Welding Axle Tubes to Housing

[JnJSpdShop]

Looking to fully weld axles tubes to a cast center section to strengthen a rearend for a drag car. I spoke with someone and they asked if it was cast iron or cast steel. I have no idea what it is. Give me some idea what I can weld it with for strength, because the rear from the factory only has 2 plug welds. The machines I own are in my sig, I also have oxy/acet torches

[Paul Seaman]

JnJ:
First determine which it is cast steel or iron. Grinder test- Short deep red sparks= cast iron. Long orange-red sparks-cast steel. Cast steel sparks look much like mild steel sparks so just make a comparison its easy to see.

After the test.
Cast Iron=Ni55 or Ni99stick my first choice and burn it from the dynasty with a 55-60 dig.

Cast Steel=E7018 or E70 tig whichever your more comfortable with.

Hope this helps.

[JnJSpdShop]

JnJ:
First determine which it is cast steel or iron. Grinder test- Short deep red sparks= cast iron. Long orange-red sparks-cast steel. Cast steel sparks look much like mild steel sparks so just make a comparison its easy to see.

After the test.
Cast Iron=Ni55 or Ni99stick my first choice and burn it from the dynasty with a 55-60 dig.

Cast Steel=E7018 or E70 tig whichever your more comfortable with.

Hope this helps.

If it is cast steel will e70s6 wire out of my MM135 MIG work?? Cause I am bad at stick welding and TIG will take a good amount of time

[Portable Welder]

Your 110V Mig is not big enouph.
I recomend warming the cast a little before welding

[JnJSpdShop]

Your 110V Mig is not big enouph.
I recomend warming the cast a little before welding

Are you talking about warming the casting and using the MIG or warming the casting with the TIG or stick welding?

[imported_Blackplague]

What type of axle is it?

example: gm 12 bolt, 10 bolt, etc. What your going to want to use is 309 stainless filler rod with your dynasty. With your torch set up, {o/a} you'll want to heat up the tube to center section to get rid of the axle oil and garbage that has leetched thru, but quite hasn't leaked out. Then Tig away. I have also see them stick welded with 309 stainless rod, but i tig them.

[Paul Seaman]

Stainless will tend to be too hard and will be much more prone to cracking. The base metal will be mild steel so anything harder than e70's will be counter productive, you might as well weld it with glass, cause it will shatter when it comes under hard loading. Point to sprint car chassis in CrMo is normally welded in E80S-2or3 because anything harder is harder than the base and wont allow elongation only cracking.

[df5152]

if that is a factory rear make sure u make a jig to mount the rear in before u start welding those tubes tend to get more bends in them then cooked spaghetti when u weld them

[Portable Welder]

A little pre heat using a torch, then mig or arc weld it using 7018 or er70-S6

[Teeps]

I use a propane wond, Harbor freight sells the large torch nozzle, handle/hose setup to connect to a standard propane (bbq grill) bottle. Most people use them to burn the weeds in the expansion joints of their sidewalks/driveways.

I found mine works great on pre-heating metal, propane burns nice and hot, especially here in the MI winters (or springs... its snowing right now) when my base metal is really cold out in the garage.

If I'm using my little 120volt mig unit like yours, a good amount of preheat gives way better penetration.

(especially when the metal is 300 degree's compared to 25 degree's ambient!!!)

Ambient temps can make for really crappy and cold bead starts.

I find that working on any cast metal, or akward combo of metals, I'm wishing that I could add heat independent of the filler material.

This is where I wish I had a nice tig setup.

Saving for a Dynasty 200dx, (after a pickup truck lol), although the dyn300 would be more up to the task on some of my projects like this, (cyl head repair etc). I think you can get away with quite a bit with some hotter gas and the dyn200dx maxed out.

Good Luck!

[Pakman]

Why not just clean it, derust it, take it apart and pay a chassis shop to do it right, by using an axle jig and tig welding it? Heating up a straight tube will make it bend. Even a simple spot weld could move it, thats why its so important to have a jig.

[TOMWELDS]

Use a jig and i would weld a little at a time to avoid excessive heat and warping. Keep checking as you go along.

[migmaniac]

Use A rod called Misselite( if you stick weld it) or something like that. It is designed for what you want to do, We use them when we weld up the diffs on our demo cars, Not one has broke yet.

[JnJSpdShop]

Why not just clean it, derust it, take it apart and pay a chassis shop to do it right, by using an axle jig and tig welding it? Heating up a straight tube will make it bend. Even a simple spot weld could move it, thats why its so important to have a jig.

Hey brain child, why would I pay a chassis shop when I have all the tools to do it????? Thanks for all your help

[Pakman]

Hey brain child, why would I pay a chassis shop when I have all the tools to do it????? Thanks for all your help

Look, you asked a question and I told you my best answer. So you have a welder or two, big deal, it doesn't make you a chassis builder. Since you have all the answers, good luck with your project.
As for the brain child comment at least I can tell someone what the difference between cast iron and cast steel is and what filler rod to use.