To weld or Not to weld

[drillpvt]

My Crossfire 150,s take a beating on a every other day workout by myself and other people in my neighborhood ! The buggies are open to anyone to ride as long as they chip in for gas and parts from time to time. That being said I am spending a good amount of time every time going over the buggies before every run , tires , breaks , chains, and so on but what takes the most amount of time is the frame bolts. If i do not tighten them it makes for a very rattle trap ride.
Has anyone said hell with it and just welded the roll cage and frame ?
If so whats the pros or cons you have had ?
Thanks From Florida

[Lyonsperf]

The only reason for the bolts is so the frame wil fit in a smaller box for shipping. Weld it and forget it!

[x-bird]

The only issue with welding them up is how you do it;

Trim off the flattened tubing where it bolts together and you're going to lose the dimensions and will need to weld in some riser posts to make up the difference.

Just weld them up at the flattened sections and IMO you create an attachment point that's about as strong as the bolts, it just won't loosen up.

Bear in mind that most of these "cages" are not properly designed to withstand much of a roll over without collapsing.

Personally i think it's well worth it to cut the tubes and install oversize posts to gain your length back (get some tubing with an ID the same as the OD of the cage.) Follow that up with some additional tubing to correctly (as near as possible) triangulate the cage.


Cons--more work ...
Pros ... Stronger, safer buggy and it'll likely be stiffer to boot.

[drillpvt]

Thanks guys ! i think i,ll try some new tubing a few peices at a time to not kill a limited budget and play with what works , My kids are ridding these also so safety is the priority !!! stonger and safer the better !

[AceFab]

Weld it or maybe replace the bolts/nuts with some grade 8 stuff. The grade 8 locknuts are all steel and better than the nylock type for applications like this. Just my 2 cents worth.

[metalstudman1]

Your Crossfire is perfect for welding as they already have internal sleeves in place and don't have the flattened connections- just remove the bolts,plastic ends and weld away!!! I have to tighten the bolts too (the rattles are so annoying!!)- I'm not sure what other mod's are coming next for ours is why I haven't welded it yet.

[SYCARMS]

I still have the origional bolts securing my bars since 2004. I just used the red locktite and have never had to tighten.

TOM