So I've been welding for about 8 years at my work. Most of my experience has been on benches fabricating small frames or replacement pieces for our conveyors. I can MIG and stick weld fairly well.

I'd like to do some fabricating at home for my truck(Chevy's/RuF, Cross over steering, other little tidbits) Ideally I could talk my friend into letting me borrow his millermatic 175(hope that's sufficient)

Mainly my questions are:

What safety procedures do you guys use when welding around the fuel tank or fuel lines? Is it best to just remove the fuel tank?

Any special prep considerations aside from the obvious cleaning of the surface and ground location?

Any tips for welding in crappy locations? I know its one thing to be a welding champ on the shop bench, but welding on your back underneath a truck obviously is much more difficult.

Any opinions would be appreciated. Thanks

 

I only know bits on welding, but when my buddy fabbed up a custom drop for my pan-hard bar, we used jwelds with a tig welder and little at a time. I've seen my exhast guy weld round those parts, but I guess it depends--- sounds pretty sketch.

 

I just did rears up front and chevies in the back on my 4Runner.

Now im no expert welder but ill give you my experience.

I did remove the gas tank and wrapped the fuel pump real good with an inner tube I had lying around. Ive heard you can weld the spring mounts without removing the tank but I didnt want to risk it.

Also when welding on the axle make sure your ground is on the axle not the frame.
I made that mistake and melted my brand new brake lines.

Also be sure to disconnect your battery.

Hope this helps.

 

Hey guys,

Let me tack on a frame welding question here in this post. I have two finger-sized soft spots on the inside of my frame. It's probably doable to have somebody remove the rusty soft spots and weld in some new plates. DOn't you think?

I geuss I could go to a body shop to see if that's doable. Anybody have words of wisdom or opinion?

 

Welding around the gas tank is not that bad - just don't weld TO the tank. Make sure the tank is full - vapors are what's dangerous, not the liquid fuel. Have good ventilation of course.

When welding on the vertical surface, go from the bottom UP so you're always welding on clean metal.

Trailbanger - yes, frame rot is repaired exactly as you describe.

 

Sorry to hijack, but what is a good welder under 500 bucks, that you guys would reccomend for auto fab? 110,220,mig,smaw? What do you guys use? Thanks

 

For welding around the tank, either shield it with something flame proof (alum foil, sheet metal, or welding blanket) or pull it, not that hard to do.

For overhead welding, might try a little practice beforehand. It is tricker to do for sure, probably the hardest of all the positions. And with all the slag falling on you, a full helmet and leathers is a good idea. Ground clamp near where you are welding and it should be good to go. MM175 will work fine. I usually run mine on either the 1/8" (4/70) or 3/16" (5/75) settings for welding on the frame.

 

My only advice is to disconnect the battery and to get an auto tinting mask.

 

Another factor Im sure your aware of by now is warpage. If you want to weld say a gusset that runs down half the length of your axle you would want to start by tacking up all the corners and a few in the middle, then run a bead on one side(not too long). Then go to the other side and run a small bead. kinda like
1----6---4
3----5---2 (make sure to allow come cooling between every couple beads)

Being in the 500 dollar range I would get a nice used AC/DC stick welder. A good mig is going to cost a bit more then 500 bucks.