again, Happy trails.

 

I like the dg chassis skid plate ok. the plate is thick and rolled up on the edges to protect the sides of the rails, not just the bottom. I did not buy the PRM because it is not rolled up on the sides. Problem is that PRM stuff fits and DG stuff don't. None of the mounts on the dg fit right and the center clamp that goes near the place in the frame that bends was mismatched, missing the holes by over 1/2". Really poor. I even had to enlarge the oil drain hole to one side to get a socket on the plug. Luckily I was able to redesign and fab new mountings. I have other PRM stuff and it all fits perfect.

 

Hey mojaveaddict, I helped reengineer the clamp plate on the PRM swing arm skid for them. He didn't sell too many of them so he wasn't getting any feedback from people then I helped them out, they returned the favor by not charging me for the grab bar I bought from them, great company. I have heard that about DG and I experienced AC junk first hand. Happy trails, thanks again

 

Jeffksf, Good job. I bought a prm skid plate about 6 or 8 months ago and really didn't like the clamp plate so I welded two tabs on to the swing arm to bolt the front of the skid plate to.
Dont know if I had the old design or your new design though. Pretty cool getting a grab bar that way!