Welding on a vehicle

Hello all, I am building a (for lack of a better term) "load stabilizer" for my vehicle, the final stages of which will require me to weld on a piece with a load attached for proper orientation. I will be using an AC buzzbox for this.

Am I going to run into any trouble with the welding current monkeying around with the car electronics? The vehicle has ECMs for both the engine and the transmission, and I would generally prefer not to destroy either of those two units.

I would be welding on one end, with the ground clamp between the weld area and the vehicle, so theoretically the welding current should travel from the rod to the weld and out the ground clamp (and back again), but I just wanted to hear from others who have done this to make sure it's kosher.

Thanks,

Jon

Reply to
Jon Danniken
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Summarized from a Ford service manual: Disconnect the batteries, and attach the welder work lead (ground clamp) as close to the weld area as possible.

Reply to
Pete C.

Thanks Pete. That from a recent manual?

Jon

Reply to
Jon Danniken

From the body repair section of the 2009 F250-550 service manual (factory official CD via HELM). There is no shortage of electronics on one of those trucks, multiple CAN busses, micros for PCM, TCM, ICM, nav, lignting, etc.

Reply to
Pete C.

Thanks Pete, much appreciated!

Jon

Reply to
Jon Danniken

Jon Danniken wrote in news:lj9g54$pro$1 @speranza.aioe.org:

Yes, you will. Disconnect both battery leads, and I think for good measure I'd disconnect everything from the alternator also.

Reply to
Doug Miller

Well I got done with my project, and as it was necessitated to modify my plans during construction, I didn't actually end up having to weld while it was on the vehicle. Here are some pictures of the event, although I wish I could blame someone else for the welds:

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Jon

Reply to
Jon Danniken

Hey thanks, sometimes my welding looks picture perfect, and other times not so much. At least it's passable in this case, and it served its purpose.

Jon

Reply to
Jon Danniken

I'd actually be pretty proud of those welds. Does that tell you what a "novice" I am?

Looks great and thanks for the idea. I may borrow it to make a boat/canoe rack for my son's Forrester. He does have a 1" receiver hitch in the rear as one point of attachment. The front will be the one requiring some engineering.

Kerry

Reply to
Krazy Old Man

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