I am planning to cut out my own axle trusses from 1/2 plate steel and weld them to my front dana 44 axle (long tube side). It well start at the top of the differential, along the webbing, then all the way to the spring mounts...tapering down the whole way. My question is will i have a possibilty of damaging the axle seals when welding near the webbing and differntial by getting them too hot?

 

Yes, you can damage the axle seals by getting the housing too hot. My suggestion is to weld an inch or so at a time then let it completely cool off before you begin another section.

 

yeah that is what i planned on doing...would it help if i cooled it off with something after each bead?

 

no...you want to let them cool naturally to avoid stress risers and cracking in the weld.

 

if you do any welding on the centersection....you need to doit with pre heat, then after the weld slowly cool it using heat

 

And then shot peen your welds after to relieve any stress risors. Welding on axle tubes is technical to do it properly

 

Especially welding on the cast sentersections...if you dont doit right itl crack/break

 

Yup. This is something I usually recomend having an expert do if you are just your basic home welder. Otherwise, take your time and be carefull. I've been meaning to do this myself. I try to keep from being airborn but I'd rather not taco my front 60.

 

Thanks guys...i have a brand new systematics 250 wirefeed welder at home and i am going to school for welding...but i'm not sure if i want to sacrifice my front axle at this moment because of the fact that i dont have a backup as of right now. I would sure like to reinforce it some though because i got my highboy airborn with the stock 360 in it but never broke anything(knock on wood)...god knows whats gonna happen with my built 460 in it.

 

you will want to tack weld a small spot on each side of the piece to be welded only after a good preheat with a oxy/ace torch to get'er warmed up and prevent weld inclusions. then I would run a weld on each side of the bracket parallel to each other but do it in a dash pattern skip an inch or 2 every 3 inches! let that cool until it is comfortable enough to touch then do the other 2 sides! when you are done before it all gets completely cooled off....peen it really good to relieve all the stress the heat created. it'd be a pretty easy job...hard to mess it up! jus be smart about it.

now all you need is a MillerMatic 210

-Jason-

 

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