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1983.5 4x4 - retirement truck


Madkaw

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The more I look at this frame the more I’m pissed I didn’t take a closer look before painting . These welds are horrible . Are all the 720’s this bad? I’m half tempted to start grinding and welding these over again. I’d have to repaint , but I don’t know if I can let this go

 

876126_CF-032_C-48_AC-92_E9-_E404_CF0_CF

 

D2_AC6556-_CE1_C-445_E-835_D-778_C1_CE3_

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I can't advise you on whether or not you should strip and weld, but those kind of welds are pretty normal on a frame.

 

When I am prepping a frame, I usually take the time to hit the welds with a disc sander just to knock off the sharp edges, but I rarely find anything actually needing to be re-welded. The worst I ever saw was a 1974 Jeep CJ5 I restored a couple years ago, I did have to weld up about 60% of the factory welds on that frame. Those were so bad they were actually coming loose and cracking in areas.

 

I can't see the welds on a Nissan frame actually needing to be re-welded. Only your eyes will tell you that.

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I agree with you - just didn’t expect some of the welds to look that bad. Of course some of the bead welds on my 71 Z aren’t exactly pretty either.

Trying not to get caught up in - while I’m at it- repair , that turns into full blown restoration. I guess with a 720, one should be happy the frame isn’t rusted away!

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No doubt that's the practical attitude, Charlie, and some really horrible welds have somehow sufficed to keep metal parts stuck together.  But any good welder can't help seeing bird-poop welds as almost personally offensive.  It's like a lot of the work a decent craftsman does;  nobody else will ever see the particular example of fine work he did, almost no one would care, but HE knows, and feels, what, just a little virtuous for having done it better than he had to.

Welding is one of the prime providers of evidence for my contention that the factory engineers, Nissan/Datsun's or whomever, absolutely DO NOT always know better than the rest of us about their products.  Take a look at  the link below to stories of a cranky Englishman named Ed Craig who moved to the States and has been a welding consultant for many years.  Occasionally one of the car makers will call him in to look at problems on their robotic welding lines, and what he has found will blow your mind if you know much about welding.  The story, which I read on his site years ago and still has me shaking my head (about halfway down the linked page), involves a Chrysler chassis line.  The chief welding engineer (and again if you are an experienced welder you'll hardly believe this) had specified the use of 5/64" Innershild (no gas) wire to weld the stamped-steel chassis members.  This wire is something you'd choose for constructing tall buildings, and never thin sheetmetal.  Of course, despite the best efforts of the guys working under this idiot, no amount of adjusting the welder and robot controls could keep them from blowing holes.  They had a big rework crew of guys going full-time manually welding up the bad welds, yet somehow neither the chief engineer nor management could understand the problem.  Ed Craig, who might have stood in stunned disbelief had he not seen many similar situations, immediately changed to an appropriate welding wire, reset the robots, and was quickly turning out flawless welds.  Yet astoundingly (unless you have been around corporate managers), in the face of this evidence the chief engineer insisted that he knew what he was doing, kept his job, and continued doing things his way.

https://weldreality.com/ROBOTmanagement.htm

(Again, scroll about halfway down the page to get to the story I related).

Edited by seattle smitty
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I feel your pain, Kaw.  There is no excuse for that level of welding in a professional setting, whether they were applied manually or by robotics. It says something when you see some of the flawless beads on Japanese motorcycle frames, WHERE THEY SHOW,  and then you look at the bird-poop welds under a chassis where a customer will never see them.  If you didn't read that link I posted, you might take a look just to see the opinion of an expert who has seen corporate attitudes about fixing bad welds that could prove be dangerous to customers, including some that already have.  Unlike the big corporations, where the bosses are rarely held personally liable,  the owner of your little local welding shop knows very well that the lawyers will take him for everything he owns, even after his insurance coverage is used up, if someone is or can claim to have been hurt by something to do with the welder's work. 

Welding can have consequences.  www.weldingweb.com has a couple of long-running threads devoted to the failures of amateur "welders;"   take a look at this one on homemade (and a few commercial) trailers, and you'll start thinking you shouldn't be on the roads in anything smaller than a Humvee:


https://weldingweb.com/showthread.php?372021-Trailer-fail-pics

Here, this one is probably better.  Stoffregen, you'll like the roll cage at the bottom of page 1 of this thread:

https://weldingweb.com/showthread.php?139711-Welding-Fail!-post-pics-here

Edited by seattle smitty
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My problem is:

1-  I can not weld

2-  I sold my welder

3-  My brother, Garret's back has gotten bad enough that he will not be able to do much fabricating and welding for me in the future. 

 

Shawn a friend from Oregon will be doing my fab and welding in the near future.  I need to buy another welder.

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