welding on a truck

[fatman]

i need to weld a 2 inch long crack in the stake bed of a 2006 ford and was wondering do i need to disconect anything on the truck like the battery or airbags etc. i will be tig welding the crack
thanks

[84ZMike]

I would disconnect the battery and unplug the ECM if it's still easy to get to....some wouldn't......is the bed covered under any warranty ?.....
Mike

[fun4now]

some say disconect to be safe, others just say put the work lead as close as you can to the weld point. i have never disconected a battery and never had a problem. but i supose there could always be a first time for anything. being as its back on the bed i would just keep the work clamp(ground) as near as i could and TIG it up.
just wondering why TIG, wouldnt MIG be faster? seems like a MIG job to me unless you just want the TIG time.

[fatman]

tig is the only welder i have and no the bed is not covered under warranty as someone backed in to the rear side step
thanks for the input

[JonnyTIG]

I've seen automotive ECM's burned up pretty bad, I mean actually melted from welding current. These were most likely the welder's fault, grounding on the front bumper and welding on the rear. Never had any problems myself. Just to be safe, disconnecting the battery should be good enough, although origional manufactures say to disconnect the ECM as well. On a CAT 657G dual engine scraper, there are 6 ECMs, worth a few thousand each. I only shut off the two master switches for the engines then weld away.

[dabar39]

frame crack

fatman, I too, have seen ecm's get fried, disconnect the ecm and the battery. It could cost you a ton of money replacing the electrical system. I would also suggest drilling a hole at the ends of the crack as well. Dave

[weld_13]

i would at least disconnect the battery once forgot to got lucky and didnt fry anything but i thought i shure had.

[fun4now]

even if you decide to disconect the battery and or othere stuff , still keep the ground/work lead as close as possible.
nothing wrong with TIG i was just wondering thats all. strange to find a fella with TIG only, its usualy MIG only or stick only.

[Anti-GMAW]

Technicly he has Tig and stick. I agree with Fun, keep the grownd as close as possible to the weld. If high freq. is allowed to wonder to far it's bowned to find some sort of sensitive electronics. Some electrical components don't even need to be powered up to be destroyed by high freq.

[calweld]

Here you go, straight from Ford . . .

https://www.fleet.ford.com/truckbbas/non-html/Q123.pdf

[fun4now]

yep i know he has stick, i was commenting that most have stick only machines or MIG's as there first or only toy, but i think you already knew that. supose i had to expect some one to get me for it i probly would have done the same thing. lucky we have smilies to make shore we know we are all just having fun so no one get bent over it.
i just thought it odd thats all.

[HMW]

Here you go, straight from Ford . . .

https://www.fleet.ford.com/truckbbas/non-html/Q123.pdf

You hit the nail on the head calweld. Years ago we never unhooked anything on trucks, of course they had no ECMs {PCMS} either. On the Ford [if its diesel] it should be on the driver inner fender. Have to remove the battery cover to access, but not hard to get too. If its not diesel let me know and I can find it for you. Most now are under the hood where they used to be inside behind a kick panel

[glockdoc]

as mentioned before, with tig its the hf that seems to cause things to go haywire. was tigging on the back of a bicycle frame and the little computer mounted on the front of the bike reset and all data was lost. It is completely isolated from the metal frame, just mounted to it. figured the hf was strong and close enough to cause the problem. I would think that stick or mig would be safer.