On Wed, 15 Jul 2015 07:33:15 -0500, "Terry Coombs"
wrote:

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?

We don't know the provenance of this axle , it was on the car when the
customer brought it in . The welds look more like stick than MIG . I don't
know for sure , but I suspect the owner brought the car in to correct this
and other problems . I think he bought the car as-is . Axle has been
chromed , but it won't be when we get finished . Well , parts of it won't ,
gotta grind it and the copper underplating off where we weld .
Chroming a steel diff housing isn't a real good idea anyway due to
"hydrogen embrittlement" from the plating process.