Removing rust from chassis
 

The cross member on the back of my chassis has some rust. It?s right in front of the linkage. The cause was the mount for an SXS skid plate which is a metal hook that goes around the chassis that chipped the paint away. The rust spot is hard to get to, it?s on top of the bar under the motor. I didn?t plant on taking everything off the chassis this winter, any ideas on how to get to it and fix it? If I have to take everything off I will but didn?t plan on doing that until next year.

I have the same problem with ENDURO ENGINERRING SKID PLATE!

Try to put a tape around the chassis...

I try to do that this week and and I say here if it worked!

After you have removed the rust (mask off and media blast, or use abrasives) and sealed it (paint?), I would apply some quality two part epoxy around the frame rail to prevent future abrasion. Re-apply as necessary.

I?m not sure if it was from the metal hook vibrating, heat transferring from the engine to the hook, or a combination of both. My solution was to cut the plastic hook off of the stock skid plate and drill holes in it to mount to the SXS skid plate. I will also use some 2 part epoxy on the chassis after I get that taken care of.

I've suffered the same problem on all my frames, whichever skid-plate I've used. I now cut strips of old radiator hose and safety wire it to go between the plate and the frame. The curve of the hose fits the curve of the frame nicely. Seems to help the paint hold up better, but I think eventually that area is always going to suffer from the issue, given the abuse it sees.

The paint comes off of every offroad bike in that spot because dirt gets between the hook and the frame and gets ground in with vibration and impacts. It will happed with the jimmy rigged plastic hook as well.

The hook replacement is a bad idea. It will likely cause you way more headaches than a little surface rust that isn't hurting anything but show bike value anyway.

Plastic frame hooks are junk and that's why every "economy" junk plastic skid plate has them instead of machined aluminum or derlin one. When they fail they tend to cause more damage as the skid plate gets ripped off.

Your top of the line SXS glide plate has that machined aluminum frame hook for a reason.

PS, I've done the tape thing and it's no better. The sand can't wash out of it after it's ground in to the tape so all you have done is put sand paper between the frame and clamp.
I've also done the hose wrap which brought about it's own issue of then making a gap between the belly of the skid plate and the frame rails. I hated the clank or slap sound that made every time I made contact with a rock etc.
In the end I just decided that the little wear on the frame is going to have to be accepted if I'm going to ride the things off road.

In the UK there are 2 products I would use for this issue. Not sure if there is availability or an equivalent where you are.

The 1st is Jenolite that is a rust cure that chemically stabilizes rust. You paint it on and let it get on with it.

https://www.jenolite.net/

The 2nd is Hammerite paint that is very heavy duty and can be put directly onto bare metal without needing a primer. It's as durable as epoxy paint without being anywhere near as brittle.

https://www.hammerite.co.uk/

I used a lot of Hammerite on a Beta 300RR that had paint that was as durable as donkey snot. The Hammerite colour was a very good match for the original Beta red.

I just removed the rust, painted on a primer and put the skid plate back on. I was going to try the plastic hook but after looking at it and trying to figure out a good way to mount it I decided to just use the aluminum hook. I coated the hook in plasti-dip but I?m not sure if that will help or not, the plasti dip I?m sure will just come off. No big deal

Mate.. I did 4 hours in the bush with a plastic AXP Extreme bashy. Dropped it again after the first ride (4 hours) to change the trans fluid out.. Paint already peeled from the frame. As others have said.. it's just what happens.