Welding Tips and Tricks

HI Lads
hopefully someone can shed light on where I went wrong
I cut the bottom of one steering drop link and welded it to the top part of a different link for a landrover 101 fc
I pre heated it and they tig welded it with 316 stainless rods and just got a call form the owner to say it just snapped off
when I welded it was hot and vee'd out for full penetration and ran 6 beeds around it and then let it air cool
it looked spot on when I fitted it
I'm picking it up tomorrow to have an other go any idea's how to fix this would be very very helpful
many thanks
Simon

sistack wrote:HI Lads
hopefully someone can shed light on where I went wrong
I cut the bottom of one steering drop link and welded it to the top part of a different link for a landrover 101 fc
I pre heated it and they tig welded it with 316 stainless rods and just got a call form the owner to say it just snapped off
when I welded it was hot and vee'd out for full penetration and ran 6 beeds around it and then let it air cool
it looked spot on when I fitted it
I'm picking it up tomorrow to have an other go any idea's how to fix this would be very very helpful
many thanks
Simon

316/L is actually a little brittle, what was the base material of the drop links? I would assume they were not stainless OEM?

steel of some sort but not cast iron

Why weld this?? New ones should be about 100 bucks a piece or so. Are you trying to modify? or repair an oem part? Originals are made from forged steel.

its a mod putting power steering on it using a power steering box from a different van and splines are bigger on the new box
so the only way to do it

Find a good machine shop and make it out of one piece. They can cut splines into that you need

I work in a full machine shop but it's a brouched spline can't be cut on a gear shaper
and I'm not going down the route of wiring it out

If it is a forged steel I'd be tempted to use regular 70 tig rod

I'd say you went wrong with the filler. Ive tig welded steering links on spotters for semi trailers with no problems. I would grind all the 316 filler out, preheat to at least 200f and weld with an Ni rod and peen after each bead. I peen with a needle scaler and just leave it on the weld for 10 or 15 seconds. And slow cool after your done, put it in a bucket of sand over night.

kblenker#22 wrote:I'd say you went wrong with the filler. Ive tig welded steering links on spotters for semi trailers with no problems. I would grind all the 316 filler out, preheat to at least 200f and weld with an Ni rod and peen after each bead. I peen with a needle scaler and just leave it on the weld for 10 or 15 seconds. And slow cool after your done, put it in a bucket of sand over night.

I second this. When I first read this I was immediately thinking a Nickel-bearing filler. I think this may be the ideal place for WerkSpace's suggestion for using old cast piston rings for filler. They are a cast steel high in Nickel, but not so high as a Ni-55 rod. A good compromise for your purpose, and cheap, to boot.

Steve S

I too would have welded it with ER70S2, but wouldn't see a problem welding it with a high Nickel rod or the old piston rings. 316 would be way down on my list to use on anything other than 316.

Len

Man am I ever kicking myself now for not saving all the piston rings I've pulled out of vilters ammonia compressors

70S2 - 80BS2 - 90S2

Poland308 wrote:Man am I ever kicking myself now for not saving all the piston rings I've pulled out of vilters ammonia compressors

Ive got 2 big Vilter Chillers at work, not ammonia on those however.

Like everyone else, wrong filler....70S2 get my vote, or some high nickel rod

I've had success with similar materials by doing just the root and " buttering " the sides of the prep with 312 then doing all the fill with ER70 using enough heat to dilute both materials so the join is a transition / blend of the 2 alloys - not sure there is a WPS for that though ! - works well welding snapped off eyes on hydraulic rams- only thing I would say is if this 101 is driven on a public road you should not be welding this at all & is an MOT tester sees it you won't get him to pass it - I figure if you research this enough someone will have already found a compatible arm or you are trying to use an unsuitable donor steering box - sure if the owner can afford to run a Rover 3500 in a 101 he can spring for the correct part.

Simon, I'm interested. What lead to the decision to use 316 as a filler for this job?
Trev

sistack wrote:I work in a full machine shop but it's a brouched spline can't be cut on a gear shaper
and I'm not going down the route of wiring it out

Considering what this part is used for I believe the best way is for this to be made out of a solid piece. I have had several parts made with internal splines over the years doesn't take long to broach them out, and that would end the concerns over possible weld failures in future. For me to consider using a welded part for an application like that it would have to be sent out to a reliable heat treatment facility and at least magnifluxed before being put into service.