Practical Truck for the Over Prepared Woman

[Kindafearless]

Had some fun with the track bar bracket This one is clearly my fault for not welding at a high enough temperature.

Start of the story:

- Before the trip I had saw some metal stress in the bracket. I cleaned and re-welded the bracket. My welds looked clean and I didn't see any signs of contamination.
- During the Rubicon I periodically checked to make sure everything is ok. Welds looked good for the whole trip.
- After the Rubicon, we had about 3 hours of road driving to get to hotels and back to the trailer.

The roads around Tahoe are pretty bad, and part way through I started feeling a little wobbling... which quickly turned into death wobble. The first occurrence was BAD, clearly something had come loose.

I stopped and check, and sure enough, while my welds looked like they were still holding, I hadn't gotten deep enough. So where I touched the other mild steel components, the weld was still solid, but it was bending. Where I was fusing to the axle housing itself though, my welds were coming loose.

Drove slow and careful, and got back to the trailer.

At our next destination (Silverton), I found a local blacksmith who had a welding truck. Literally nicest guy in the world. He let me use his truck and set me up with all the equipment I needed to clean and prep everything.

This time, I nearly doubled the amperage and got a really solid weld. It held the remainder of the trip.

Some tech details:

The original welds were TIG welds done at around 140-150 amps. Which was probably the right temperature for just the metal on the track bar mount. I picked that temp since I could see solid welds being formed between the different mild steel parts.

New welds were with stick between 200-230 amps. They aren't pretty, but they definitely penetrated and are holding solid.

As part of my post trip maintenance I intend to take the axle off, take it apart, and re-weld with a new bracket.

Good learning experience and I bought some really beautiful metal art from the Blacksmith whole helped me out It was also fun to use a big fancy welder, I haven't used a machine with that high of a top end amperage before.

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[WILDHOBO]

Had some fun with the track bar bracket This one is clearly my fault for not welding at a high enough temperature.

Start of the story:

- Before the trip I had saw some metal stress in the bracket. I cleaned and re-welded the bracket. My welds looked clean and I didn't see any signs of contamination.
- During the Rubicon I periodically checked to make sure everything is ok. Welds looked good for the whole trip.
- After the Rubicon, we had about 3 hours of road driving to get to hotels and back to the trailer.

The roads around Tahoe are pretty bad, and part way through I started feeling a little wobbling... which quickly turned into death wobble. The first occurrence was BAD, clearly something had come loose.

I stopped and check, and sure enough, while my welds looked like they were still holding, I hadn't gotten deep enough. So where I touched the other mild steel components, the weld was still solid, but it was bending. Where I was fusing to the axle housing itself though, my welds were coming loose.

Drove slow and careful, and got back to the trailer.

At our next destination (Silverton), I found a local blacksmith who had a welding truck. Literally nicest guy in the world. He let me use his truck and set me up with all the equipment I needed to clean and prep everything.

This time, I nearly doubled the amperage and got a really solid weld. It held the remainder of the trip.

Some tech details:

The original welds were TIG welds done at around 140-150 amps. Which was probably the right temperature for just the metal on the track bar mount. I picked that temp since I could see solid welds being formed between the different mild steel parts.

New welds were with stick between 200-230 amps. They aren't pretty, but they definitely penetrated and are holding solid.

As part of my post trip maintenance I intend to take the axle off, take it apart, and re-weld with a new bracket.

Good learning experience and I bought some really beautiful metal art from the Blacksmith whole helped me out It was also fun to use a big fancy welder, I haven't used a machine with that high of a top end amperage before.

I need way more practice with it, but my only welder is a high amp miller arc welder. It gets into those amperage ranges, well above 200. Not pretty with me doing the work, but it penetrates big material, easily thicker than 1/2 or 5/8.

 

[WILDHOBO]

Any pictures of the blacksmith art?

 

[Kindafearless]

Any pictures of the blacksmith art?

Here are a couple of the pieces. I also have one at my office with really delicate little flowers. The picture doesn’t do it justice, but pine cone is has some super impressive detail.

 

[WILDHOBO]

Here are a couple of the pieces. I also have one at my office with really delicate little flowers. The picture doesn’t do it justice, but pine cone is has some super impressive detail.

Love it. Thanks.

 

[Kindafearless]

My trailer fenders fell off. The folded aluminum fender "connectors" started to tear, and progressively tore all the way off due to the bouncing I assume. Time for an upgrade. It always annoyed me having to unscrew and remove them, so I'm trying something I saw randomly on YouTube a while back.

Fabricated some new mounts out of spare aluminum and welded an aluminum hinge to it and the fender. I have a locking spring loaded pin on the way to secure the fenders in the closed position.

 

[Kindafearless]

Finally got to my new tail lights!

I used the gen right matrix leds and their steel weld through mounts. I made some sheet metal replacements to fill in where the stock lights go, and tig welded the whole thing together with silicon bronze so I could keep the heat low.

Fingers crossed I can pass VA inspection again now

 

[NC_Overland]

That’s cool that you can weld. My girlfriend can TIG aluminum like a boss. It’s an oddly attractive trait in a woman. lol.

 

[Free2roam]

Had some fun with the track bar bracket This one is clearly my fault for not welding at a high enough temperature.

Start of the story:

- Before the trip I had saw some metal stress in the bracket. I cleaned and re-welded the bracket. My welds looked clean and I didn't see any signs of contamination.
- During the Rubicon I periodically checked to make sure everything is ok. Welds looked good for the whole trip.
- After the Rubicon, we had about 3 hours of road driving to get to hotels and back to the trailer.

The roads around Tahoe are pretty bad, and part way through I started feeling a little wobbling... which quickly turned into death wobble. The first occurrence was BAD, clearly something had come loose.

I stopped and check, and sure enough, while my welds looked like they were still holding, I hadn't gotten deep enough. So where I touched the other mild steel components, the weld was still solid, but it was bending. Where I was fusing to the axle housing itself though, my welds were coming loose.

Drove slow and careful, and got back to the trailer.

At our next destination (Silverton), I found a local blacksmith who had a welding truck. Literally nicest guy in the world. He let me use his truck and set me up with all the equipment I needed to clean and prep everything.

This time, I nearly doubled the amperage and got a really solid weld. It held the remainder of the trip.

Some tech details:

The original welds were TIG welds done at around 140-150 amps. Which was probably the right temperature for just the metal on the track bar mount. I picked that temp since I could see solid welds being formed between the different mild steel parts.

New welds were with stick between 200-230 amps. They aren't pretty, but they definitely penetrated and are holding solid.

As part of my post trip maintenance I intend to take the axle off, take it apart, and re-weld with a new bracket.

Good learning experience and I bought some really beautiful metal art from the Blacksmith whole helped me out It was also fun to use a big fancy welder, I haven't used a machine with that high of a top end amperage before.

Well clearly you didn't know I am in Reno. And in my possession is a 220 volt welder. Not portable unless there is a generator nearby (or an outlet). Ehhmmm the roads aren't that bad . My background is fabrication and such. I would have gladly welded your stuff up free of charge. There's always a next time.

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