Welding on frame (1 Viewer)

[leonard_nemoy]

Just curious if anyone has ever seen a frame fail where somebody has welded bumpers, sliders, shackles, or anything else majorly structural. I had guy that has two degrees one in automotive engineering and another in metalurgy tell me it is bad to weld things to the frame. He said automotive frames are tempered and if you weld on them it can make them weaker and cause a failure. I think he is wrong because I know people weld all sorts of things to their frames and even stretch frames and what not so I figured I would try to get some real world experience. Thanks

 

[LINUS]

I had a buddy who wanted to use my shop to do a big rear bumper swap on what became my LX450 ~couple years later.

We were removing a 4x4labs arms / homebrew bumper & upgrading to the Hanna Quality now on my last 80.

One of the framerail captured nuts was rusty & snapped loose from the inner tack it had - so I used a hole saw & drilled it open on the vertical wall from the inside to repair, we welded a small steel plate over the access hole after.

He emailed a bunch of different vendors afterward & all vindicated my method I used, to a T.

So with that in my pocket as experience & that I’ve been a professional welder as part of my job, I’d have no issue myself welding on a frame for any reason - I’d even splice one to lengthen or shorten one as long as you had the cuts planned, dressed, and a welder capable of a hot weld (no 120v MIG / low duty cycle units).

Think how many frames start as DOM tube from some of the biggest names in the muscle car business.