Another "how do my welds look" Thread

[BGKYK5]

Thought I would protect the lower kingpin zerks a little. It is only 1/8" wall, but I had it handy (I cut it off the end of my cheater bar ). The tube is short (1/2" long and 1 1/4" OD) so hopefully it will hold up for a while - if not I'll grind it off and find some 3/16" wall.





This is my first welding in ~10 years. Before that I used a MIG welder less than half a dozen times and gas and stick just 2-3 times each so I don't really know what I'll doing. It was a [EDIT] Millermatic 130 [/EDIT] MIG welder at work. The bottle was almost empty and I'm not sure I had the regulator set right, but I did hear gas come out when I pulled the trigger. This is with the voltage maxed and the wire feed almost all the way down. I didn't get as much penetration as I wanted, but it'll work. I prolly should have put a chamfer on the end of the tube before welding, but I figured 1/8" wall shouldn't be a problem.

This is a warm up for welding on my steering box brace and "customizing" my stupid duty towers, so let me know what you think.

 

[bigblock72]

There isn't much penetration on those welds but they'll probably be ok for what they'll see. If it were me I'd grind the welds and try again, maybe preheat the pieces with a propane torch to help the little welder out a little.
I would highly recommend you get a bigger (at least 180 A) welder to do the steering brace and shock towers. A little practice before welding critical pieces is a good idea too.

 

[BGKYK5]

I did weld a couple of test pieces before these to shake the dust off. These are also practice for the more critical stuff coming up. The tube was pretty warm from the chop saw when I welded it - too hot to hold but probly not "hot" from a steel perspective. Unfortunately that is the only welder at work in an area that I can get my truck to.

Actually that isn't true, there is a big TIG welder there, but I'd rather not learn TIG on my frame.

The maintenance folks have a bigger MIG welder. Maybe if ask real nice, they'll let me move it temporarily. That welder is more beat up though.

 

[Hogback Fabrication]

For sure I've broken the zerks off of my lower kingpin caps a few times, but my idea for protection would be a bit more low profile than that.

Here's what I was thinking:

They make really low profile zerks, I've seen them used mainly in axle u-joints. They require using a needle type fitting on your grease gun, but basically they stick up only 1/8" up at most (most zerks protrude up what, maybe 1/2" or so?). You can see the low profile zerks I'm talking about in this post.

Next, I'd use 5/8" or 3/4" .120" wall tubing and I'd only cut the tubing 1/4" thick at the most.

This is all for the best strength and clearance, IMO.


Well, really, the best strength and clearance would be to run a plug flush with the kingpin cover. Then, when you need to grease the lower kingpin, temporarily replace the plug with a zerk.

 

[BGKYK5]

The zerks I have stick out about 3/8" so I cut the tube to 1/2" to provide a little breathing room. My thinking is that it wouldn't take much to break off a zerk, but that area doesn't really see a lot of contact with rocks etc. being tucked up close to the wheel. I'm not so concerned about clearance there, just want to avoid replacing zerks all the time. We'll see how it works, I can always grind it off or get new lower kingpins. Somebody - I think it was Chiefheaply (sp?) - had some custom lower kingpins that had a protected, recessed zerk. That is what got me thinking about it.

 

[BGKYK5]

The big MIG welder is a Miler CP-300. It would be pretty tough to get that and my truck in the same area. I'm not planning on welding the shock mounts to the frame so I can use to big one for the modifications to those. There is a Millermatic 135 that I may be able to get to my truck for the steering brace.

 

[ragedracer]

Since were doing this, how do mine look?

I bought (on sale) for $119 a harbor freight 100 amp wire feed gasless mig. I've welded once before, about 10 years ago, but only once. I had a chunk of scrap rebar and a piece of scrap steel (1/8") so I decided to weld the rebar to it.

The first pic is the weld, the second pic is the bottom of the 1/8". Did I get enough penetration?

 

[ragedracer]

Heres another pic after i cleaned it off with a wire wheel...

 

[BILTIT]

You need more heat and/or less wire speed, the bottom should show a very pronounced heat area. The pic shows a heat area but very little. I am no expert though.

Here is my last project. Had my miller 180 (220v) maxed out welding together a winch cradle, made out of 12'' c-channel, ~1/4'' thick at the smallest (edges) and 3/4'' in the corners. The welder had it cherry red like nothing and very deep penetration.

BTW, this was my first project with the new welder (have not welded in some time). I am happy how it turned out.