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[Soundguy]

Soundguy,
You've "welded" rebar to cast iron??? No offense,but its really hard to believe that it held any load at all.What kind of rod did you use?Do you mean brazing by any chance?

have done it and have seen it on at least couple dozen old tractors, if not twice that many.. easilly... over the years. most notably on upper cast lift arms.

and no it didn't mean brazing. if I meant brazing I wouldn't have said welding.. I'd have said brazing.. I run very little brass around things. I'm more of a solder or weld kinda guy.. do very little brazing.. just not real good at it.

edit:

6011 / 6013 is my usual fair. i do own some 7014 and 7018ac and 6010.. without scratching my head too much I'm gonna say I used 6011 for root and tie and 6013 to make it look pretty afterwards.

here lately i've taken to welding lots of cast.. loader brackets and all.. I do the preheat, and peening and slow cool deal.. and have excelent results.

oh yeah.. just rememberd.. I have also used high nickle content rods. don't recall their number.. got them from the local gas supplier... know I didn't use them on mild stuff.. so assume they got used on some of my early cast welding.. acn't remember / atest to WHICH actual projects got them.. but know I had a few pounds and now I don't...

I'll say it again too.. nothing I've welde don any of my farm equipment now that I have a welder inthe 220v rang has ever come apart. when i first started welding with a lil 70a box i did have some stuff ocasionally come apart... didn't do anything with rebar on that baby welder though..

as a caveat.. i don't profess any special skill or knowledge of welding. i own a welder.. I taught myself mostly from practice, reading a couple books, and a few day course at the local high school a long time ago. ( boy.. chamfer rods make huge ugly cuts! )

I don't dispute any info provided here that says welding rebar is hard...

I'm quite comfortable to chalking it up to trial and error and being a plugger. IE.. if a welding project is going hard or long.. keep going at it. I know I've made a few things that had just as much rod built into the weld as there was original metal or filler metal... and I buy angle grinder discs by the 10 pack.. I'm not afraid to make a huge multi layer weld then grind down what I don't want..

I also don't mind chalking alot of it up to dum luck. i'm sure it'ts not the first thing I've done that should be hard but i dind't know any better and found not hard

I also realize that after saying this I may walk outside and every weld I just refered to may have failed over night and fallen apart or my next weld may not work.

just reportin' what's i've seen and done... not arguing with anything posted here which I believe is probably true and correct.

soundguy

 

[handirifle]

5/16" grade 70 chain is sold for tie-down and is the minimum accepted by the CA Highway Patrol. They require four tie-downs (at the corners). Check your state's laws.

Usually you can by bags of the chain at discount auto stores or big box hardware stores.

OK thanks, I have four on there, the rears are at the corners, but the fronts are on the tops of the tongue side braces, about 18" apart. I can add more to the corners, no problem.

Ok, then, 5/16, grade 70 or better, it will be. I have it in the plans to call the DMV to find out what I need to get it tagged. I did this once before, on a homebuilt I used to camp out of.

Towed it with my Jeep. The tent on top, is attached to a platform. When the tent was lowered, and folded, the platform folded back over itself and locked down to a water tight cover. The top platform was removable andthe trailer could be used as an enclosed (albeit a small one) trailer, that was water tight also. It used the same size tires and wheels as the Jeep, so that way I either had 3 spares, or one spare for either vehicle. The top of the main trailer opened on hinges on the passenger side and was held open with gas struts.

I hauled my gun safe home from the store with this. The safe weighed almost 700lbs, and it towed like a dream.


Built this one from the ground up, but it was about 5 years ago and I figured the rules might have changed a bit.

Here's another pic, from a closer angle.

 

[digger2]

Soundguy,
Well,actually its been years since i've even welded cast iron.
Last thing i did was part of an old hand brake for sheet metal.A guy was moving it with a forklift and it fell off the forks.I had to fix it and it was the usual preheat,weld, heat again in process,weld,peen,cool down as slow as possible.......standard procedure.Anyway,that was a past job where i was expected to do it all,from aluminum to cast iron,then to stainless and then jump back in on black metal.Mig,tig,stick...back and forth all the time.
Now on my present job i do strictly stainless,mostly TIG with some stick mixed in.Alot of purge welding also.Anyway...........I thought maybe with the advancements in welding which is occuring all the time,and the fact that now all i do is stainless and i have been away from doing anything else material-wise,they had come up with some new rod that is compatible between say something such as between rebar to cast iron.
I've heard many a guy say you can weld anything with stainless rod.Well ,you can.How good it holds is another story.My response to these guys was "try it on aluminum".That made um think.
I guess what it comes down to is if it works for the job at hand,do it.
Kinda like the old story about the bumble bee who should'nt be able to fly,but he does anyway cause he doesnt know he cant...............And we're all here to learn.
Digger2

 

