Hey guys,

I have the infamous cracked frame syndrome, just aft of the steering box. I brought it to a guy today and he said he would mig weld it. Another guy at the exhaust shop said it should be arc welded. Which should it be? Also he quoted me $275 for the job and said the steering box needs to come off. Is this true. There is some delamination on the top of the rail near the steering box where the tack welds broke. Whatcha all think? $275?

Thanks,

 

I can't tell u much but when you get it repaired get a wonderbar to help some. Someone is making new ones on this board.

 

Already have one installed. That's the only reason I'm able to drive it right now. Granted, it's only to and from wherever I'm having it repaired.

 

I'm not sure but I think my car might also be suffering from the same type of crack. I've been under the car and haven't found any, I'm thinking maybe I might have over looked it or perhaps it might be behind the steering box. Where exactly are your cracks located? Did you already have the wonderbar on before the cracks developed or did you install it after. I have both SFC and wonderbar on order right now but I still need to fix whatever is wrong with it now. What sort of problems or sounds did you have develop from the cracks? Please help!!

Mark

 

its directly behind the steering box. took me abotu 5 minutes to actually find it after someone else (the body shop) told me i had it. some place around here said 200, but im going to see if i cant get some friends to help.

 

Well, believe it or not, my local Chevy dealer just gave me the best estimate so far - $150. Wow. I take it in tomorrow for an official estimate.

 

is the intire frame cracked all the way around? if so you must go MIG ARC is a very weak weld, also this is a bandaid fix, the only real thing to do this correctly is swapping in a new subframe,

 

Hmm arc welding is mig welding but their are diffrent types of arc welding he could be talking about wirefeed, stick or even tig welding. If the metal is delaminaitng thats not good because you cant trust a weld if it's on delaminated metal find some way to reinforce it before you weld it.

 

what do you guys mean when you talk about delaminated metal?

 

mig welding or more correctly GMAW is and can be a very high qualty weld, reguardless of what tempes t68 says or thinks. i'd clean it up and weld it with mig. the stearing box does have to come off and i'd say 2 hours labor tops.

 

A good weld is stronger than the surrounding metal, if it's done correctly. Arc welding is antient, and the least desireable. Mig and tig are so much better because of the inert gasses they use, which helps for quality (less gas pockets), looks (less slag) and prevents damage (by overheating, esspecially TIG,which is also the best way,or only depending wh you ask, to weld aluminum). Only mig and tig are wire fed, arc welding only uses sticks.

 

turning fast you can weld aluminum with mig (GMAW) and stick (SMAW) just have to match the filler and gas to the base metal

 

All of the processes listed above are arc welding. It doesn't matter which process is used if the welder is comfortable with it and gets good/complete penetration. If the material is laminated (similar to two or more thinner sheets than it is supposed to be due to inclusions/voids usually from the roll forming process) then I would definitely reinforce it or replace the laminated portion.

A full penetration MIG (GMAW) or TIG (GTAW) weld is NOT any stronger than a full penetration stick (SMAW) weld.

MIG is popular especially for automotive applications due to thin guage material, it is fast and it is easy it is clean (no slag). This is the same reason when you have heavy gauge material stick is the preferred process.

By far the majority of aluminum in the manufacturing world is welded with GMAW. TIG is way too slow and part fitup tolerances are required to be too tight, but it sure is pretty.