very true, we had to grind off about 3mm of material on the insides of the  mounts on the cradle in order for it all to go back together.  Be careful not to take off too much or you will have movement.  You'd rather be a bit more snug.

Thanks for that.  Yep I'll be super careful!!  That part of the frame around the rear engine mounts is a real mess.  Horrible design!!  There is very little room to get gussets in to strengthen the tabs and still clear the cradle etc.  I find it hard to believe that Suzuki could put together such a shambles ... The way I look at it it would have been easier to make it simpler, sronger and better in the first instance.  Very strange.

they just took that basic frame design off the dr125/200-sp100/125 and used it.

Bumping up a nice thread...a buddies drz125 cratered last weekend...that makes 3 of 3...the boys all had them and now the last one is toast...we'll be seeing if we can't pull this one back together sometime soon...

FYI we beefed ours up big time...so strong that later the swingarm actually bent with no harm to the frame...how's that?  The main place to fix are those tabs under the engine...seen in zooks pics...if you do nothing else, do those...

The other guy whose frame snapped posted pics here that are no longer available...but he got his back together with a little reinforcement and sold it right away...

If you jump anything higher than 6 inches, take care of your frame or it won't take care of you!

hmm, i have seen 2 snapped drz frames in person, all of which were resovled with designs similar to mine

bump for ref.

We have been down this road before.  Gila, be careful.  With your new motor you will be putting ALOT more stress on the frame cradle.  Making the tabs beefier will do nothing to strengthen the frame.  The frame ends up breaking in the same spot because you will stop tearing the frame, and start breaking the bolts the tabs hold in place.  The damage to the chassis in the end is the same. Or even worse, start breaking the back of the cases on the motor....I have done all of the above.  If your indoor moto racing (or outdoor for that matter) you will want to fab up a lower welded cradle.  There have been a couple of threads on here im sure you can find.  If you cant find them let me know and I can send ya some pics.  

Tom

no i'm good, i've gone over all the pics of mcguyver jobs. my little welder can consistently do 16th rod so i'm good there, but i've got to come up with something creative to go around the electric starter on the front of the case.