Mig Welding on Axle

[greasyjeep]

I have the Lincon MIGPak 100 welder and was looking to upgrade the axle on my TJ (35 to 44). I was looking for advice on the best approach to make good welds that will last with this setup.

Thanks
Josh

[River Beast]

preheat the cast prior to welding and run it at D2 for good penetration and mulitple passes...

I have done it and holds up great

I have the WeldPak 100 as well...

[porkchop]

I have also did it and I have no problems. How much did your welder cost you guys?

[greasyjeep]

I bought mine about 4-5 years ago and many use it for making quick little projects. I think it ran me $400 with the gas kit at the time? It included gloves and a flip helmet;) Worked for everything I have ever needed to do. Even fixed a cracked frame from torque damage on a 72 olds convertible.

Just to clarify on the preheating, Propane tourch enough for this, I don't have a cut-off tourch?

Thanks for the help, I keep having this vision of gettin my rear hung up on something and ripping it right off. That would be a tough trail repair.

[River Beast]

Bryant,

I got mine from Home Depot for $328...

Greasy,

It's not ideal to use a propane torch,but if it's all you got... go for it... remember that preheating cast with the guts in it 'can' alter the settings of the diff.. mine was gutted when I did the preheat...

It's best to have the cast cherry red when you start welding and then slow cooled, but do what you can.... I have done cold welding on cast and seems to hold fine..... just passing on what learned from the pro welders

[scotty]

what will ypu be upgrading? the tubes are steel,if youre just concerned about welding on perches.

if youre gonna make a truss,or something that reqires welding to the center section,i also have cold welded to the cast,and it hasnt cracked yet,but the truss is alos welded to the steel tubes...

ill prolly be purchasing a new welder sooner than later :( , what does the migpak 100 put out,ampwise? RB, what stuff did you get for $328?

right now i have a bluepoint,and the torch leaks,the wire speed motor is inconsistent,plus it belongs to a friend whose prolly going to want it back :eek:

[River Beast]

Scotty,

The WeldPak 100 came with a 2lb spool of flux core, cheap mask, the books, grounding cable, welding cable and a plug! :D

At the same time I bought it, I bought the gas conversion kit ($100) the stand ($125) and a bottle of Argon/CO2 ($? ) from the welding supply house....

I now buy the wire in 10 lb spools.... much cheaper and lasts a good while....

I have found that ANYTHING but Lincoln wire SUX!!!! I have tried a few cheap off brands of wire and they splatter like CRAZY!!!! I have no problems with Lincoln wire.

I use flux core for my heavy stuff and the Gas and light wire of thin applications...

not sure what the amperage is..hav to check later....

[porkchop]

Is this the one you have guys?

http://www.weldingmart.com/Qstore/custom/SP135T.gif

[Frank in Norway]

I'm also very happy with my Lincoln Welder. I have a SP 175 25-175 Ampere.
I also have access to a Lincoln DC 400 multi-process welder if I need something bigger.

[greasyjeep]

PC
If that isn't it, it looks just like it.

I agree with RB on the lincoln wire. Makes for a much cleaner job.

[River Beast]

yeah... that's the one... cept mine didn't come with the gas valve... that was in the kit I bought separate

[Tad]

Originally posted by porkchop:
Is this the one you have guysBryant, we use 4 of those at school, 2 set up as flux core, 1 set up as mig with CO2, and 1 set up with Argon and Stainless wire. They are fine machines but have some plastic parts inside that are delicate.

[Damage, Inc.]

I tried the flux core stuff for about 5 seconds...the splatter was enormous.
Now, reading the above, I'm curious...is it good/reasonable for use on cast? Thoughts?

[River Beast]

Yeah... you must use the flux core on the cast for the amount of good penetration needed. the splatter will be more than normal due to the high carbon content cast is known for...

this is speaking for smaller MIGS and not the big 220's I don't have knowledge on them big boys

[Tad]

Damage,
You can also reverse the polarity inside the machine, doesn't always help but has worked for us on occasion.

[River Beast]

TAD,

To do the GAS/CO2 it tells you in the book to reverse the + and - ....Damage... did you do this?

[Damage, Inc.]

Yeah, for the flux-core stuff I did--I just haven't tried it on cast yet and was curious about the results. Thanks for the info.

[CowKiller]

we got a 125 holbert. works great. came with everything cept gas. 500 bucks. still 110 too.

[Tad]

Originally posted by River Beast:
TAD, To do the GAS/CO2 it tells you in the book to reverse the + and -Ah, the book, well, flux core is a lot like SMAW/Arc/stick welding, we reverse polarity for many reasons, arc blow, spatter, EMF, penetration, etc...
Not being contrary or condesending Todd, it's a book, real life changes many things.

[scotty]

funny what you guys are sayin about the wire.

i putin my first spool of lincoln wire just the other day,cause home depot is way closer than the sears hardware where i normally buy it,and it was bout 5:00 on sunday.

i have not noticed any difference whatsoever in the amt of splatter.hmmm...

i looked at lowes and home depot today. lowes has the SP 135 for $397. home depot has a "3200HD"(i think it was redface.gif ) also a lincoln,both max output 135 amps,supposedly will do 5/16" on a single pass. they want $427. both come with gas valve,hose,etc. anyone have a clue what the difference is? :confused:

not too long ago i played with an arc welder for quite awhile. i got to where i could make a decent looking weld,but they were not strong. most of the time i could break the pieces back apart. i also dont have the patience to chip off all the slag when im done. and then sometimes the rod will stick to the metal :eek: wire feed welding is soooo much easier smile.gif

[ March 20, 2003, 09:45 PM: Message edited by: scotty ]

[Go3Team]

Since we are on the topic of welders, Ive been looking at a non-gas mig welder. I think the amp high amp rating was around 95 or so. I can't do 220/240 volt arc welding, due to where I live. I want to know what would be best for frame welding, or axle welding as mentioned above. What does the gas do anyway?

[TexasJ10]

If one of you Lincoln Welder guys need a Shielding gas kit I have one that I bought 5 years ago and never used. It is part number K-1606-1. It is a regulator and 10 feet of hose. Not sure whcih Lincoln it goes to, but you can have it for $40 plus shipping. I went with a Miller 185, and I love it, though I'm not very good at welding yet.

[ChrisB]

For the money, you can't go wrong with the Hobart 175. I got mine with the stand, and gas kit from cyberweld.com. They have great prices and free shipping. It is a 220v unit, and will weld almost anything you could need it to. If you want to spend a little more go for the Miller 175. Same exact machine, except the Miller has infinite voltage control, while the Hobart has four settings for heat.

[ChrisB]

When you use gas instead of flux core, you use a solid wire. The gas shields the weld puddle from contamination, while with flux core, the flux does the shielding. The flux core splatters a lot more, while using gas/solid wire will be much cleaner looking.

If you coat your work in the anti-splatter spray while using flux core the splatter will not be near as bad. Also, for outdoor use I prefer flux core. Any drafts or wind will blow the gas away allowing your puddle to become contaminated. So you can only use gas when there are no drafts. This does not matter with the flux core.