And with a straight face, "I made these shims from a beer can that I borrowed from a neighbor". Had me rolling.

Man, it's just nice to have a channel with good tech and a likable guy. So tired of all the in-your-face douchebags with videos titled "Extreme welding tricks, you won't believe what happens! Watch to the end to see me almost die!" This channel is a gem, no clickbait, just good stuff.

Finally something good to watch on Friday night

Felt like a Bob Ross. Awesome job Dave! The mellowness and humbleness you bring are great to watch :)

Just a little tech behind the tig rod choice and cooling down. At the core is a difference in thermal expansion rates. Because the two different materials expand at different rates for a given temperature increase, it is in your best interest to preheat it and use a rod with a large elongation and slowly cool it. The preheating makes it so the weld does not get stretched apart as it heats up, it only gets compressed when it cools. The rod has to have enough elongation such that it can stretch enough to accommodate the two materials shrinking at different rates when it’s cooled down or else it will crack. And the slow cooling has to do with the strength of the material after it’s been heated up. The intent is to cool it slow enough that the materials can equilibrate in a uniform manner. If you cool it too fast you can get localized cooling which causes nonuniform stresses which can cause cracks. Thanks for the how to!

I’m just glad I’m not the only one that works out of one tiny corner of a big table full of stuff! Another great video Dave! Will be doing this on my 60 soon

I was always go to 450 degrees pre welding and reheat to 450 after welding is done then peen the weld with a welding hammer while it’s hot then wrap it in a welding blanket. It’s always worked well for me. Great video Dave!

I'll be using that jack bolt trick in the future for sure!

Someone played a joke on me and turned down my regulator and I spent a half hour figuring out why I was welding like shit, ha ha ha, well done Dave. The beer can comment for the shims was hilarious as well.

I have that same welder. It’s been great for the little things I use it for. I need to really put it to work and build a car hauler though👍 Thanks for sharing!

70/18 or 80/18. With pre heat will weld it just fine as well and be just as strong. Done it many times

Back in the nineties, we used super missile stick rod… you could weld duck poop to a granite rock with that stuff… wicked expensive, though, if I recall…

Glad I found your channel Dave. I've been watching Fred's channel for a while now. I still watch reruns of Dirt Everyday on MT. I miss your shows. You rock! 🤟

Good job.... the Bob Ross of welding! Start saying "Happy little weld."

21:54 that is an awesome idea, using the welding blanket..

Dude you couldn’t suck at welding on your worst day. You’re a pro man 🤘🏻

Great Video! I like to use the welding blanket to rest my hands on while welding. It helps keep heat in the parts and keeps me from saying YEEEEEOOOOOW That's hot!

I'm actually just getting into welding so this is very informative. Unfortunately I only have a crappy stick welder to start but hey it's something

I've got some 035 flux core stainless wire I originally got for a stainless handrail job that I also used to weld mild steel to turbo, So if anyone is not set up for tig or stick they sell stainless mig wire too.

Awesome job Dave!

That jack-bolt is a great trick!

Good tips Dave! Thanks 👍🏼

Just learning welding and fab. Would love more content like this!

Good job Dave ! Looks awesome!

56 years old and just started welding again. Last time I did I was around 20 maybe 22 & it was stick. Great to see this now. Perfect timing. Excited to start doing lots more welding and any tip's or trick's is very helpful. Thank's Dave.... Always learn something watching You. 🤟😎

Really dig the fabrication/ welding tutorials that you do. Keep them coming!

That was a great video, thanks for the tips and keep em coming, please. Always good to learn new things.

As always, a pleasure to watch your work. Thank you.

Good stuff Dave, had my morning coffee watching this one. Have a good weekend.

Excellent work! Thanks for talking us through the tools and techniques!

Thanks for the tech tips. I enjoy learning while watching your videos.

Here’s my two cents. Push weld a root weld especially on quarter inch or thinner. Do a cover pass weld with basically 90° on the gun. You’re right about the sparks and if it is Cast steel give it some preheat. When Cast steel is thin, like say, a pipe coupling, you can use the root weld as the preheat. 37 years experience ⚡️🤷🏻‍♂️

Great video as always Dave

Looking great, thanks for sharing your knowledge!

Dave - another awesome tech video. These are my favorite, so humble. Keep up the great work!

