And We're Off...
I've owned several DT's. More than I can remember actually. The last one was an early 70's 250 that I sold when I retired from the Air Force in '94. I've wanted another ever since.
A year or two back I decided to get another one..... 'till I saw what they fetch nowadays. Seems gold plated ones are all that's out there now.... and fixer uppers are few and far between. And those they want the gold plated prices for anyways. Finally decided to "bit and piece" one together. I'm not doing this to flip it, so I'm not worried about it being a worthless mutt. 'Sides, I don't have enough projects.
I started keeping an eye out. One day I ran across a 74 frame on Ebay that looked in fair condition. The ad said it was straight. Here's the pic he had in his Ebay ad...
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There was one day left on the original post for 20 bucks. It was in Australia and the ad said he'd ship worldwide for 60 bucks. Bid the twenty and won. A day later the seller contacted me and said the only way he could stay at his shipping ask was to cut the rear hoop off. Sigh.... yeah, go ahead.
About a month later it showed up.... shipped to Gladstone Mo. USA from Gladstone Australia... what are the odds....
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So, turns out the Ebay pic was on it's best side. In real life there's a fair bit more rust than the pic shows. Also, the left footpeg was welded on... it's supposed to be splined and adjustable. Once I cut the peg mount off, the problem was obvious, the spline had sheared off. So they (whoever...PO) gobbed it back on with a welder.
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Also, it's not straight... looking down it has a fairly good bow to it.
Also, the sidestand mount has been completely boogered.
Also, the 4 rock guard mount tabs were broken off.
Also..... well, that's it really.
The first thing I did was fab some plugs and weld the rear hoop back on. Next I went to town sanding and wire brushing all the tubing I could easily get to. After that I invested in a little sandblaster from Harbor Freight. The little HF gun worked a treat and it was down to bare metal in short order.
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So... scratch rusted off the list. Next up, the bow in the frame. I ran a string across the top of the frame so I could see and roughly measure the amount of bend. It looks like right at a half an inch bow, measured at the tank mount stud....
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I looped some chain around the left shock mount and through the head tube. Set a scissor jack in the middle and went to jacking....
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It's now down to less than a 1/16" or so out.... close enough for me.
Also fabbed and welded on the 4 rock guard tabs.