CK5
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Who has welded their axle tubes?

Welded tubes?

  • Yes

    Votes: 33 37.9%
  • No

    Votes: 25 28.7%
  • I weld naked and it burns

    Votes: 29 33.3%

  • Total voters
    87
We burnt the paint off the tubes and center section to be welded, then preheated the center section to ~600* right at the gap between the two pieces. Then I welded with .030 wire and highest heat, and about 7 on the wire feed (1-10). The first pass went into the groove of the tube and center section.

Ironmaiden037.jpg


The second pass I tried to tie the center section to the first pass....had the wire feed up to 8, and it was too much feed I think, so we went back to 7.

Ironmaiden038.jpg


The last pass was to tie in the first pass with the tube more. Wire feed left at 7.

The other side I went first pass in the gap, 2nd pass on the tube, and 3rd pass on the center section. The results were a little better.

Ironmaiden040.jpg



So we did one side at a time, until the temp was back down to 100*, and the tube and the center section were never more than 20* different.
We checked the temps frequently with an IR gun.

Ironmaiden041.jpg


The cleaned up finished results:

Ironmaiden.jpg
 
well, I wasnt going to until I caught the CK5 fever.

in reality I had the perfect timing to do it, and I've seen one bent 14bff tube on an old plow truck I had, and after hearing what big torque and good traction can do, I decided that not only would welding the tubes be wise, but to also install an anti-wrap setup.
 
WOW, so are you guys regularly breaking your 14 bolts? super beefy axles!

not so much breaking the 14ff, just a long history of breaking housings in general. This is axle #5 under the rear of the blazer and 2 or 3 of the old ones were due to housing failures. The last 12 bolt had a M.O.O. truss on top/front and a Conn-ferr on the bottom and I still managed to split the center section open like a clam shell on both sides where the tubes enter the casting. I decided that the next axle would be strong enough that the frame would fail first... unfortunately it appears to be working as such:whistle:
 
not so much breaking the 14ff, just a long history of breaking housings in general. This is axle #5 under the rear of the blazer and 2 or 3 of the old ones were due to housing failures. The last 12 bolt had a M.O.O. truss on top/front and a Conn-ferr on the bottom and I still managed to split the center section open like a clam shell on both sides where the tubes enter the casting. I decided that the next axle would be strong enough that the frame would fail first... unfortunately it appears to be working as such:whistle:

So are you jumping a lot, or have a lot of HP? or both....
 
mostly from putting my triple bypasses to use :D

I definately ain't killin 'em with HP, every one of those had a stock tbi350 pushing them. My new engine is in the 370-400hp range, so still no powerhouse by most people's standards.
 
I wire wheeled it to nice shinny metal. An then hit it with brake clean. While welding, it looked like grease or oil was coming out of the press fit. So on the 14 bolt I will really clean it good, and pre heat it to burn as much of the trapped oil/grease out as I can.

I know this is old, but for future reference, I want to comment that a wire wheel isn't really up to the task of cleaning steel for welding. You want to GRIND it to new metal. Then use the wire wheel to clean between passes or after welding is done.
 
I just did this with the axle in the truck. If I ever do one again, I will pull the rear end out first.
 
I just did this with the axle in the truck. If I ever do one again, I will pull the rear end out first.

Mine wasn't too bad in the truck. I guess it was on my lift though.:D Would be a PITA if it was on the floor.
 

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