Te 630 Sub-frame Mod

Hey all!

With CJ’s permission, I have created this post….Sorry if it is long winded…

I just wanted to give kudos to CJBROWN(Chris) for his brilliant TE 630 sub-frame support mod. After coming from a KTM LC4 (02-22k miles), BMW GS 650 (03-46k miles), KLR 650 (05-36k miles) of off-road adventures, I was drawn to the TE 630 because I wanted to tackle some more difficult terrain with confidence and safety of a more off-road designed bike. As I was setting the TE up to adventure ride, one of the first things I put on, after the 606s, was a rack (Tourtech, same as Husky brand now).

As I was installing the rack I noticed the rear sub-frame is horribly inadequate for any sort of real world loading (tools, fuel, oil, inner tubes, clothes, etc.). I figured I would wait for it to break as no one was really complaining of failures on the TE 610s or Te 630s yet. Even though I recalled the KLRs where notorious for cracking and shearing the bolts with loads or not, I assumed the TE’s design was time tested with the 610 and SM 630. But I was wrong; there was the post on a broken sub-frame. Game over.

CJ was quick to recognize this weakness and posted his idea. See:

http://www.cafehusky.com/threads/new-rack-for-te630-coming-from-turbo-city.20567/page-3

With a simple PM he provided me some advice from his mod experience AND his detailed drawings in PDF. Coming from the KLR/BMW adventure community I was used to this freedom of sharing, but only from guys I rode with, not on forums. This was a great surprise.

As I am on a two month hiatus from surgery, I took this time to tackle this mod myself as I will be doing some Cen Cal Sierras and Death Valleytreks in January. Total time was about 4 hours.

I decided to follow CJ's advice and used aluminum as the support braces. I decided to use some 3/16” x 2” aircraft structural 6061 aluminum for the braces and used cold rolled steel (soft) in the same size for mock ups because the steel is actually easier to work with and it is cheaper (readily available from Lowes, Home Depot, and OSH). Once I made the steel braces, I used them as mock ups and templates for the 6061. Amazingly CJ’s PDF drawings were very close to what actually fit my bike (the holes were a little off). This is due to the differences in the manufacturing frame tolerances and welds I am sure. I seriously recommend mocking up first.

I had some scrap 3/16"x 2" 6061 flat stock from a RV4 kit plane project, and used this spec 6061 aluminum for its structural traits and light weight. You can find this available in small pieces from “speedymetals.com” at a great price. Most of the local hardware places only had 1/8” non-structural aluminum and plenty of 3/16” steel. You must use structural 6061 aluminum IMO! The steel is almost 2lbs heavier than the 6061.

Basically,

Remove all the rear end plastic and rack from the sub frame as well as the fuse/relay box, fender liner. You may need to removed the mid pipe and exhaust if you still have the CATs.

Cut the braces using the template and mark the holes corresponding with the rear grab handle mounting holes and u-bolt locations (just rear of the seat lock on the left side and rear of the right side regulator box). Fit them and punch the mounting holes at the rear and where the u-bolts will be. Drill holes.

Install finished brackets and tighen it all down to verify the bolt holes are right. I had to put a slight bend to curve the braces just fore of the front grab bar mounts to ensure a flat fit at the u-bolt and rear mount (maybe 2 degrees).

Mark the frame where the u-bolts are remove the braces, install the fender liner and mark and cut your fender liner. You will need to cut 1/4" slits from the rear at the 90 degree bend where it flares out to accommodate the braces. I had to cut about 4-6" right down the 90 degree bend. Keep sliding the braces in and only cut just enough to allow them to fit. I used a Dremel tool to do this. Re-install the u-bolt to mark the access locations on the liner. Remove the liner and use the hole saw to cut the u-bolt access holes. This will allow you to tighten the u-bolts after you install the fender liner. 4-holes total. Again, remove the liner and drill the holes.

Once the holes are drilled and cleaned up, re-install the liner, install fuse box, install the braces, loosely attach to u-bolts, install rear plastic and grab bars and run the bolts through the braces. I needed to buy 1/2" longer stainless steel hex head bolts to accommodate the braces. Tighten the rear attachment point at the grab bar mounts first, then the u-bolts (i needed to install washers between the u-bolt and the brace to make a solid fit). I then trimmed off a little of the rear grab handle mounting bolt because it was protruding past the nut to ensure clearance.

