8.8 axle tube welds

[terrystasko]

Just wondering if a few of you could give some advice?

I am welding the axle tubes to the pumpkin, and are unsure which technique would be better.

First two pics are of a single pass. It looks pretty, but does not attach alot of metal, (small surface area).

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n257/terrystasko/IMG_0046.jpg

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n257/terrystasko/IMG_0044.jpg

These pics are a double pass. Much uglier, but it connects a large surface area.

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n257/terrystasko/IMG_0043.jpg

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n257/terrystasko/IMG_0041.jpg

I am not a professional welder, so I'm interested in your opinions about which technique I should use.

 

[dan302492]

Ive heard people-pre heat the area before they weld it and some do not and both say that it is good. What type of welder are your doing this with? By the first picture you gave the bead pattern is ok'is but you should slow down your arc pattern and stretch it out to the lip of the housing. I actually just bought a 1997 ford 8.8 disk brake rear end to swap into my jeep im just waiting on the install kit to come in the mail.

 

[stewie]

Just wondering if a few of you could give some advice?

I am welding the axle tubes to the pumpkin, and are unsure which technique would be better.

First two pics are of a single pass. It looks pretty, but does not attach alot of metal, (small surface area).

These pics are a double pass. Much uglier, but it connects a large surface area.

I am not a professional welder, so I'm interested in your opinions about which technique I should use.

what are you using- stick or mig? be sure to clean the area to be welded off with a wire wheel so that the base metal is the same color and as shiney as the weld in the pictures. this will help keep contaminants out of the weld. are you welding with the axle still on the heep, or do you have it on jackstands. if its still under the heep are you welding uphill or downhill? you may want to try to have the area you are welding as flat (i know its hard on a round tube, but you rotate your weld piece so that you are welding on the top most part of the tube). most people find it far easier to weld flat vs vertical, horizonatal, overhead or on pipe. your travel speed looks a little inconsistant (not bad, i have seen much worse).

on this, the single pass should be sufficient to keep the tubes from spinning. i have welded on two 8.8s with a single pass and they havent had any problems so far. if you go for the two pass cap, as you have found out, the cast STEEL- not cast iron- can start to act a little differently than plate steel. it can want to run, drip, and sag more than if you were welding on plate. since its at the edge of the piece, its just that much worse. if your using stick on this then a faster freezing rod like 6010 5P, or 7018 can help. some on here will tell you that you have to use nickle rod to weld on the diff, and they are full of $hit. the diff being cast steel (ie different than cast IRON) can use the same welding processes as all the other steels. if it was in fact cast iron, then yes you would need to weld with nickle rod. but its not, so your good to go.

 

[terrystasko]

More info.
It's a MIG, (but using it with a flux core), and no pre heat.
I was going to pre heat, but it seemed to penetrate :flameretty easy.
Thanks for the info so far.

 

[Vanquish]

The metal would show discoloration if it were pentrating properly. Welding it without gas won't be that great either with it being cast, it's full of small pockets of air.

 

[stewie]

The metal would show discoloration if it were pentrating properly. Welding it without gas won't be that great either with it being cast, it's full of small pockets of air.

usually there would be the gloss or discoloration from the heat of welding. but he is using flux core and then wire wheeling it off. that removes the color change. since it is mig, its that much more important to remove contaminates from the weld area. get as much of the paint, powder coat and rust off of there as you can. you dont want that stuff in your weld and you really dont want to breath that in

 

[Vanquish]

Just drill a hole right through a run a bolt. They'll never spin apart.

 

[terrystasko]

Just drill a hole right through a run a bolt. They'll never spin apart.

Are you kidding, or serious?
I've heard of welding the plug holes, but I've never heard of bolting it.

 

[jeeperjohn]

Just drill a hole right through a run a bolt. They'll never spin apart.

Actually I think drilling it for a close tolerance pin (2 per tube) is a good idea. Use a high sheer strength material and it should work quite well.