trailer rehab

oldjeep

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Shitty weld, but strong enough for what it was used for. If that was a drive axle where the perches had to survive a twisting torque those would be no good.
 

oldjeep

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and should i paint them up?

Yes. Prime and paint all the welds. Hard to say how he did, the HAZ looks good on the bottom, top is too dirty to tell how much heat he got into the top piece.
 
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oldjeep

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what is a HAZ?

Heat Affected Zone. There is a scientific sounding definition for it, but visually it is the bluing and color change that you see radiating from a welded area. If you don't see any it usually means that the weld is just a turd sitting on the surface and there wasn't enough heat put into the metal to actually fuse it.
 
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redneck joe

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10-4 but probably ok if he has it one the bottom?. He didn't clear the galvanizing to bare metal out of the weld area probably why it doesn't show? I'm guessing the black area on top is equal to the bluing on the bottom
 

oldjeep

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10-4 but probably ok if he has it one the bottom?. He didn't clear the galvanizing to bare metal out of the weld area probably why it doesn't show? I'm guessing the black area on top is equal to the bluing on the bottom

He didn't grind off the galvanizing where he welded?

In any event, it is probably fine. The blackness is a little weird unless it is from burning up stuff that was on the metal. You usually get a light brown ash on a MIG weld and galvanized usually gives off a white char. If he was using flux core then that could cause the black - been 15 years since I've used any of that, I do remember that it smokes like crazy and sucks to use indoors.
 

redneck joe

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sorry yes he did grind to clean on the underside and a touch up the side just not 'all the way' up. And there was the brown on most joints, and some white which I wire brushed to clean before I painted.


This would be a lot easier with an air impact. I need to find my longer ratchet handle....





Finger tight.


 
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oldjeep

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Make sure you get those shackles flipped up the right direction before you put any weight on it. They can be a pain to straighten out with a load on.
 

redneck joe

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Make sure you get those shackles flipped up the right direction before you put any weight on it. They can be a pain to straighten out with a load on.



HA! Too late! No load just tightend bolts and yes it was a PIA. At least I learned on the first side.... Only had to loosen one bolt then a floor jack and all good.


Ran to my welder/autobody guy to get a 12" ratchet.


Had to come in to doctor up the obligatory head wound


20141022_135535_zpsda3b130f.jpg
 
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redneck joe

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paper towel in the hat and all good. Wife's out of town this week she'll freak when she gets home. She HATES it when I cut my (bald) head.
 
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redneck joe

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question - not a deal breaker (just saving me some work) but it shouldn't matter if one side stuck out 1/4" farther than the other side, as log as they were running straight/true? The fenders look to be ok.
 

oldjeep

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question - not a deal breaker (just saving me some work) but it shouldn't matter if one side stuck out 1/4" farther than the other side, as log as they were running straight/true? The fenders look to be ok.

Should be OK, but why is it like that? Perches get welded on the axle in the wrong place?
 

redneck joe

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no sir just cut off the old as mine are non standard width and this just lets me weld on the new without a bunch more grinding off the bits of the old - where the new need to go is right on where one side was welded so if I offset just a hair they drop right in place. Like I said, just saves a bit of work.
 

oldjeep

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no sir just cut off the old as mine are non standard width and this just lets me weld on the new without a bunch more grinding off the bits of the old - where the new need to go is right on where one side was welded so if I offset just a hair they drop right in place. Like I said, just saves a bit of work.

Might as well put it in the right place then, Shouldn't take more than a couple minutes to clean off the old weld.
 

redneck joe

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dangit I knew you were going to say that.....


and actually getting into final position this morning it would have been more like a half inch.
 
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