Use black silicone to create a seal along the fender slots and the 4 u-bolt access points. (I apologize for the eagle turd silicone job, but hey, this is an adventure bike not a show bike!)

Parts/tools needed:

CJ's template, PM him
Sharpies pen
Punch
1-3/16"x2"x12" Alum 6061 (and steel if you want to cut twice), right side
1-3/16"x2"x18" Alum 6061 (and steel if you want to cut twice), left side
2-U-Bolt, P/N-8000 71091, (It's more of a bracket looking thing used to secure rear foot rest assembly to the sub frame.)
4-Screw, P/N-8000 69056, (Screws used to secure bracket to the U-Bolt clamp.)
Drill and bits, 1/8"-pilot holes, 5/16" for the finished holes
Dremel tool
Bench Vice and Bench grinder
Saws-All, good jig-saw, good bench cut off tool, belt saw
3/4" hole saw
Thread locker for ALL fasteners
4-Stainless Steel Bolts, nylocks nuts, and 8 washers (all stainless)-optional if original bolts are too short to accommodate 3/16" brace thickness
Black silicone for vibration dampener on nuts and bolts (optional) and sealing fender (a must do)

As this is a first generation sub-frame mod, I am sure there will be improvements to this design by some adventure riding engineers. Please share you ideas, designs, and mods as it is apparent the TE 630 is a very short production cycle (2011) and there will be very limited after market support for the model. Feel free to PM me if you need any help if you do this mod.

Vince

Thank you Vince. You explained it in a lot more detail than I did but it's still complicated.

I didn't paint mine and I didn't seal them. Nice way to finish them all up. Yours are hidden better than mine. Alas, we don't have to worry about the back of the bike breaking off!

You had me going at the 'eagle turd silicon job'.

I'm impressed with all the bikes you've had and you chose a TE as well. That's gotta tell 'ya something for any of those that 'aren't sure' this is the best damn dualsport going.

Hope to ride with you when you come up to the Sierras and Death Valley. I've been researching central Nevada for some REALLY remote wilderness riding. Let me know if you're interested.

How easy would it be to modify the 630 rack for the 610? The OEM plastic one is fugly and heavy looking and there are not alot of other options other than Moto Billet (very inductrial and a bit overkill for my use) as is the tubular one from Turbo City (and sits rather high).

That is the Turbo City (TCI) rack. They had one for the 610 already. It doesn't sit up any higher than the PMB or Touratech one. And it's a great size for strapping gear to it or a tail bag. Looks like most of us will use it for a fuel pax and a bag on top. Or a top box like Capt has. Tom sells the Cortech bag for it, fits perfectly. But I think for more offroad use the rolie bags are the hot ticket.

The rack clears the fender by an inch, inch and a half at the back. Room to pull straps thru for tying down cargo.

EDIT: Oops...I see Capt's is the touretch/husky rack. They are a bit narrower than the TCI, for sure. But they don't fit the 610, the mounting points are quite different.

Yeah! Very interested, check your email! Husky monument trip, January!

I have done my fair share of west coast adventure riding since '02. Been riding street bikes since 82(about 700k miles so far)! Adventure riding started in '02 when i realized everyone has a 4x4 now and i needed to get farther away from them. The TE is most like my first DS ride, the '02 LC4. That's why i got it. I looked at the new LC4 690, but they wanted too much! I love this bike, i just need to keep my priorities straight and not turn it into a KLR!

You two are brilliant.. excellent idea to add some strength to the rear of the sub-frame. Any thought of producing a few extra pair to sell?

I could cut out a set for you. You really should drill your own holes though to make sure everything lines up. You would still have to do all the disassembly and the trimming on the inner fender.

$50 plus ship. Otherwise PM me and I'll send you the patterns. Since you start out with 2" stock it's just a matter of cutting the ends. But I would have to go down to the metal supply and then cut and finish them, so it's a time thing.

My modified sub-frame found it's way home from the welder today. I'm not sure if this is the easy way, or the hard way, but it is another way to reinforce the sub-frame. I shot a few pics before cleaning with white vinegar and spraying with self-etching primer. Top coat next. 'Trying to make it look as "factory" as I can. The plates are 1/8" aluminum and should make the back of the frame rigid enough for any load I care to put there. Once my suspension gets back from LTR I'll bolt everything up. Side stand mods underway.

