Crack in the frame or weld.

[chopit25]

So I chipped some bondo off the frame, it had a shit ton of it and even the gas tank was welded and bondo'd to the frame. Ground off a couple of brackets too. After that I was using a 120 grit flap disc to clean up the areas and I found this under the paint.


This is right where the hardtail section connects to the top of the backbone. FUCK!
I already noticed last week that the axle plates section is WAY too tight. Had to really pry at it to get the rear wheel back on.
So I started looking closer and at other hardtails. On the bottom rails there is no support aft the cross brace under the backbone. Also the only rear cross support on the the top rails in a flat piece of steel to mount the fender to.
I am thinking it may be best to cut the whole rear section off and get another hardtail and start over at this point. I don't know what to do with this thing now. I can't afford crap right now but I was so close to getting it ready to atleast ride a few times before a winter tear down that I don't want to just sell it and give up now.
But I don't want to kill myself on an unsafe machine either.
Am I overreacting here? I don't know anyone local that could weld on a new hardtail either. I need to learn to weld! Lol
Anyway what do you guys think about this?

 

[650Skull]

A few shots from different angles and some a bit further away.

Looking at that i would say the weld has not penetrated the frame. Could be in one area but the rest of the weld run has to be looked at. Not a job for a novice to fix i'm afraid.

Better to have found it now.

I'm also concerned with the amount of humps and hollows. looks like the grinding has been to aggressive and ground into the frame

 

[reeb]

it lookks like the weld has been ground off. the heat mark where your bead was is a sign you are about to grind through the weld. a good welder should be able to run another pass on it

 

[chopit25]

Yeah it was lumpy and looked like the area had been ground too much and then bondo'd over. I caused the blue mark when I saw what looked like a crack and started sanding more aggressively. I showed a buddy that does weld and he was pretty sure the whole thing can be fixed up to be safe. Just more work to be done I guess. Glad I found it now though.

 

[Conrad Russell]

I think like you if I find 1 bad weld I would worry about the rest.I would have the frame sand blasted-not sanded, no grinder and have some one with welding experience fix it up.What you have should be repairable and I not cut the hard tail off unless you are going back to a swing arm(never understood why remove comfort).