Welding the bed of a Truck

"Bob La Londe" wrote: (clip) I want to know if there is

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ No need to disconnect the batteries. Place your ground cable as close to the weld area as possible, which should not be a problem on a truck bed. What is important is to avoid letting the weld current pass through wheel bearings., U-joints, etc.

I was thinking to use a magnetic terminal right next to the weld after grinding the paint off to make sure its got a good connection.

"Bob La Londe" wrote: I was thinking to use a magnetic terminal right next to the weld after

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Excellent.

I would double ck that. I did some welding repairs to my friends 06 f-350 and it had stickers on it with welding warnings. Some of the computer stuff is quite sensitive and not only do they recommend disconnecting batteries but also isolating the ECM and a few other things. it took about an hour to prep for about 10 min of arc time. At least look in the owners man or call the dealer.

YMMV

Andrew

You know, if one didn't know anything about electronics or all that stuff .................

You have a pickup box. It's torn, or you want to weld in a plate to cover a cutout someone made previously.

Lemmee see................. I put this ground cable six inches from the place I'm going to weld. What could go wrong? Six inches from here to there, no ICs or electronics anywhere near ................. But then that could be like sending a chit chat radio message in a blasting area ...................

I've been welding a lot, and I'm sure I don't know everything. (I get reminded of this almost daily by SO and my own experiences), but when something's as simple as a six or twelve inch weld, and you're not putting the ground clamp on the front bumper and welding on the rear one, I consider myself pretty safe.

Although I have been wrong before.

Or merely mistaken.

Or just confused.

And then there were those times when I didn't figure out just what exactly went wrong ............

Steve ;-)

The guys down the street put those things in, the trucks are getting so big the lift has a terrible time....

They usually move the lines and sensors away from the frame (lots of them back there on fords), then plasma the hole and put the hitch in.

Any welding of extra stuff to the frame, is done grounded to the frame.

If they have trouble (besides fit of the bolt ups), it's when they wire it up...

Matt

No no no, you have it all wrong. You don't scrounge pieces of bed to "repair" it, you scrounge a good gooseneck trailer to haul more toys home with.

Disconnecting computers and airbags isn't necessary to weld, but if it makes you feel better, go ahead.

Aren't new pickup beds made of the same rust-resistant metals as new car bodies? doesn't that call for a special mig wire?

Now that is something I had not heard before. Kinda sucks if true now that I am done welding.

Not to worry. Welding will remove most all properties from metal and render them useless. Even wire brushing stainless steel with the wrong brush will hasten rust and corrosion. Once it's welded, all bets are off. The best thing to do is repaint it or put some sort of rust coating on there and roll the dice. Other than that, there are some spendy coating processes, but nothing to cover up a bed repair.

Steve

I painted the bed with primer and color match paint ... knowing it will just get tore up like the bed of a truck does. I plan to crawl underneath with my hand held sand blaster and a spray can of Extend to protect the bottom.

I've seen many a gorilla weld and goopy paint job that was still strong after twenty years. Anything that sticks is good, be it a weld job or a paint job.

Steve