1/16 inch thick steel is plenty for gussests. Its not about thickness, it's about the shape and placement of the gussets. Besides...the tubes your frame is made of are even thinner than a 1/16 of an inch.

Also.....to anyone still using their old stock steering tube...CHECK IT!!!! Mine recently snapped off at gussets that are just under the top plate where that your handlebars mount to. I was unbelievably lucky as we had just stopped to take a break from a long ride full of jumping and hard turns. When I got back on the quad, my hadlebars fell into my hands. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img]

 

Yes and no. The frame tubes are thin but a tube is a much stronger shape than a plate so they can make it thinner for less weight. Also he's talking about a crossmember even though he calls it a gusset. A gusset reinforces a corner or an angle. For a gusset a plate is plenty. The one I used was thicker than 1/16" (see my picture #4). For a crossmember, I don't think a plate would be strong enough.

Look at my pictures #8. These frames do not have anything tieing together the upper a-arm mounting tubes and the lower a-arm mounting tube crossmember is a few inches behind the rear lower a-arm bracket. I added two crossmembers to the upper a-arm mounting tubes, 1 at each bracket (picture #9). I also added a crossmember at the lower, rear a-arm mount (picture #5).

 

well i would really like to go with the 3 tubes like Sam250 did, but i dont want to mess with shaping it to the other tubes so i figured that 1/8' thick, 2' wide plates would be sufficient; especially since this is more of a precaution...the frame has not cracked, and i dont really do enough big jumps to crack it. I think now im gonna do the three crossmembers between the a arm mounts, and also four gussets on the tube going straight up behind the a arm mounts, like in Sam's #4 picture, but 2 more on the tubes right above that. I think that should be good enough...what kind of welder should be used??

 

yes...u do need tubes( either square or round ) in between the A-arm frame tubes. I believe I described that in an earlier post. But for plate 1/16 is plenty PROPERLY placed. A misplaced re-enforcement plate,gusset, or tube can cause the tube that it is butted to to crush, tear, or crack under stress. Remember that the frame Suzuki made was almost strong enough(but not quite strong enough) to do the job. So it needs re-enforcing yes, but not much. As I said in an earlier post, the YFZ450 Yahmaha's frame is a good example of what to do to the LT250R and LT500R. Yahmaha used gussets, tubing, and thin plate with stepped bends in it to tie in the bottom frame rails at the front suspension. Similar thing were done to the upper A-arm rails too. I did pretty much the same thing to my 500R and have not had a crack since. And I jump it hard.

 

well i jus told the guy wat to get...i told him to make 4 - 1/8' by 2 x 6 in. plates for the braces and 2 triangle gussets measuring 2x2x3...i know i should have found some tubes but i didnt want to mess with it...plates are better than nothing! especially when they are free.

 

well guys...when the guy came and picked it up, i told him what he was doing and asked why i didnt use inch tubes...i just said cause i thought it was too much work for him, and he said he would do tubes for me...well i ended up gettin it done for free, and it looks exactly like Sam250's gusset job, except for its on a later model LT...i'd say it shouldnt crack.

 

Put some pictures up so others can see what to do.

 

my pics will be up sooner or later...but i have to get them developed, or borrow a digi when the thing is back together. But it looks the same as yours except all my crossbraces are right behind each a arm mount instead of being off to the side.