That looks great, Kenneth. It's funny, I just finished pulling my subframe off about an hour ago, and will be doing the same mod as you. I work in a precision sheet metal shop, so it'll be a snap for me to get it done.

Yeah - a proper gusseting job is the A1 way to go for strengthening and creating rigidity. I have seen how the HPN guys have done this on their BMW frames.
(the strong and liberal welds there are not going to let go ).

Beautiful work! Now come do that to mine.

Looks good. However I would have liked to have seen webs where pointed here as well, at least on the right hand side, but as long as you're doing it then do both:



As I mentioned in my original post on the reinforcing aluminum plates, welding it up like this would be the preferred method. However not everyone has the wherewithal or desire to completely disassemble the subframe and take it for welding, and then refinish it. My goal was to come up with a simple bolt-on solution that anyone could utilize - quick and dirty as I like to say. IMHO this was accomplished. Even so, there's a certain amount of disassembly and trimming of the inner fender required, and you have to cut out the aluminum plates. But it can all be done with common hand tools, hacksaw, grinder, files, drill.

In any case, for anyone that is going to put any weight on the back of their bike, seriously consider doing something to reinforce their subframe.

EDIT: I was just reading Ken's post again and noticed they used 1/8" aluminum for the webs. I would like to see at least 3/16, even 1/4. The thicker gauge is progressively stronger. Then again, my take is that if you break it after all that you probably have bigger problems to deal with.

CJ, I can't disagree with you, but here is how I got to where I am on the reinforcement. I considered having the plates cut from thicker material, but after pondering a bit I figured that all that was needed was to stiffen the attachment point of the forging and transfer some load. The middle of the long brace, at the bottom of the pic, isn't really doing very much as the work is happening in the 45 degree triangle right at the tube/forging interface at the ends of the plate. For the middle of the plate to take appreciable load the top tube has to deform and bend down. I haven't seen that happen to anyone yet, so I went light. Wouldn't hurt to go up in plate size, for sure. 1/8" x 1 1/2" bar was just sitting there so we used that. Had thicker bar been on hand we would have used it. Time will tell. For bolt on plates, you are talking cantilever and thick plate is absolutely necessary.

I really considered putting in those webs you mentioned, but the plates I used ended right on the intersection of the upper and lower sub-frame tubes, and that should be strong enough unless the tubes are crushed or collapsed by some horendous hit on the tail section. My welder used nice wide fillets so that the load from the plate is distributed to the sides of the tubes, not just to the center of the tube flats.

This is all by guess and by gosh and the first trip with loaded bags will tell the tale. I was planning on using the bolt on plates as well (much easier and less time consuming) until the decision was made to pull and re-do the suspension. At that point the sub-frame had to come off, so why not just weld it up. I really don't know how the factory ever thought that the ends of the sub-frame were going to survive with just those little pivot-point welds to the forgings.

I really think your setup is plenty strong enough - the extra webs would be overkill unless you are really loading up the back excesively, which I do not believe these bikes are meant for.

Yeah, I know, it's all trial and error and when you're in the thick of it you make judgements on what will work the best for the job at hand.

The only thing I see in your reply is the hilighted part. If you look at Vondirters pics that top tube just snapped in half forward of the 45deg junction, as well as the seat support part - the thin gauge tube/bar. I'm thinking that part is solid and not tube. His was an awful mess. Bill of Bill's fixed his and IIRC he did add those extra webs for the diagonal downtubes.

One my goals was to spread the load between the top frame and diagonal tubes. I'm not sure I did that just tying into the diagonal. For my setup I would really liked to have those webs where I pointed.

Also, the problem with beefing up any of it is that it transfers the peak load elsewhere, mostly unknown until it breaks there.

Hopefully we'll all be good and none of them will break!

Man the welding is sweet! I did consider it, but choose the CJ method because no one near me can weld like that for a reasonable price. For what I am going to load on the back of my TE, I believe I am going to be good to go. If mine does crack, then welding will be the only option.

How did we get a stuck thread? Did we dump posts or what?

The thread that started the 630 subframe reinforcement ideas.
http://www.cafehusky.com/threads/q-te-630-subframe-reinforcement.19076/