Repairing a cracked Glock Frame

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PSE

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I have a Glock Gen 2 frame that has cracked under the pounding of the 40 S&W cartridge. The plastic lugs where the slide hits have cracked and I don't think it will last if I keep shooting this pistol. This has happened after <5000 rounds.

Since Glock Warranty Canada refuses to do anything for me except ignore me I have decided to try to effect a repair myself.
Nothing ventured - nothing gained.

My question is - Would JB weld epoxy be a good attempt to fix this? I could try to insert some 2 part epoxy into the cracks and squeeze them together and let it cure for a couple of days. I've had good luck in the past fixing other issues using JB Weld.
 
I do not know if your question can be answered? That frame has some rating for strength, resistance to impact, etc. - can find similar data about epoxies like JB Weld - but is all assuming that you get same strength adhesion of the epoxy to the parent material - not sure how that can be predicated - strength of adhesion has to be different if smooth surfaces versus rough surfaces versus under cuts - any contaminants between surface and epoxy, and so on - kind of one of those - "get one chance to try - residue of first attempt will mess up any second attempt" things??
 
Methinks it is time to pitch your combat Tupperwear in the big blue bin of recyclables.


(( Seriously, the polymer is not like any 'plastic' you can imagine. Any repair will be temporary, ugly and you're 110% liable for anything that goes wrong. ))
 
PSE said:
I have a Glock Gen 2 frame that has cracked under the pounding of the 40 S&W cartridge. The plastic lugs where the slide hits have cracked and I don't think it will last if I keep shooting this pistol. This has happened after <5000 rounds.

Since Glock Warranty Canada refuses to do anything for me except ignore me I have decided to try to effect a repair myself.
Nothing ventured - nothing gained.

My question is - Would JB weld epoxy be a good attempt to fix this? I could try to insert some 2 part epoxy into the cracks and squeeze them together and let it cure for a couple of days. I've had good luck in the past fixing other issues using JB Weld.
Click to expand...

Show some pictures! Mind you underneath those tabs is a U shaped steel, the top of the U is bent to basically be the front slide rail tabs. It shouldn’t get worse as those U tabs are quite substantial under the plastic.
 
Phone Glock direct
I did about a different issue
They could help you
Many years ago I had an issue with a firearms
distributor that I was dealing with about a firearm
The Factory was willing to do the rebuild and the
Distributor don't want to deal with it
The Factory told them to accept the firearm and
ship it to them
Three months later I got it back and they built
a new receiver and added a few new parts to
fix the problem
 
I second the motion for pictures.

Why did it crack? There is no point fixing it with an equal strength material if you haven't addressed the reason for cracking.
Is the crack dangerous? Do you need to repair it all?

Glock frames are glass-filled nylon, nothing particularly exotic about it. Glass-filled epoxy should be able to offer similar strength.
 
Jb weld is pretty basic stuff and I wouldn't trust it for a repair like this.
I would get the two part epoxy called Metal Weld.
I have a certain degree of knowledge when it comes to composites and that is what I would recommend.

lets see some pics of this damage if you can
 
45ACPKING said:
Jb weld is pretty basic stuff and I wouldn't trust it for a repair like this.
I would get the two part epoxy called Metal Weld.
I have a certain degree of knowledge when it comes to composites and that is what I would recommend.

lets see some pics of this damage if you can
Click to expand...

JB Weld is a brand name, encompassing many, many types of product, some of which are epoxies, but also include thread locking compounds, CA adhesives, and who knows what else. JB Weld 'steel-filled' epoxy in particular can be a remarkably strong adhesive and filler material, which shares some durability and machinability properties to 'pot metal' or maybe magnesium.

I'd not waste my time trying to glue a Glock frame with such an adhesive. Even with the best cleaning with appropriate solvent, the bond to the broken surfaces will be less strong than the original cross-linked glass fibre matrix in the polymer of the frame itself. Even if one mixed in some glass fibres with the steel-filled JB Weld, these fibres would not bridge into the material, only making contact with the surfaces, so inherently weaker.

