so I need to weld in some patches in the bed of my truck and I was wondering if anyone here does any welding on their truck, and if so, what all did you disconnect first? I'm going to disconnect the computer and battery to be safe, but just wondering what other people have done.

 

Disconnect the batt and you will be fine just keep your ground as close as you can to where you are welding at. My buddy welds on his truck all the time with just taking his pos cable off he has never had a problem.

 

Cool. I'm worried about how I'm going to keep my clamp close to my work though, I'm patching spots on my wheel well.

 

There is a lip down towards the bottom of the wheel well its close to the frame just clean it off and grind it real good so you have a good ground and that should be fine.

 

nice...good thinking. I know exactly what lip you mean, it's one of the spots that needs patched. I was thinking about how I was going to ground it from the top, never even thought of clamping it on the other side

 

Sounds like you got the same rust holes I have in my wheel well mine are on my driver side. Im finally going to get mine patched next weekend.

 

Mig or stick?? weld low heat for thin material. Clean and prep the steel before welding in. i also do some welding on my truck, just clamp the ground where the electricty dont travel threw bearings, electrical and anywhere close to flammables.

good luck!

 

Tig actually, and I know what you are gonna say, arc welding is going to be too hot. I have been welding on 22 gauge steel for a while with my tig welder, so I'm confident that I can weld a few patches on my truck. I'm just going to do a few tack welds, using the back step technique, and give ample time in between for the metal to cool. I'm not too concerned with a smooth weld at this point, I just want to stop/delay the rust. I'm gonna take some pics too and probably make a thread about it at some point. Now I just need the time.

 

well how about that...I just now noticed dodgeramguy85 that you live in Houtzdale. I don't live very far away, I'm in State College. I'm actually in your neck of the woods every once in a while, my band plays at the Osceola hotel occasionally.

 

Tig eh? im out in school now for my welding blocks and im in deep with tig, It's what you need really for small patch jobs like that. it's not a big where i work too, mainly stick and a bit of mig/fluxcore. I've done lots of welding on my truck. I turned a piece of 6" channel and sunk it in my truck underneath the tailgate as a bumper. made some support gussets and man, you'll never be able to rip that sucker off. real easy to do, im suprised i havn't seen more being made. it's real easy, anyone can do it really.

Good luck with your truck, i hope you get er all welded up solid and rust freee