Welding Tips and Tricks

looking for some advise here have a job coming up for a friend he wants me to weld the center section of a axle to the tubes and then weld trusses to the axle it is a dana 44 He told me the center section is cast steel. has anybody done this? And how to tell for sure it is cast steel not cast iron?

Rcc wrote:And how to tell for sure it is cast steel not cast iron?

Jody showed this a few times in his videos. Clean a section/edge of the casing, puddle a ridge/edge (no filler!), let it cool and then try running a file over the little solidified 'blob'.

If it files normally then it's (cast) steel. If it goes hard and the file just skids over it then it's high-carbon and likely cast-iron.

In the last case, you're likely better off brazing (and perhaps pinning) the tubes (in)to the diff housing.

Bye, Arno.

Rcc wrote:looking for some advise here have a job coming up for a friend he wants me to weld the center section of a axle to the tubes and then weld trusses to the axle it is a dana 44 He told me the center section is cast steel. has anybody done this? And how to tell for sure it is cast steel not cast iron?

spark test--compare grinding sparks from steel and the diff.--

Do you have a jig or fixture to keep the tubes straight?

I plan on making a jig. Use some rectangular tubing and have some uprights with some clamps.