Speaking of welding...
 

After spending a long time NOT being able to winch myself out of a mud hole last weekend I decided that I needed a new alternator with enough power to actually run the winch. My Orbital battery and pukey alternator can't even handle just spooling the winch in without a load.

Well, I've always wanted the onboard welder - especially after ripping the perches off my rear axle twice. I called Premier Power welder - that guy seems to know his stuff!

Anyway, to make a short story long, I wanted to buy just the alternator for now, and the voltage regulator that goes with it. They told me that their control boxes would only work with their alternators. I don't know how that makes any sense unless they do something unique on the connectors. It was about $200 more to buy the alternator with the voltage regulator, then get the control unitl later (which comes with the voltage regulator). Anyway, I got a deal with no tax, free shipping and 25' leads at cost - not to mention the free T-shirt!

Cool.

Do they offer wire-feed on that thing?

Jim

Yep... I didn't order this. Perhaps some ideas for birthday presents.

Wire feed

We used this at goldendale, and it rocks, so I ordered one, just waiting for it to show up :D

Not having a mobile welder sucks. The only welder I have right now is a Lincoln Arc welder. It works well, but very, very heavy. I have two places that I can plug it in. In my garage, where my truck no longer fits and since my wife's van has preference to the spot that is open enough to fit in, I don't get to even try any more. The other spot is in my shed. This spot works fine - in the summer. Right now it's so wet that I don't want to even walk on it, let alone drive on it and work on it.

I look forward the most, that actually having an alternator strong enough to let the winch pull me out of a mud hole. A new battery will also help. After talking with the guys at Premier Power Welder, I learned that the gel cel batteries suck when they get fully drained as they don't recharge well after that. I might keep the Orbital battery just for running the daily operations and hook up the winch and welder to a deep cycle battery.

That is a sweet setup!!!

that thing is nice but would you have to carry a tank for the gas aroung with you?

Nope, you can use the flux filled core. I guess it's not "quite" as good as using the gas, but works very well.

Gibby,
Sorry to hijack your thread for a minute, but for anyone looking for onboard welding without the high amp alternator, I still have one of the Ready Welder units available for sale. Info can be found in this thread.
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/show...threadid=13187
I'm done with my sales pitch now, thanks for the space.

sadly to say i own a jeep, and i was winching last year and my battery got soo hot that the side terminal melted off.... im not kidding, and it is an optima yellow top, lets say i was unhappy about this one, and from now on to avoid messing up my last post on the $200 battery, i have a friend hold the rpms at a medium level while winching. be careful not to mess up an expensive battery, my advise would be to get a high output alternator

The new alternator is 155 amp and the Power welder set up comes with a hand throttle type of adaptor.

Sorry to hear you learned that one the hard way, but the optimas with the side terminals can't handle a high load on those terminals. Use the main ones on top instead.

Well the welder is in!!!! It's a great looking unit. The alternator looks like it will be a perfect bolt on fit. There are about 6 wires to hook up. Then there's just mounting the alternator and finding a spot to mount the welder unit. The darn thing looks so good I want to mount it on the hood!

I am very impressed with the quality of everything I got.

The alternator's going in quick. I have to work on the axle swaps and air system upgrades before I get to spend any time working on this...:redface:

After a few mixups, this setup is finally complete and working. I had a problem with the first alternator - it didn't fit. I was accidentally shipped the incorrect alternator. Harry quickly replaced this with the correct model. Second, I got the power and battery wires reversed and just about burnt up my wiring!

With Harry's help we quickly figured out the problem and got everything perfect. Tomorrow, I get to start with my first weld, the finishing touch on my project, which is to weld the front lower shock mounts on to the axle housing.

Well the install looks good. I got my first chance to weld with it today. I'm not a great welder to begin with. I did find that welding with 3/32 rod was a lot better than the 1/8 rod I'm used to using. I had to get the power up just a little higher than their recommended settings.
The high pitched whine sure took a little getting used to! The spark was certainly smaller, but I think with a little practice, I'll like using this welder more. The spark was easier to control and easier to see what you're welding.

Here's some pics.
http://209.20.253.189/dsc00959.jpg
My first welding job with the new welder.
http://209.20.253.189/dsc00961.jpg
This is where I positioned the hand throttle.
http://209.20.253.189/dsc00962.jpg
This is the attachment to the throttle.
http://209.20.253.189/dsc00963.jpg
The completed installation of the unit.

Here's a quick link to our first trail side repair.

http://207.202.208.243/faithwheelers/030604b.htm