[Soundguy]

ive used certanium rod before.. I like that stuff. also used some 'ezstrike' or some such stuff. never did catch a esab number on what it was.. but it welded real easy. wasn't high deposit or anything.. but like the guy said about stainless rod.. you could weld just about anything with it. I think I could strike an arc on a piece of wet cardboard with it..

one thing i'm thinking about is the cast metal composition. 100% of my cast welding experience is with 1950-1975 cast... IMHO.. it was likely a better grade of cast then then what might be now... less refridgerators and hondas melted down into it maybee ??

soundguy

 

[Mark @ Everlast]

Soundguy,

The upper lift arms on MOST tractors are cast steel, not iron, at least the ones I have welded. That goes for many brackets as well. Some may be CI, but a lot of what people think is CI, is Cast Steel.

 

[Shield Arc]

Mark I was thinking the same thing when he stated welding on the lift arms.

Soundguy here is quick and easy grind test to tell the difference.
Cast iron will have a red shower of sparks kind of dull red starburst type.
Cast steel will have bright yellow sparks.

 

[Soundguy]

I can tell the difference pretty good can't call that 100% but I have seent he spark test.. etc.. the toplink rockers I've welded are for sure cast steel.. however much of the CI I've welded is for sure cast iron.. to include rear, center housings of tractors and cast oil pans too. The main body castings are almost certiantly cast iron.. including things like hyd top covers, etc. upper arms may or may not be... i believe the brackets for sure are CI i've seen them damaged by botched welding jobs in the classic cracking and failure at welds.. etc. like welding on a manifold..e tc.

last thing I built with rebar was a buddy seat for one of my tractors. has steel square tubing drilled thru and rebar passed thru and welded up at a 45' angle.. other end of rebar has mild steel bar stock grafted on with a hook / latch to attach to a point on the tractor.. lower points are off the tubing.

previous to that I have made drawbar locks using a combination of hard bolts, ibeam pieces, rebar and generic mild steel. must have 3 of those kicking around. at least one was made with a mig while i was at work one day.. the other 2 are a la buzz box.

again... just havn't had any sort of problem gluing rebar to anything i've welded on yet. Good thing I didn't know rebar was difficult to weld on.. probably next time I go to weld onit I'll get all aprehensive and bothc the job now that I know it's not suposed to work



soundguy

 

[Shield Arc]

probably next time I go to weld onit I'll get all aprehensive and bothc the job now that I know it's not suposed to work

I don't think anybody said you couldn't weld it, I know I didn't, or didn't mean to imply it. I think it is more complicated than the average guy knows.

But, I do have to wonder how far, and how high off the ground you would walk out on a piece of rebar you welded.

 

[flusher]

I'm modifying a trailer from ag use to on the road use. I'll be adding some side rail stakes and building short and tall sides. I also want to weld some hold down tabs along the sides, to secure rolling loads. On the front I used the pieces I cut off the original draw bar hitch. They were 1" thick with 1 1/4" holes in them.

I checked the local welding shop to see about some other tabs, and they said they would have to fabricate them, at $45 min labor.

Does anyone sell something like this premade? I'd like 1/2" or thicker, with 1" hole or larger, so I can weld them to the sides of the trailer.

Other suggestions also welcome.

Also, where would I find those nice spring loaded chain hooks for the safety chain? They look like a weedless fishing hook, a big one though:thumbsup:.

Last week I added four D-ring tiedowns to the Isuzu NPR stakebed (8L GMC V8 gasser) I bought last month to haul my parade tractors.



The weldable D-rings are rated at 12000 lb, welded to 6x6x3/8" angle, bolted onto the stakebed frame with four 3/8" grade 8 bolts. The frame material is only 3/16" thick so I decided to use bolts rather than weld the angle to the frame. Also I don't feel comfortable welding around that 30 gallon gas tank.

Next job: install an 8000 lb Warn winch.

Good luck.

 

[Oliver1655]

Slash Pine mentioned stake pockets. If adding them will not make your trailer too wide, they work very well. They will allow you to put sides on your trailer, or just to have stakes in place to keep longer material from sliding off the sides. I prefer them for hooking chain to. You drop the chain thru the bracket and then bring it up the outside and hook the chain on the top. This will keep the hook from releasing if the chain should become slack. To keep the brackets / pockets from twisting and catching on obstacles, most people will weld a strip of 1/4" flat across the outside of the stake pockets linking them togather. This length of flat will also help stiffen the bed. The pictures attached are on a truck bed I built years ago. I used tread plate for the strips. Now I use standard sheet metal strips so I have a smooth surface to attach the required reflective tape. I live in Missouri and the stake pockets which are designed to work with 2x4s are readily available in the local tractor supply stores. Prices range from $2.25 to $6.00 each. (The ones in the picture I bent in my press to accommodate 1 1/2 x 3" tubing.)

Have Fun! John