My searching has found a fair bit of info on things guys have done to avoid it, and mention that it is a pain....BUT....

If anyone has had good success welding 4 link brackets, trusses, or similar to the cast carrier section of an axle housing I'd like to hear about the technique that worked.

Also if anyone fawked one up, you could tell me how NOT to do it.

My application is a Ford 10.25" if that matters with regard to weldability. When I drilled mine for the ARB air line, it seemed like it was either cast steel, or malleable iron...long curly chips rather than typical CI flakes.

I was given some super rod that was supposed to be shit when welding on those cast 60 housings. I did a practice piece on an old housing and it broke at the first tap of a hammer. I tried mig welding, some 7018, 6011, 6013 etc. Still broke, preheated or not. Then I grabbed a couple of sticks of some stainless rod I had and gave that a try. All I did was weld both sides of a test piece of 1/4X2 to the old cast housing. Then I beat the crap out of it with a bfh. All I did was bend the flat bar back and forth. It held. I would say use some stainless steel rod.

You can use stainless to weld to cast, I use 316L's all the time because the weld nicely or for TIG 308.

JP

I use 308 or 309 stainless. I also preheat and post heat to reduce the quench rate. Stainless is easy to weld with but it requires the parts to be "in position" or the weld puddle will run.

You can use high nickle content rod but I think the stainless is stronger.

Make sure you don't put too much heat into the housing when you weld. Weld 2" or so and then move to another area. Make sure you keep it warm while it's cooling to avoid cracking it.

Any of the mild steel rods will fail. 6011, 6013, 7018, 7014 etc.

When I welded on the 3 link bracket to my 10.25" I preheated it to about maybe 300, then welded it with high nickle rod it short amounts to make sure it didn't get to hot. I then I put a little heat on it every couple minutes to keep it from cooling to fast.

It has held for over a year with no sighns of breaking

Geez, why make this so damn difficult. I got my Miller lightning 172, cranked the fawker up, heated the shit out of the cast section on my 60, and then welded away. I layed a bunch of beads on it, then let it dool, layed some more, let it cool, layed some more. That thing puilled my bro's CJ all the way through Fordyce with NO problems. I say GET IT. Stop talking about it and trying to figure out how it can be done, and just GET IT!!!

Dimitri

Thanks for the pointers, I'll look into the stainless rod. Good to know that E7018 is a no-no as I tend to use a lot of that.

I've used a mig on my centers before. The traction bar has been there for about 4 years, no cracks, and I jack it up by it to. There are quite a few J-10/20s and other FSJ running around that we did a SOA on and welded a new spring pad to the center with a mig, been holding up now for over 10 years. Also on most of the FSJ we added a track bar to the top of the center, again with a mig or 6011 rod. Maybe my friends and I are really lucky, or it works. But if you have the TIG or the right rods, might as well do it right.

The best way to attach mild steel to cast iron if you are not an incredibly experienced welding god is to just braze it, with good old bronze brazing rod and an oxy acyetelene torch. You can use all kinds of welding methods and even if you just mig it chances are you will be OK but sometimes the welded stuff breaks. Since I am an engineer I prefer to get the job done without breaking any "metalurgical rules" you can do that by brazing. Of course often you can break a lot of the "rules" and still be fine.

I just did a lot of research on welding to cast for a steering arm. I used UTP 8 welding rod. This stuff is a high nickle content, and is designed for this application. The problemn is that the cast material heats and cools at a different rate then the mild steel, so you need to try to keep it cool. The welding proffesionals I talked to all said NOT to preheat this job. Since they cool at different rates (causing cracking) you want to keep the whole thing as cool as possible. Weld in small sections, and then go to a totally different part and weld another small section. If you are just working on a small part, it is best to let it cool after every small section welded. Using this technique (and 4 bolts) my steering arm appears to be very solid. One danger though, the fumes put off by this welding rod are death.

i tiged mine

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