"welding is welding"

My point was mods usually devalue a truck, so I wouldn't even worry about that. Sliders are there to keep the body panels off rocks and not fall off themselves. If someone's under the truck inspecting welds on a truck with sliders they know this and would also understand that you can have a weld that's ugly as hell with good penetration and be stronger than some stacked dimes that are cold. My .02

 

For sure - "some know just enough to be dangerous" and see spatter and walk I guess could limit potential buyers in my experience at that price point. Bottom line though - any mod except for small exceptions will keep your truck's worth at market value or take away from it. You hit the nail on the head.

Older trucks I've seen going for sale on here you may see 50% of the mods you invested if they're in good shape with very little or abuse on the aftermarket parts, best case scenario.

 

Exactly. I have north of 20k into my truck, realistically I could get 5k for everything if I parted it out and scrapped the rest.

 

Yea. More than likely some jackass will crash into you and total it. Then the quality of the welds won’t matter at all.

 

Not to worry, I got what info I needed - every reply adds a little. One thing's for sure: I'll keep my hands off of welding myself. I've come across too many instances in my life where "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing" was spot on, and welding seems to be one of those fields. If there are welders so good and sought after that they need an agent then "just stick that shit on" is probably a bit simplistic. It's not like you'd ever be so awesome at mowing laws that you'd garner international recognition.

I want good enough, not perfect. But I want an all around good enough job. And I think I have now found the right guy.

 

I used a sawzall, it's not the most fun thing ever, that was after I rolled my first truck. The sliders held their shape better than the frame haha, they came off with some force as each leg was cut through

 

I would not stray away because he stated welding is welding. Ask to see some of his welds, the type of welding he would use in regards to strength and longevity.

 

Lol if you spent $45K on a Tacoma...
If a weld holds, it's not shitty, especially as the welds are under the truck. Everyone has an opinion though.

 

That would suck, seen it happen on here and other places a bit though.

I grinded the welds at the scab plates to sell them as they would have basically looked new minus a little missing material.

 

For what it’s worth, I’m a design engineer and I worked for a steel erector for nearly 10 years before I decided to go back to school. I know a little bit about welding through work issues but I wouldn’t call myself an expert by any means.

I think the most important consideration would be making sure the wire/stick metal is compatible with the base metal so you don’t have a brittle failure down the road or fuck up the temper of the frame. I don’t know off hand what the carbon content is for the steel in the frame of our trucks, but you would want to make sure you’re running mild-to-mild at least and make sure they’re not running a 75 amp machine through your frame lol. Some stainless wires can be welded to carbon steel, so maybe that might be option?

Make sure the electronics are disconnected and walk if you don’t feel comfortable with their regard for your truck. A lot of people posted good advice, so take mine with a grain of salt. Not all welding is equal and if you’re going to permanently modify your truck in this way, might as well make sure it’s done right enough for your comfort.

 

So much disinformation, and some complete bullshit... this thread is a laugh.

To the select few who know one fucking iota about welding... Your replies are thought out and with reading.

To the rest of the people who don’t know WTF they are jabbering on about. For fucks sake, STFU. Go weld a fucking line and then come put in your two cents. Goddamn armchair quarterbacks.

 

The thing to remember only welders check out other welds most likely I will do it till I die.

Anyone else for the most does not really care good weld bad weld to them they are just different looking

 

Lol, ok.

 

Welding is my business. I have a degree in Mechanical Engineering, but I did my capstone project on friction stir welding - thrusting me into the small world of welding. I spent 7 years working for Lincoln Electric as a Technical Sales Engineer. I now work for an independent welding supply company as their Technical Sales Engineer. I work with customers on their welding projects giving assistance on joint design, filler metal selection, weld procedures, trouble shooting, etc... I have customers doing work in military, automotive, structural, pressure vessels, ASME Pipe, API Pipe, and many other fields. I am pretty confident in my knowledge of the welding process and the science behind welding. Are there things I don't know the answer to: Yes! However, I know how to find them.

All that said, one thing I have learned is that you can over complicate welding. The OP's Welding Shop had some wisdom in saying "welding is welding." In welding to the frame, any 70 ksi welding filler metal should be adequate. Most of the "scab" plates are likely A36 mild steel having a tensile strength of 36 ksi. When selecting filler metals you want to match the filler metal strength to the lowest strength of the two materials being welded together. @wguest is right that 309 stainless can weld to mild steel. However, its overkill and doesn't have the same elongation (ability to flex) that say ER70S-6 has. For those that don't know, ER70S-6 is the vanilla ice cream of MIG wires. If the sliders were made of stainless steel and then being joined to the Taco's steel frame I would be all for using 309 weld wire.

Personally I would MIG or TIG these on, but I believe someone good with STICK of Flux-Core could also get the job done with great results. I have a TIG welder at home and that is the route I would go for me. Welding on a car should not be rocket science: disconnect the battery, remove paint/oil/surface-contaminants from the frame area to be welded, extend cleaning past the weld zone to areas that will also be affected by the heat (so you don't burn paint), and go. Metal makes a good heat soak and the heat will travel outside of the welding zone, but if your Welding Shop knows what they are doing they will limit their heat input. All forms of arc welding operate on the process of completing an electrical circuit. You want that circuit to be small. You don't connect the ground/work clamp to one end of the vehicle and weld with the electrode on the other opposite end. You want to be grounded as close to the weld as possible so that the welding circuit flows through the welding leads and not your truck's hinges, bearings, electrical components, etc...

I hope some of what I said makes sense and is of some help. Best of luck OP.

 

I don't know what side to which you think I belong, don't really care either. But what's your input? Sounds like you have a big brain, let's here the details.

 

Well, you don’t really care, (self stated) so what difference does it make?
I don’t have a big brain. I’m no better than anyone else here. Not an expert. Would weld to my own truck (sliders) without worry. Not overconfident, or stupid. I just know my ability. Wouldn’t weld a tow hitch. Liability and common sense.
That said, I know a little about fusing metals.
As I stated, lots of armchair quarterbacks here. I’ll bet that more than one with “advice” has learned everything they know from YouTube and have never done this for any amount of time.
MiG would be fine. TiG would be sweet looking but overdoing it.
Stick would do, but I don’t care for the looks when done by half or more if the “stick welders” I have met. Gloppy garbage and no burn through.
Hope that answers your question.
If in doubt, read what @bbrown wrote. He pretty much nailed the shit out if it.

***ETA, not trying to be a dick. There is just a lot of bullshit in this thread.

 

Good info. I run into a fair amount of steel subcontractors that would kill for a welding rep who would give them the kind of insight into their own welding procedures and QA/QC that you provided here to a complete stranger. Lol. PM me if you don’t mind.

 

I found a clip of OP and the welder:

 

For sure and I'm not recommending that you start out with sliders, but Jody Miller at http://www.weldingtipsandtricks.com/ and Bob Moffat at https://www.weld.com/ as well as some younger guys are really great welding teachers online. You would do pretty well by following their lessons (almost all are free and on youtube also) by practicing with a bunch of scraps and a decent entry level machine.

 

Weld.com is awesome!! I used these videos a ton when I was doing my SAS, my first major welding project other than when I first learned. Plus Bob has a great dry sense of humor.