Posted by Keith in Washington [108.162.246.200] on Friday, January 10, 2020 at 17:48:37 :
In Reply to: Welding the axle housing on a FFPW. posted by Allen in NC [172.69.63.22] on Friday, January 10, 2020 at 00:18:04 :
I am with the other guys. Time to replace. You could weld it up but your going to have to turn the heat up to get good penetration of the weld. Two issues that I see. First you could warp the axle tube with too much heat especially if the tubes are pretty thin from the rust. Second, your working at a critical point on the axle where stress is concentrated. If you create any metal differences in composition or hardness you are creating stress focus points at the axle attachment point.
That said, if it were minor rust pits then I would consider welding. But if it’s minor why worry about it. If there is deep pitting along the the area where the u bolt touches the axle I would be thinking replacement as you need to grind to clean metal to get a good weld.
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