Weird weld on axle

[triumphrider-1]

I'm in process of putting my 8.8 under the Ranger and figured while I was welding on the perches I would also weld the tubes to the pumpkin.

My driver side axle to pumpkin:

And how the passenger side started to weld:

Any ideas what would cause the difference? I wire wheeled both sides, wiped them down, then blew them off with my air compressor. The joints weren't perfect, but the passenger side almost acts like its hitting grease.

 

[Frank The Tank]

Was your ground on the driver side? May not be getting a good connection... You would have checked that allready though. I can't imagine the metal compound being that different on the same diff.

 

[4x4junkie]

Any ideas what would cause the difference? I wire wheeled both sides, wiped them down, then blew them off with my air compressor. The joints weren't perfect, but the passenger side almost acts like its hitting grease.

Did you spray it down with a non-residue cleaner of some sort? (acetone or acetone-based brake cleaner maybe?) If not, then there's probably some oil/dirt/grease in the crack between the tube & the housing which is contaminating the weld.

 

[triumphrider-1]

Was your ground on the driver side? May not be getting a good connection... You would have checked that allready though. I can't imagine the metal compound being that different on the same diff.

I thought about that when I was showering last night. I think it was on the driver side; but I was switching it back and forth quite a bit when I was welding the perches, so I'm not 100% on that.

Did you spray it down with a non-residue cleaner of some sort? (acetone or acetone-based brake cleaner maybe?) If not, then there's probably some oil/dirt/grease in the crack between the tube & the housing which is contaminating the weld.

They looked about the same, but I'll hit'em again, and dry it really well, before I weld more tonight.

 

[Iron Ranger]

You'd be surprised what gets lodged in cracks and grooves. Have you tried some flux core? Whenever I have a joint I can't fully clean out, I use the flux core because it "should" be much more forgiving on dirtier steel stuff.

If not, then maybe a die grinder with a tapered nose bit in the groove would help get ride of some heavier stuff, followed by cleaning of any oil and grease as stated above, and sand some of that pitted steel until you get clean steel showing. It's about all you could do to it, I would think.

Hope it helps!

 

[Sasquatch_Ryda]

Hit it with a torch to burn out any contaminants works well too

 

[triumphrider-1]

I might have tried some flux core wire, but I don't have any

Hmm, that might have worked. I never even thought to use the torch, and I had it out burning off the old perches.


I ended up going back over it with a wire brush and brake cleaner, then wiping it down and drying it with the smallest air nozzle I have (more air velocity). It worked OK, I still had quite a few spots that I had to stop and make a small spot weld "root" pass.

 

[Ford78]

Where was your ground clamp when you were welding?

 

[triumphrider-1]

I was moving it from side to side, trying to keep it on the same side as I was welding on. It didn't seem to change the weld characteristic though if I left it.

I think when I do my 44's, down the road; I'll go over the areas with a torch like Sasquatch mentioned to burn any crap out.

 

[Toofarnorth]

This may be a dumb question, but aren't the tubes already welded in from the factory? Looks like they are plug welded, unless that's something else.

 

[triumphrider-1]

That I'm aware, they are pressed in.

 

[Sasquatch_Ryda]

Pressed and plug welded from the factory. Welding the tubes insures they don't spin the tubes under high torque loads.

 

[gwaii]

the tubes are pressed in and plug welded from the factory,but some sealer is used on the inner ends of the tubes.a bit of this probably ended up squeezing out to the outside where it could mess up your weld.

seen that before.

 

[OdinAF]

Let me step in here, AWS/WABO Welding Engineer

First I require some information, What kind of wire, what type of shielding gas, volts, wire speed, and why does it look like you did not grind down the material you where going to weld?

 

[triumphrider-1]

No guarantees I remember all of this stuff as was setup.

Millermatic 211 running 230V, cranked amp (or close to it), .035 wire, can not remember speed, shielding gas is 95/5 argon/CO2.

Correct, I did not grind it down.