Bridging over the crack might provide sufficient strength, with a fibre-filled epoxy blend. But I'm guessing there's no room to do that without interfering with fit of other parts over the frame? If you were feeling adventurous, carving away a substantial portion of the frame on either side of the crack - say 1/2" on either side - and roughing up the surfaces with a riffler or rasp might make for a good mechanical bond over a larger area than the crack itself. Mixing some glass fibres in with good epoxy and massaging it into the crack itself and the roughened recess, then carving it flush once cured for a week (JB Weld reaches full strength after 1 week) might be sufficiently strong. If I had a cracked Glock that's probably what I'd do. But I'll never have a Glock because they're plastic guns and such things don't interest me, as they're silly.
 
PSE said:
I have a Glock Gen 2 frame that has cracked under the pounding of the 40 S&W cartridge. The plastic lugs where the slide hits have cracked and I don't think it will last if I keep shooting this pistol. This has happened after <5000 rounds.

Since Glock Warranty Canada refuses to do anything for me except ignore me I have decided to try to effect a repair myself.
Nothing ventured - nothing gained.

My question is - Would JB weld epoxy be a good attempt to fix this? I could try to insert some 2 part epoxy into the cracks and squeeze them together and let it cure for a couple of days. I've had good luck in the past fixing other issues using JB Weld.
Click to expand...

I'm surprised they are ignoring you? generally in my experience Glock wants the frame back to see if there is any "obvious" manufacturing defects? While I understand your frustration of being ignored, I would go the route of directly contacting Glock? depending on where the pistol was made etc. If not, I may??? be able to help out, with getting some answers or what you should do?
Good Luck.
 
From what i understand, they've changed their recommendation to change recoil springs at 3500 rounds down from 5000.

I'd keep contacting Glock Canada. They (Jim) has taken good care of several people i know in re warranty claims, although they/he are not always good at getting back to people
 
mildot said:
I'm surprised they are ignoring you? generally in my experience Glock wants the frame back to see if there is any "obvious" manufacturing defects? While I understand your frustration of being ignored, I would go the route of directly contacting Glock? depending on where the pistol was made etc. If not, I may??? be able to help out, with getting some answers or what you should do?
Good Luck.
Click to expand...

PM sent
 
*MALICE* said:
From what i understand, they've changed their recommendation to change recoil springs at 3500 rounds down from 5000.

I'd keep contacting Glock Canada. They (Jim) has taken good care of several people i know in re warranty claims, although they/he are not always good at getting back to people
Click to expand...

That is the problem all right - being put on ignore.
 
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Are these areas already rather sloppily glued with something grey? Or is that grease? Or am I misreading the images, and these are not the areas of interest in terms of damage? If the one on the left is glue partially filling a gap... well, that would be some of the worst assembly quality control I've ever witnessed in a firearm. Hoping to be schooled on this one, as if people are shooting these things when they're built to such low quality standards, I'm amazed more aren't flying apart in shooters' hands.

Glock_glued.jpeg


Kind of looks like a U-shaped plastic part has been sloppily pressed and glued into place on top of a steel U-shaped piece with the ends of that being part of the guide rail. If that's correct, then perhaps prying out the poorly glued plastic piece and properly filling it with JB Weld steel-filled epoxy, pressing it back together to spec, and wiping away any excess before it hardens would offer at least some improvement. Or failing that (ie; if the plastic would break on trying to pry it out), then perhaps smearing in a bunch more epoxy wherever it can be pushed in might help, though existing lubricants and other contamination would make bonding virtually impossible.
 
GerardSamija said:
Kind of looks like a U-shaped plastic part has been sloppily pressed and glued into place on top of a steel U-shaped piece with the ends of that being part of the guide rail.
Click to expand...

Glocks are made by injection moulding the polymer around shaped steel inserts, pretty sure the moulding is all done in one shot. So what we are seeing is that the impact of the slide has broken a U-shaped piece out of the plastic frame, there never was any glue.

So the first thing to understand is, why is this happening? Is the slide coming back further than it is supposed to? Is the impacted area further forward than it should be? Or is it supposed to be an impact point, but the slide is hitting it harder than it should be?
 
Keep in mind the OP has a Gen 2 .40. They added a pin to address this very issue. Nothing can be done to effectively repair the gun.
 
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Judging by the photos it could be the strength of recoil spring has weakened over time, causing heavier impact from slide ring to the U shaped area, and/or causing the dust cover section to flex more than it should, which eventually weakened the strength of the polymer frame in that U shaped area.
 
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