Heavy Equipmet Repair

[GBGNO]

I am looking for a welder for mobile heavy equipment repair. Mostly going to be plating booms and repairing buckets. I will most likely always be using stick running a 1/8 7018 rod but would still like to have the option to run a wire feeder for dumpster repairs just to save some time. So far I'm looking at a 1989 miller big40g gas job with 1600 hours($3500) and a 2001 Miller 55d with supposedly 825 hours on it ($3250). What do you guys think of these power sources which would be better for me and what other set-ups would you see as ideal thanks in advance for any advice

[Portable Welder]

spend another 1,000.00 and buy a Trail Blazer that has a 3 year warrante.

If you plan on welding heavy equipment with 1/8" 7018 you wont keep your customers very long.

You need to get set up with a suitcase feeder to have the ability to run mig.

You might think that you need one of the real big welders but dont be fooled by size, The small Trail Blazer will out perform the big machines with the exception to Air arc capabilities where you should use 3/16" carbon and the Big 50 and the 55D can run a 1/4" carbon.

If you Truly work on strictly heavy equipment day after day you would then want to go with a big machine but because you mentioned dumpser repair leads me to beleive that you also do general repair.

I bought a Miller big 40 with the CV option back in 1989 and my distributor never could get it to run wire so it was nothing more than a glorified stick welder and a scratch start tig.

The price for those used machines are way to high in my opinion, They should be closer to $ 1,000.00 - $ 1,200.00

[MMW]

Everything Portable said.

[J hall]

I didn't know they still made the 55D in 2001.
The old 55d Perkins machines were a good tough machine, and excellent for wire.
I still have one that we keep for a spare.

[Tryagn5]

trailblazer or 305g

I do this for a living, and own my own company. I run a tb275, have had a 302. Plenty of welder
. Buy a wire feeder, most customers will not pay for stick welding when wire is 40 percent faster. Also other reason i run a trailblazer is weight. My f550 weights about 17k. Put an engine in it, now your at 19500. Simply cant hold a welder that big, also overkill for running power tools.
Kevin

[Portable Welder]

J. Hall, I've been told by some of my older buddies that the old 55s were the best or only wire machines back in the day.

However, I diddn't mention that because I thought it was alot of money for that old of a machine and I personally have never run one so I dont know how good they really are compared to the new machines.




Tryagn5, I'm guessing you have a crane and compressor for the weight you mentioned because thats exactly what my 550 weighs plus or minus a few hundred.

[mccahilldozing]

Add Content

[mccahilldozing]

Trailblazer 55d

I have heavy equipment and do all my own welding. I have a Trailblazer 302 and a Trailblazer 55d. The 302 is good for wire up to 1/16. When I'm welding heavy stuff i use an LN-22 wire feeder and run 5/64 NR 232 or NR 203ni wire. I like the NR 203ni because it tends to flex a little more. NR232 is easier to run in all positions but if you have never used it before I would have someone show you how to run it. My opinion is that if you are focusing on only heavy equipment the Trailblazer 55d is the way to go

[JTMcC]

A Lincoln Vantage is pretty hard hard to beat in that environment in my opinion.
There is an way overabundance of aux power for whatever reason you need. The ability to run large rods, large wires. The inductance control in wire mode makes life a lot happier for the guy holding the gun and saves a lot of cleanup time.
They're pretty tight on fuel use. Wire to stick is a quick change over. Gouging is a piece of cake.
1/8" LoHi is mandatory on some factory repair or modification procedures involving booms, but in run of the mill equipment repairs it'll just put you out of business when someone comes along making welds with a high deposition wire or big honky rods, = much less cost to the owner.
Used ones are pretty affordable. A remote gives you amperage control in stick, and inductance/pinch control in wire. All you need at the site of the weld.

If I was only welding on equipment and couldn't swing the price for a decent used Vantage I'd find a old SA (with wire feed module) or (mo better) SAE 400 and let er rip. Those old 400's run an air arc better than anything on the market today. They are absolute big bad horses and will put out over 600 amps on a load bank. Parts & service available anywhere in the civilized world.

All of that assumes day in day out hard use. If it's a part time machine you can live with a lot less. And have a lot more options in older machines.

J

[J hall]

J. Hall, I've been told by some of my older buddies that the old 55s were the best or only wire machines back in the day.

They were good, but The Sam 400 lincoln would run over them.
Like JT said they were an animal for gouging.

[Tryagn5]

you got it!

J. Hall, I've been told by some of my older buddies that the old 55s were the best or only wire machines back in the day.

However, I diddn't mention that because I thought it was alot of money for that old of a machine and I personally have never run one so I dont know how good they really are compared to the new machines.




Tryagn5, I'm guessing you have a crane and compressor for the weight you mentioned because thats exactly what my 550 weighs plus or minus a few hundred.

My truck is a 2002 f550, im currently removing the box on the 1997 and putting it on the 2002. My srv box is a maintainer box, 6000lb crane, hyd compressor, gas compressor, welder tools etc. Simply put these trucks get heavy fast. I forgot to mention that i would not make it on welding alone, i dontmknow what kind of welding he plans on doing, but i see no reason to run a welder any bigger than a tb325. I do some large repairs in the quarry and the tb275 is plenty of welder. Any larger of a welder would require a stepmup to 650/750 chassis. Since he asking about welders i doubt hencan afford that.
Kevin

[weldonwelding]

I can

[killdozerd11]

Still running my TB 302 AirPak I do a lot of 6010/7018 welding up cracks
But have my 12RC running FC most NR232.. Never have run mig in the field though i have the capability running a Q300 gun and for duel shield

Most times it's just crack repairs and i gouge it out with the plasma cutter and 6010 the root then 7018 fill/ cap depending on how thick the base metal is

Most people don't like the airpak but i have limited room working out of my pick up trucks so i paid the extra money for the compressor which outputs more air than 2 piston gas driven portables that i have ever run across

So i can run air tools of any kind and the generator is 11 kw output independent of the welder

[Portable Welder]

Weldonwelding, I have to respectfully disagree, There are times I feel that mig out shines a stick and heavy equipment is one of them.

Hey, We all have our methods, I just know that I have out ran a couple of guys that were using a stick when we were repairing a stone box.

He was running 3/16" 7018, At the end of the day I used up 2 spools a wire and his 50lb. tin still had some left.

[weldonwelding]

You can