Welding Tips and Tricks

Hi there

Im thinking of welding my axle tube to the diff housing on a Dana 30 from a JK Jeep Wrangler. Its where the axle tube meets the cast diff case. Ive attached a pic of a damaged D30 axle and i have highlighted where i want to weld. (not the axle I want to weld!)

Although there are rosette welds for some reason they are just simply not strong enough and the axle tube seems to have movement.

Can I use a mig welder using ER70S-6 wire with Speedshield 5/2 (argon 93%, Co2 5%, O2 2%) thats the gas i have. i only have a 150amp 240v mig. No name chinese welder.

Or should I just use 7018 stick.

preheating is not an option for me.

thanks.

Is the rear assembled? If so you may pull gear oil up which will cause you many issues. I usually TIG my housings, I never used that mix on steel.

I'd 7018 if I had to, you could preheat slightly with a torch. The biggest issue is keeping it straight it will move, I usually weld them in a jig/fixture, skip around and you can actually watch the housing pull around to make it straight.

So dont use mig on the Diff. Theres no oil in the axle tubes as its the front diff.

Speedshield Argon 5/2 seems ok. Might be an Australian gas thing.

I was planning on only welding 3/4 inch at a time and letting fully cool.