Welding axle tubes

[BadAssEddie]

Has anyone welded their axle tubes to their pumpkins? I want to do it but I Know that welding rolled steel and cast steel or iron requires special procedure and protocol. I know trying to weld cast iron creates hair line cracks in the material and rolled steel and cast steel isnt always a good penetrating weld. i want the extra strength but dont want to compromise my axles integrity by thinking i did something to make it stronger. Can someone with more welding knowledge and skill advise me on this?? Im going to do some reading, but would like direct advise too. Thanks.

[willhf1011]

what axle is this on? fwiw i did not weld my 60s tubes and nevr had any problems. i dont think its necessary really unless you have an axle prone to spinning (i.e. 8.8) or in high wheel speed/big tire applications.

that said, i did just weld my 14 bolts tubes. i just turned my mig way up and welded like an inch at a time alyyernating sides and top to bottom to try and keep it from warping. ideal? no but tons of people do it like that with no problem. i also welded my truss to the center section. i think the best way to weld mild steel to cast is using alot of heat. if you preheat both pieces til they are glowing red, weld them up, and then postheat/control the cooling rate you will be ok. the real problems for people occur when they weld without and pre or post heat. the two diffrent metals
heat/cool at different rates and therefore expand and contract very differently causing issues with the fresh weld. i have one short bead i laid without and preheat and it cracked very clearly.

also if youre using a stick welder you can buy some high nickel rod that is said to be much more agreable to cast, i cannot however comment on the science behind that one. search pirate a bit, its a big debate on there

[zach119]

When i welded the tubes on my 8.8 i just used a nickel rod in my arc welder. Seemed to work well and there are no signs of it cracking. I also just did i believe 4 total welds on each side of the center section instead of a bead that goes all the way around. I also didn't do any preheating or special cooling but my 8.8 probably wasn't really used hard enough to spin the tubes either.

[Arya Ebrahimi]

I think the biggest cause of spun tubes is traction bars and link suspensions where there is no give in moments of interupted traction. Whereas a leaf spring will hop and relieve some of the stress the tubes are seeing.

That's my theory anyway.

Also, I'm pretty sure different center sections are made of different materials. Some are cast steel, some are iron, etc. There has been an inordinate amount of discussion on this matter on Pirate, so you might search there and read up on it if we haven't provided an acceptable answer here.

[BadAssEddie]

alright sounds good guys, I did go to pirate and FSB last night after I posted this and did some reading that was real informative. Will, you seem to be spot on from what Ive read. I think I might give it a try sometime soon.

Thanks guys for all the help.

[zach119]

so are you gonna weld the tubes on your 8.8 or your 60?

[BadAssEddie]

so are you gonna weld the tubes on your 8.8 or your 60?

8.8, im selling the 60 and postponing the build up till next summer.

[BlueDodgeRam]

Ill be welding on my D70 soon. Doing a truss over the diff and out to the end of the tubes. Will probably weld the center section to the tubes as well if I have enough clearance between the truss and the center section. Would keeping the axle shafts/carrier installed help at all? Maybe having spline engagement at the carrier would sort of help?

[Brett]

There was an article in petersen's a couple month's ago. The company did this professionally with little problems. Seems like they used a special type of material to weld with. I'm sure it is on the web site.

Brett