cj-6 diff welding.

I am currently working on finishing boxing my frame and starting to install my soa suspension on my 66 cj-6. I have a question. What is the best method to weld a mild steel spring perch on top of my cast steel differential housing? I've had varying opinions on the welding procedure. I have a 220 mig machine and I am capable of doing it this way. I've been told it needs to be stick welded with a high nickle content rod. I've also been told I need to pre heat the housing to 600 degrees to weld on it. I don't want to heat it that hot if I don't have to. Still has bearings, seals, gears, and oil inside the diff and I want to leave it that way. Anyone that can give me some more advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

A good 220 mig with good penetration and decent welding skills will work fine. The key is having the cast CLEAN, CLEAN, CLEAN. Take a grinder and clean up the area you intend to weld. If done carefully with good prep this will work fine. Been doing it this way for 16 years with no cracks and no failures. The key though is getting everything clean and having the machine set just right.
I'm assuming you are talking about welding on the area where the tube is pressed in.
I would not weld on the top of the pumpkin area unless just adding a bit when installing a truss or something similar.
Also be aware there are seals inside the tube (inner axle seals) so you have to be careful about not getting too hot to cause warpage or burn the seals out.

 

Thank You, that's good to know. I'm just wanting to weld a new mild steel spring perch on top of the cast steel center section above the factory bossed in spring mount underneath. The front dana 44 is from a 76 wagoneer narrow track axle. It was originally spring under and I am installing this and rear passenger side offset into my spring over cj-6 frame. The other spring perches are going to be welded to the mild steel axle tubes. I can handle that. When I get a little further along I'll post up some pics, not much to look at right now.

 

a couple years back i had the same question and what i came up with is that cast iron needs a different/compatible filler material and sine MIG manufactures are not to my knowledge making this wire and the job would require SMAW or TIG welding. However, if the housing is cast steel it's then compatible with standard materials and can be welded by any means one would use to fuse 1016/18 AKA "mild steel". Unable to determine for sure the metalurgical content of the alloy, i went ahead and welded it anyways using max settings on my Lincoln 180amp 220v MIG w/.035 flux core wire. The mount i installed was for the placement of one of the link ends in the four link suspension. It has held up with no signs of fatigue for a couple seasons relentless off road only use

 

Thank You, Everything is pretty much clean,maybe a touch more with a fan disc, re measure everything and I'll burn it in hot. I have an old Linde wire feed 220/160 that should work.

 

hey fisherman
you need to determine what the base metal(diff) is and then check your consumable chart for the correct filler metal. this can be difficult with older vehicles. you could give a lab a small sample to be tested and they could at least give you a general idea of the main alloying materials and the carbon content, which is very important. you can get a general idea of the carbon content by hitting a small area with a grinder. a small amount of sparks indicates high carbon content, a large amount of sparks indicate less. if you have a piece of steel you know the carbon content of, for instance a-36, hit it with the grinder to establish a spark baseline. if you care to take a shot in the dark then i would go with the smaw process using a low hydrogen electrode perhaps 7018 or even 8018. another important step would be the amount of pre-heat you apply to the base metal. again, look at your consumable charts for this , it may have this information. if not you could consult your welding supplier, they might be able to help you. if you don't know i'd at least go with 300 f. to be safe. one more thing. if you have spare diff , you could do a practice run using the best combination you can formulate and destructivly test it to confirm or refute your welding procedure. good luck

 

skeely, i'm impressed by your technical grasp of metalugry. In all the forums i've been in I haven't seen that kinda correct usage of AISI catagorization and electrode compositon. so i gotta ask, what area of applied metalworking do you specialize? Myself, my degree is in gunsmithing which equates to every process involved in the production of firearms. (welding, fabricating,heat treating, forging and machining) no big deal, just caught my attention and raised curiosity.

 

If we weren't so far away from each other I'd say we could trade some work. I'd like some work on an AR I'm collecting parts for or some fine tuning on one of my pistols and I could weld up your housing no problem.....

 

I did a test of a few small tack welds on the bottom boss where the spring used to sit . I can't knock them off with a hammer, they are on there. I'm just going to use my Mig.

 

Distance isn't a problem. I ship guns all over the country quite often. just bear in mind pistols have to go fed ex overnight air and that can get a little costly. As far as my housing i welded that up myself and it's been working great. If you have any question on pricing for gun gun work shoot me an e-mail and we can chat a bit and see where your at.

 

hey sawedoffcj6
thanks. i'm an ex ironworker, structural steel fabricator and present structural steel and welding inspector here in los angeles.

 

skeeley, are you sure about your spark test thoughts?
Seems backwards to me.

 

hey uncamonkey
it's been awhile since i even thought of this method since all material these days come with mill test reports. i'll look into it and see. if i'm right you will need to help me find front leaf springs for my '66 cj5 (10 leafs per) ha ha.

 

just a thuoght that came to mind.
The Dana corp is still around and has a customer service/tech dept, i would imagine. A call to them may produce some good answers to your questions

 

Strange, a semi retired metalurgical enginer was here Fri eve having a few beers.
Took him a few seconds to come up with 'spark tests' too.
We finally dug up an old welding book.(Althouse/Turnquist/Bowditch)
I learned more than I need to know.

 

hey uncamonkey
i finally dusted off my old oxy-acetylene handbook, the second edition. if you look in the appendix 1, identifying metals by spark testing you will see that the low carbon steels will display a long spark trail when ground, the higher carbon steels showing the shorter spark trails. still i would be much more confident with the mill test report. happy welding!

 

Yep, hi carbon steel will have short legs + bright, yellowish sparks. Depending on the amount of tungston, then the sparks would be whiter,IIRC.
Low carbon would have long trails and less flouresance.
Gettin' pretty good at welding 16ga with my old Clarke 220v wire feed, could be fun next time I need to get parts...