On Wed, 15 Jul 2015 05:10:04 -0700, Larry Jaques
wrote:

On Tue, 14 Jul 2015 21:58:23 -0500, "Terry Coombs"
wrote:

wrote:
On Tue, 14 Jul 2015 21:30:30 -0500, "Terry Coombs"
wrote:

also posted at sejw

OK , here's what I have :
A good friend runs a car resto business , and he's working on a
Ford T I think it is . Single transverse spring , ladder bars , and
aftermarket bracketry welded to a Ford 9" rear axle housing . They
pulled it to move one of the transverse spring mounts inboard to
clear brake hardware - the mounts were NOT centering the axle under
the car . What they found was a real mess , stress cracks in the
axle tubes , holes burned thru and leaking oil . The welds look like
they were made by a monkey on crack , just gobbed on . My plan is to
grind out the cracks 90% of the thickness of the tubes , with stop
holes drilled at the ends . Grind off the ****ty welds on the
brackets , leave the few that look decent there but feather the
ends . I want to TIG this thing , because the MIG isn't big enough
and because I'm not that good with a stick . I have on hand
308/309/312 and ER70S2 TIG fillers and 6011/6013/7018 in rod . The
axle housing and brackets are mild steel . The arc rods are going to
be a bit big for filling the cracks but they might be the best
choice for re-welding the brackets . I'm looking for
recommendations on what to use where . Oh , and the reason for the
stress cracks - they're all near the end of the bracket welds - is
because of the ladder bar attachments to the frame . Bolted to a tab
that was bolted with a single bolt to the frame - they moved under
accel/decel , and this sled has a motor that has been "modified" ...
a lot . I plan to recommend some mods to tie that axle down a lot
better .

--
Snag

Might be a good idea to look for a replacement housing - otherwise I'd
stick weld the whole thing. It's going to be a real bugger with all
the oil in the cracks any way you cut it - but stick is the most
forgiving.

We considered sourcing another housing , but this one has been narrowed .
I'm not set up to do that . And the oil problem is why I considered stick .
I guess I could burn a few sticks and get my hand back . Thing about MIG is
that it's so easy to just pick up the stinger and burn a few beads , stick
needs a little more coordination . The welds where they attached the flanges
to the tubes are so purty , I'm betting those are subarc welds .

MIG with an unpracticed hand is what got him in this situation in the
first place, isn't it?

Again..Thumbs up!!