A friend gave me a old Hobart welder last week that's been sitting in his garage the last 15 years. It ran fine when he put it away, but over time coolant seeped past the head gasket into cylinder 1 & 2. It's from the 40's or 50's but has a CJ2A jeep engine so engine parts are available. Can't bring myself to scrap it, so the blocks getting bored out to remove the rust and it's getting new pistons, valves, bearings etc. The flathead CJ2A engine is a real antique - 3 1/8" bore X 4 3/8" stroke and 38 hp @ 1800 rpm. Not exactly a screamer. The manual says it's good for 325amps@40 volts, and 60% duty cycle @
250 amps so I guess it's enough HP to do the job.If all works out, it's first use will be building a bridge over a small stream in the back. About a 20' span will be needed to clear the entire stream bed plus a few feet on each side. I have about 1250 feet of 3/8" thick 3" x 5" angle steel that's a little rusty from sitting around for about 10 years but would be good for this project. Thinking of a simple truss structure set on concrete piers on each side. Hope to use the backhoe to place the steel. Anyone in the group have one of these old Hobart machines? I think it's also referred to as the "Pipeliner" model. It's mounted on a 2 wheel trailer, but the trailer is probably not Hobart.