1998 K2 Proflex 5000 c/f swingarm

[sverdina]

Been happily riding my 1998 K2 Proflex 5000 for quite some time now (yellow frame with carbon fiber swingarm).  Bought frame off of Supergo sometime in 2001 and systematically upgraded components over the years...swinger rear shock, disk brakes, 160mm travel forks etc.  Been riding a bit harder this past year or so, putting her through the paces in the local mtb terrain park and such, and started noticing the tire rubbing up against the inside of the carbon fiber swingarm when cranking uphill.  Upon further inspection I noticed that one of the dropouts is coming loose from the end of the swingarm and flexing as I'm cranking the pedals.

Has anyone else experienced this problem?  Is it repairable (I doubt an epoxy job would hold)?  I imagine locating a spare swingarm at this point would be rather difficult, and even so I'd have to procure yet another disk adapter and have the local shop rivet it on for me again (probably very difficult removing the existing adapter so that I could re-use it, eh?)

-Sergio 

[shovelon]

Sergio,

The dropouts do come loose on occasion. If you can wiggle the loose part out, then a good dose of araldite or JBweld should do it. I have had to do the drive side BB insert on my carbon frame. Others have had to do the seat mast, dropouts, and swingarm inserts and good as new.

Terry

[sverdina]

Sergio,

The dropouts do come loose on occasion. If you can wiggle the loose part out, then a good dose of araldite or JBweld should do it. I have had to do the drive side BB insert on my carbon frame. Others have had to do the seat mast, dropouts, and swingarm inserts and good as new.

Terry

Cool, thanks!  Drive-side dropout is loose, but generally only moves under a fair amount of pressure.  I'll see if I can get it to wriggle free by hand tonight, but I kinda doubt it.  If not, any tricks to get it out of there?  Or do I just keep riding until it gets sufficiently loose?  Hmm...I know of a few drops around the house that might do the trick.  ;-)

[Colin]

I definitely wouldn't recommend riding it until it breaks or forcing it to give way!

That way lies madness and the likelihood of infinitely more damage! <GRIN>

Yes, I've heard of many successful re-epoxying of the metal parts into the carbon parts, I think my OzX has had it done and it looks fine, just not as neat as the factory job.

I have head about gently heating the metal part until it can be wiggled free.

I'd imagine that if you remove the wheel, the part will probably be easy to remove?

Let us know how you get on.

Col.

[sverdina]

With a little coaxing, I managed to pull the dropout from the swingarm.  So after I clean all remnants of the old adhesive, what's the best way to re-bond the dropoput back to the arm?  Just slather-up the entire inch-long section with JBWeld, re-attach, clean the mess it will inevitably make and let it cure??

[WD Pro]

I have no idea what the bits look like but i would be tempted to do as you suggest but with carefull use of masking tape about 1mm each side of the join to catch any rouge epoxy. Push it in, wipe around and peel off

[sverdina]

Good suggestion...thanks!

[shovelon]

With a little coaxing, I managed to pull the dropout from the swingarm.  So after I clean all remnants of the old adhesive, what's the best way to re-bond the dropoput back to the arm?  Just slather-up the entire inch-long section with JBWeld, re-attach, clean the mess it will inevitably make and let it cure??

That is what I did. I like the tape idea.

[Mr.Ed]

OK well its been about 3 years since I have posted on this site, ......so here goes...

You can use JB weld to bond carbon to aluminum ?

Once upon a time about 5 years ago, my seat mast insert loosened from the carbon. I sanded the excess factory stuff off of the AL insert. Roughed up the inside of the frame, then followed the directions on a bottle of Gorilla Glue......still holding, strong as ever....pretty much forgot about it till I saw this post....