aluminium parts
 

give me your toughts on alu suspension components
is it worth it?

Depends on your application, what your driving style is and such, as well as personal preference. Fore surely stay away from aluminum bumper mounts, body mounts, these are places you want some give.

That's absolutely correct! I'll second that!

RPM is a good spot to go for replacement arms that don't cost much but hold up well and you can get colors to dress up your truck (yes, they are plastic but worth mentioning)

After that look into Fastlane machine. Decent arms and a great warranty!

Then the topdog! Unlimited Engineering 3 levels available depending on your budget and application. BEAUTIFUL well engineered products! I've owned the UE Widetrack and the UE Racer-X both are awesome!

hey guys i have more Q's bout alu and tought; i'll ask here.
can this tube be welded?
6.35 mm OD x 1.65 mm WALL x 3.05 mm ID 6061 T6 TUBE
or is that impossible due to thickness or size?
would have to be welded onto other pieces of same tube and onto this:
6.35 MM ALUMINUM 6061-T6 PLATE ???
thanks.

Aluminum can be welded with specific rods for the application. Depending on the size, you need to adjust your current to do it. But you would have to be pretty damn good with pieces that small without melting them into nothing.

DO NOT "STICK WELD" IT!

To weld someting that thin you need to MIG or TIG weld it. Both methods are equally strong but TIG allows the welder to better control the process and the appearance will be nicer (the "weld bead").

I'm set-up to weld steels, including stainless but I need a new liner for my weld gun/feed hose before I could do any aluminum welding, othrwise I'd offer to help.

I was going to mention it, but made it simple. You can rod weld, but it would be a mess!!!!!!! More than likely, you would end up with nothing but a melting pot, but you can do it. I figured if he was asking if it could be done, he would not know what a MIG or TIG wire feed was! LOL....

Good point! I knew you knew the difference!

I thought I'd share just the same.

Maybe I should start building a Modified revo chassis for use in conversions? I'll wait and see how the other member on the forums does...see if he builds them or not before I look into it or crank up the welder. :-)

Too funny. I'm an automechanic by trade, and my dad has been a fabricator all his life. We once built a 36 Ford, and built the whole floor out of aluminum ! We put a 350 in that bad boy and man, it flew pretty good!

i see, you need mad welding skills and a tig or mig.
thanks guys. not that i have any of those 2 but i know a place where they have people that weld alu all day.

that's cool, you should be set then, just advise what you want and they should be able to hook you up!

the thing is, i dont know if they would do such thing for the normal man.
normally they built dumpers. and fix trailers.

In that case, you would need to know someone that works there.

you really think so? damn.

Well, Pro Charged said he may be able to help ya out?

hey, can you explain mig and tig welders.
i dont exactly know how they work.

I learned to weld on a stick welder, which is hard to master, even oxyacetalene welding ( gas welding), but it seems that MIG & TIG are the norm nowdays......I mean I can do them all, but for cleaner welds and ease of operation....Mig is the way to go, also Tig is very good as well. But we will have to see how the other person does.....but good luck doing it....

They are wirefed with gas, clean and able to weld smaller beads. I believe they use hydrogen to feed the wire, can't remember though, it has been some years for me. Do a google on them to get more info.

actually the mig welders I used....at least in high school and in the Navy....we used Argon gas....which the gas doesn't feed the wire....inside of the welder is a wire feeder...and what the gas does, is it sheilds the weld from contaminants, while you are laying down the bead....

yeah, i always seem to forget google is here to help, hehe:005:
i used a half automatic once or twice, pretty darn cool to do.
is also with gas and wire.
thanks guys.

no problem, just glad to help...good luck with the venture

If you run out of the gas, the wire won't feed at all.

Newe.....that's true.....it's a built in feature.....but I havn't touched a welder since 1998, so things could have changed.....but you do have a valid point.....no gas.....to sheild the weld area...no wire feed.....

the half automatic i used in the past was feeding wire with a motor.

It's both from my experience, but like you said sjcrss, it has been a long time! LOL, but from my experience, no gas, no feed. There is a spool that feeds the wire, but I think they work hand in hand.

also it depends on the material its made out of......example GPM leared that it isnt the best hoping up a 10+lbs truck..... RPM was my next upgrade and felt that they were enough to ceep my truck durable.

A MIG welder can be used without the gas. You change the wire from solid core to flux core and can weld like an arc welder but with greater precision.

Gas for MIG welding is typically ARGON or ARGON/CO2 depending on the material being welded.

The gas shield not only "shields" the weld bead from inputities but it reduces welding"spatter" dramatically as well. (Looks way better when you're done!)

Just go to the yellow pages and find a welder. There are tons of them. If you can find a welder the does tool and die repair they will have the skill to weld the small pieces you are looking for. Those guys can lay down some really fine beads.

You can use a TIG welder too can't you?

my dad's work buddy can do stainless steel.
maybe that would work aswell.
just gotta search a little more for info.
how would SS compare to alu weight wise?
but anyway, thanks for all the assistance guys!

hey guys, can mike machine real complex stuff himself? in alu

Yup...

thanks, if i cant do it myself in the future i'll have mike do the stuff i'm thinking about.:004:

hey remember that the moke complex desgine the more expensive, and the more mike will have to charge you, even simple desgines are pricey.

over in american you guys charge to mill out something on a C.N.C by hour..how does it go?