Rust and Welding

gurowar · Mar 4, 2014

This may be the wrong place to ask this but looking around it appears folks hear have a lot of experience fixing up their truck...sorry for stating the obvious. I was wondering since I am going to get a new tailgate I was interested in trying to learn how to weld, I found a mig & flux welder, 90 amp for 70 bucks. I was going to experiment on my current tailgate cutting out the rust and welding in a new piece of metal in its place. Now I've never weld before but I figure since I am going to get a new tailgate I can take this opportunity to try it. I was wondering, is this a good welder for a novice to do minor rust repairs or am I just wasting my time and money on this?

ms8091 · Mar 4, 2014

That won't work well at all. For welding sheet metal that is thin, like truck panels, you will need a mug welder that is around a 135-140 minimum amp that can use gas. Reason being, you cannot use flux wire, it is too thick and needs to get too hot to weld the thin metal. It will just warp badly. When you weld this metal, you also have to spot it, so imagine a square, weld on corner, small spot weld, then the corner farthest from that corner would be next, now to the next farthest corner and so on. You want to allow the metal to cool as much as possible before going back near it and welding again. The best option is a tig welder or a 220v 180 amp mig. It takes practice to weld thin metal like that, but once you figure it out it's not bad. Good luck.

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gurowar · Mar 5, 2014

Thank you sir for the info I guess I will not bother then with this welder as it isn't going to help out. Thank you again for the info!!

ms8091 · Mar 11, 2014

Anytime.

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tones2SS · Mar 11, 2014

gurowar said:
I was wondering since I am going to get a new tailgate I was interested in trying to learn how to weld, I found a mig & flux welder, 90 amp for 70 bucks.

Can I ask where you bought your tailgate from? And is it OEM?
I need to buy a new tailgate and bumper for my 2005 Dodge Ram. Thanks!

05daytona · Mar 12, 2014

If you're serious about welding, even as a hobby, check out your local vocational schools. You can take the classes cheap. Then you can get an inexpensive mig welder at harbor freight and go to town.

gurowar · Mar 13, 2014

Tones2ss, I haven't actually bought it yet but check out Rock Auto they have 2 tailgates
one for 70 buck and the other for 90 not sure what the difference yet as I am waiting for the weather here in Chicago gets better. But from the research I have done Rock Auto has the best price.

gurowar · Mar 13, 2014

05daytona good idea thank you for that, I almost bought a mig welder over the weekend but didn't because I don't have 220 V in my house. But going to school sounds like a good idea...thank you for that!!

tones2SS · Mar 13, 2014

gurowar said:
Tones2ss, I haven't actually bought it yet but check out Rock Auto they have 2 tailgates
one for 70 buck and the other for 90 not sure what the difference yet as I am waiting for the weather here in Chicago gets better. But from the research I have done Rock Auto has the best price.

Thank you sir!

toofart · Mar 13, 2014

I did this rust repair using an inexpensive 70amp flux welder. I am not a pro welder.

I used small parts of new sheetmetal to dial it in first with scap rust pieces I cut out...

It slowly started making sense... Again, testing on the scrap.

The end result:

My advice to you: do it.

This was the other side. I didn't do it, but it was heading in the same direction.

Rust and Welding

gurowar

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ms8091

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gurowar

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ms8091

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tones2SS

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05daytona

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gurowar

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gurowar

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tones2SS

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toofart

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