Haha, glad I waited to comment, thought you were going to mig weld that to cast steel. Was going to let you know about Super Missile rod from Harris. Great stuff for what you are doing. They have the missile rod in stick form also, better than normal nickel rod.

great video, Dave! ...it makes me feel better when you say, "ok, don't suck at welding today". You are a much better fabricator than me and i have the same conversations with myself. :) love your projects, keep up the good work!

good job Dave! love watching your fab skills

Great job. Really appreciate the education!

thank you for giving us the benefit of your knowledge.

Gorgeous welds, IMO. Thanks!

Missile rod is great, only stick welded with it, but it works. Nice looking job, always enjoying the videos. First time I got some 40 years ago, the salesman welded a file to an engine block to prove the point.

Great work🙌

Great video! I have some axle fab work I am planning for, and this definitely clarifies some of my questions.

I love my Furick Jazzy 10. My favorite cup. I'm definitely going to have to remember about that super missile rod.

Dude!! Great video!!! Thanks for heads up on the different wire!!! Thanks ✌️

Getting learnt with Dave. I’m now 💯 more smarter than I was a few minutes ago!

Good thing your neighbor had that beer can to lend ya……

“Beer can from a neighbor “ is why we love Dave!

Another great video Dave. Keep it up. I appreciate the info on the stick welding as we all don't have the fancy stuff.

love tech info like this!

I love the learning channels! Been welding a long time, mostly mig and stick but a couple years ago I bought a nice Prime tig welder….havent had many opportunities to use it but videos like this help a lot!

Now i have an excuse to buy a tig welder! Thanks for the informational videos, i especially enjoy the fab vids!

The shim method is definitely better than just welding as-is and allowing it to warp out of control. However, instead of using the actual hiems in place, which can result in them being heated up (melting the teflon in the joint and ruining them) or them getting covered in weld bb's, a more ideal way would be to cut some heavy-wall tube that has the same ID as the hiems, cutting that tube to be a few thousandths larger than the overall height of the hiem joint spacers. In my shop, I actually machined a few pieces of tubing to the common hiem sizes that are used in what I'm welding. Then I can use them over and over again, and they take up less space than the hiems do, allowing me get the welder in where I otherwise wouldn't be able to with the hiem in place.

You’re doing an awesome job with KZfaq!

Great show!!!!

Fun video. As an old welder myself,I enjoyed that. I got to use "nickalloy" welding rods for a similar job once. Welding a huge cast sprocket that was cracked. Ground the crack out into a V, and welded it up. Took almost 50 pounds of those rods, and almost a week at 8 hours a day..lol. pre-heating after every pass. Weld looked like chrome when I was finished..lol.

That’s very cool too watch. We tig welded my rear sterling tubes too the diff. Man it makes me want my own tig welder.

Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience! I always learn something from your videos. I have never welded cast to steel myself but I remember watching my grandfather do it and I believe he was using those same nickel rods you showed. I need to try it out myself

Jackbolt is a great tip.

love your videos like this

Awesome work! Staying positive while welding on the internet requires stones! Make it look so easy i might give it a go

How cool! Looks awesome

Great video. Pre heating and post heating was a good idea, hope it holds up for you.

This has to be the best video on this process I've seen. Hopefully I get to use some of these tricks doing my cut and turned TTB!

Great video as usual Dave. I don't have any welding equipment, but I still enjoy a good educational video like this, good tips and tricks to keep in the back pocket in case I am ever able to get a cheap welder at home.

your channel is very good! Greetings from Venezuela, I hope I can visit your workshop one day!!!

Thanks, Dave! I’ve done a little cast to steel fabrication in the past. And yes, made mistakes in the beginning. It’s so cool, that’s you helping everyone become more proficient .

Trick Piece .. great info !

Great video, thank you!

I flux core'd my steering knuckles and have wheeled for 5 years without issue, i did all the pre and post heat stuff

People start subscribeing more! Dave is freaking great and I wana be able to keep watching him!!

My favorite type of video right here fab knowledge by one of the best

Man, this came out just in time, getting ready to do the same brackets from Barnes on a front 60 for the XJ along with a truss.

I've welded cast to steel plate with stainless steel rod , works great.

I always preferred stick welding with 7018, when welding cast steel to plate steel, it always seemed to have better strength and penetration.

