Has anyone ever repaired...

[Goldie]

...a fractured drop out? One of my bikes has a break clean through the lower edge of the triangle that supports the drive side drop out. You can see the break as a faint hairline in the picture below:

If you've ever repaired anything similar, I'd be really interested in hearing how it's done and what the pitfalls are.

 

[cce]

a whole new dropout is the best bet.

 

[mikeekim89]

a whole new dropout is the best bet.

I agree. The placement makes it Difficult to fix.

A pair of dropouts fitted would be a better idea IMO. They wouldn't look out of place and presumably the other will have the same stresses passed through it as fractured the original.

 

[keithglos]

Goldie, from what I can see this is a fairly low end frame. Very odd fracture, as there is practically no stress on this point while riding, the dropout is still well attached, it is obviously not worth worrying. I suspect you could buy a better frame for the cost of new ends, you would probably need a pair, and think about repainting.
If it worries you cut a narrow slot about 90% through the crack (up or down) and silver braze it. This will only affect about an inch of paint.

 

[jm]

I've seen several go there even on Campag dropouts.I had one of mine welded and it was fine.An easy place to touch up as well.jm.

 

[Jonny69]

If I were to fix that I'd file the crack to a V and then MIG it, being careful not to put too much heat into it. So probably do it as a series of spot welds and let it cool between each. Using CO2 instead of Argon-mix might not be a bad idea either, as drop-outs are usually harder steel and CO2 will make a harder weld to match. If you could do it with an old wheel in the dropout it would probably stop it distorting too. Whether you dress it off afterwards is up to you, but I probably would.

To put a new dropout in you have to heat the ends of the tubes to melt out the braze and the old one will, er, drop out. Flux the new one, carefully line it up and clamp it in place and braze it back in. Quickest and easiest will be to use an oxy acetylene torch as you can get the heat in quicker and won't put too much heat into the frame tubes.