Cast steel to plate steel I've never had an issue with a weld when using mig with 75/25 gas as long as I preheated the cast material around 250⁰F or above and cooled it slow with a blanket. If you have lots of weld area like on cgussets, or truss to diff center section, when you rip your welds right after preheat you will keep the cast base material hot during the whole process. Usually I end up hotter temps after welding (400-500⁰+) then my preheat team of 250⁰F. Also when I mean preheat 250⁰, I mean the whole base material is that hot evenly throughout. If you're only heating up a small section of a bigger piece of cast, always run preheat hotter. Cast iron is definitely more tricky. I use the drill trick to tell iron vs steel. Cast steel shaves and cast iron drills like dust. I know everyone says don't mig the cast steel and I like stick welding a lot, but personally I've never had good luck with the cast rods. I've tried a bunch on a junk axle housing I had laying around before I scrapped it. I had better luck welding with mig, now I've been running everything axle/suspension wise migged for years, axle tubes and truss welding to center section, and c-gussets etc. And no failures so far with mig welds. If I did a steering component like a knuckle maybe I would be more paranoid about using mig. Never used tig, but maybe I'll have to invest big $ to try to do more aluminum and try out that super rod for cast. If I can ever learn the harder welding style of tig haha. Great video as usual Dave!

Could you maybe do a video on how to setup a welder for different materials? I know there's probably tons, but I love your content.

I know how involved cast iron is, but cast steel I wouldnt ever known there was an issue with it. I made a custom steering bracket off my k30 knuckle, just heated it enough to get good penetration, welded it and let it sit. Cast iron I always do the pre/post heat and wrap with peening

Hey Dave talking celcius pre heat to 200 degrees. Once you get to 250 degrees the cast steel can become brittle. If the casting was iron you’d have a lot of black graphite dust which has its own particular smell. 👍 Keep up the great content.

Awesomeness. Thank you.

Good video, learned a lot from this one.

Did this a few months ago. The way i heard Ian explain it was mig was what hed done before with no extra preheating. There has to be multiple passes to fill the gap. He explained the first pass is the preheat step for the cast steel knuckle. I could be crazy and mis-remembering what he said. When i welded my truss to the pumkin of my D60, i preheated to around 300 and peaned after welding with a mig turned up hot.

Hi Dave. This was a timely video for me. I am building a tube buggy and I will be starting the 14-bolt and Dana 60 axles soon. It will have a front and rear steer. I enjoyed it and very educational. Thanks

Excellent work my man. Be careful running so close to your ground so you don't become one with your current.

Another good one 👍👍

I have that same welder! I traded it for my new 252 Miller wire feed. It's a fantastic machine

The slow cool is excellent! In the hillbilly shop that I work, they often have no patience and take things out to the water faucet. I’ve been trying to wean them to the air hose blow job for cooling.⚙️🤪

Some nice work.

Looks damn good!!

Haha. I am in the middle of doing this. All alloy reverse stick rod is my go too. It makes welding cast a breeze

Another good one Dave. Tomorrow I’m gonna start making shims so you don’t have to bother your neighbor.

I am a welder by trade you did great For all you home guys if all you got is a mig welder go to the weld store ask for a 2lb roll of dual shield mig wire Dual shield will weld that just fine

Cheers Dave.

11:16 Typical preheat temperatures are 700º-1200º F. Don't heat over 1450ºF since that will put the material into the critical temperature range and cause it to warp where the metal is thinnest.

A really good way to cool the part is use silica sand. It has to be VERY dry. Get big enough for the work with room around it. Put some of the sand in container. Once you finish welding the piece place in the sand and pour more on top covering the work. Main things I was taught by very knowledgeable engineer at a heat treating plant. DRY SAND and make sure work is well covered. It will cool slowly and evenly. As far as grinding to find type of steel. That’s called a spark test. I worked for a tool steel supplier for years. That’s how you can differentiate between all types of steel, tool steel, cast steel/iron etc. it’s not only the color but also the size and amount of sparks.

As always I enjoy your videos, I used to work at a company where we built VW engines to power portable sawmills, we added extensions to the end of the crankshafts, and ran a pulley off on side. It worked great but we had the process down to a science, big oven that held 25 cranks and a lath like fixture that held the crankshafts for welding. It was pretty crazy, heat and cleanliness are the keys, keep up the great work Dave!

We were welding cast iron headers on big trucks 40 years ago well that was until we started welding and bending steel pipe.

Great info!

Welding to cast steel is different the cast iron. With cast steel I just might it and hit it with a small propane torch for about 30 seconds and done. I've done well over 100 knuckles like this and have not had a failure yet.