Community Forums

Beyond · 06-09-2017, 12:29 AM

We carry a portable Ready Welder when playing with off road toys.. Wire fed welder that we power off the RV Chassis batteries. Mostly used when we had a toy hauler & two 12v batteries powered it just fine.

F239141 · 06-09-2017, 12:33 AM

I use Hobart welders, they make a dual voltage 120 or 220 mig that is the best of both worlds.

I don't have room to take my welder with me nor do I want to subject it to the roads.

I just hope I don't need it and if I do then I'm just going to have to pay someone or do the backwoods battery stick welding.

roadster27 · 06-12-2017, 05:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RPreeb

A welder? In the RV? Now I've seen everything. I don't mean to kid you but I'm 70 and I've never seen a need to own a welder even at home, much less on the road. Seems to me that the space and weight could be better employed.

Am I odd that I've never needed anything welded, any time, ever? I was a machinist for 33 years, worked in shops that always had welding departments, and never even needed to use the easily available services of any of my friends who were extremely skilled and experienced welders.

I'll actually trust a mechanical fastener before I'd put any faith in anything I welded myself, but maybe that's just from my experience as a machinist. Lock washers, Ny-lock nuts, jam nuts, etc., are good and relatively failsafe methods, and can be double checked (and tightened if necessary) with just a decent set of wrenches. Welds can only really be checked with sophisticated testing equipment (x-ray or ultrasonic testing).

I've seen some really poor home welding jobs (not say that anyone here is in that category, but it's really impossible to tell by looking if a weld is done correctly). I've also had so-called professionally welded joints fail in normal use. In such cases I either disposed of the product as being pretty poor in the first place, or repaired it with fasteners that were easier to apply and more effective than welding. I would honestly only have something welded if that was the only way to get it done, and I really needed to have the item repaired rather than replacing it.

My welder is a Tig welder , weighs 40 lbs , and is an electrick hand held ark and stick welder , looks like you are gas welding but using an infinatly adjustable electric flame on a pedal like a sewing machine and using rod to weld the appropriate material , it will weld paper thin or up to 7/16 thick , and aluminum , stainless , mild steel or chrome moly , handy for almost anything , I have welded for 40 years and have saved a vast fortune in costs , my current welder cost $700

Durango Dave · 06-13-2017, 03:26 PM

Well i wish i had one, i have called all over town and asked around hear too. The only people that will do it say i have to break camp and bring the unit to them. I even tried to stop a welding truck on the freeway to ask if he would be interested but he just waved at me and thought i was a crazy man waving him down lol...

If i had the money i would go buy one right now and keep it with me...

But as it stands im hoping that the setup with the spare and the new ladder i bought (strapped onto the bumper with bungy cords and supported by the spare tire) will get me to Abeline Texas as im sure ill find someone there (or before then) to do it before i make camp at the lake.

If the bolts break on the spare, then there goes my ladder as well. The first welding shop i see on the way ill stop.

I wish there was some way to put out a message over the waves to other RV's to see if anyone has a welder along the way and ill pay them for the work.

Maybe ill try the CB when im on the road..

Here is the current set up and the brackets that i have to help mount the ladder... I have 4 of these brackets but im only going to put 3 on the bumper. One at the far end just in case i need it for something else.

memtb · 06-13-2017, 07:08 PM

Dadgumit Dave, Now.... I got one more thing to make room for. Just when I thought I had it all just about covered!!

Durango Dave · 06-13-2017, 08:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by memtb

Dadgumit Dave, Now.... I got one more thing to make room for. Just when I thought I had it all just about covered!!

LOL sorry.. yeah me too just when i think i have made my last big purchase here comes something else to make room for. I hear ya!!

Waiter21 · 06-14-2017, 05:28 AM

ME TO - several years ago we were traveling out west and pull into a campground for the night, I hear a load THUNK .. When I walk around the outside, I see my hood kind of laying sideways. The hinge on one side broke. This is afternoon, December 23rd, driving around Deming New Mexico trying to find someone who can weld this hinge back together.

DARN - If I had my little wire welder, I probably could have welded it back together without even removing it.......

Durango Dave · 06-14-2017, 11:19 AM

And thats just the thing, you may not need it but a few times. But those few times can save you all day looking for someone to do it, the cost of that job including onsite service which is expensive, ruining the holiday, and or breaking camp to go have it done.. So i believe its worth it to carry one, even a small one that will get you by until you can get it done by a pro.

Unplanned Tourist · 06-14-2017, 11:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Durango Dave

Well i wish i had one, i have called all over town and asked around hear too. The only people that will do it say i have to break camp and bring the unit to them. I even tried to stop a welding truck on the freeway to ask if he would be interested but he just waved at me and thought i was a crazy man waving him down lol...

If i had the money i would go buy one right now and keep it with me...

But as it stands im hoping that the setup with the spare and the new ladder i bought (strapped onto the bumper with bungy cords and supported by the spare tire) will get me to Abeline Texas as im sure ill find someone there (or before then) to do it before i make camp at the lake.

If the bolts break on the spare, then there goes my ladder as well. The first welding shop i see on the way ill stop.

I wish there was some way to put out a message over the waves to other RV's to see if anyone has a welder along the way and ill pay them for the work.

Maybe ill try the CB when im on the road..

Here is the current set up and the brackets that i have to help mount the ladder... I have 4 of these brackets but im only going to put 3 on the bumper. One at the far end just in case i need it for something else.

How about bolting those brackets on? Use 3 carriage bolts up from the inside and cut the excess thread off after it goes through the nut. If you have your stinky slinky in there, it won't get damaged that way.

Durango Dave · 06-14-2017, 08:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unplanned

How about bolting those brackets on? Use 3 carriage bolts up from the inside and cut the excess thread off after it goes through the nut. If you have your stinky slinky in there, it won't get damaged that way.

I was looking at it today while adding a lug nut lock to the spare wheel bolt. I may just see how it rides, at least on the first leg of this trip. Once i get into more densly populated areas im sure the availability of a welding service will be much more available in general right at the RV park should i still need it. I put some weight on the spare tire, stood on it actually and im about 300 lbs and it didnt even move, so now im wondering if im overthinking this and its just fine. However i would like to get the lug nut itself that i added to the wheel welded in place at one time so that someone cant just turn if off and avoid the protection of the safety nut.

I may end up using mechanical fasteners for the brackets im not sure yet.

I dont keep my stinky slinky in the bumper. I was told not to keep it in there because the vibration of the RV causes the bumper to wear down the hose by rubbing on it and then you have leaks. I dont want no stinking leaks lol

So i keep the hose in a sealed container in the storage compartment.

Durango Dave · 06-15-2017, 10:01 PM

Yeah looks like ill just go with the mechanical fasterners afterall, i really cant see paying a welder for this since i am now going to try the spare tire as is. If it breaks well lesson learned and ill get it fixed. I dont think it will.

And i kept all the left over bed rail kit bolts (since the installers had their own kit) and so i will use those to mount the brackets for the ladder storage.

I had to buy a drill kit as well cause i didnt have a 1/2 drill bit but thats ok wallmart has B and D kits cheap.

Two bolts in the bottom and one on the side should do the trick for each bracket.

The foil stuff is my left over sun visor for my truck, i never used it so i cut it up for the RV window to block the sun. Im going to put that on the bumper so that the ladder wont scratch it. I would have liked to have gotten 2 of those rubber stick on pads that are diamond cut pattern that walmart has to stick on the bumper but the budget just wont stretch that far so ill use this for now.

Durango Dave · 06-17-2017, 08:48 AM

OK i finished the bracket install, i found an old brown sewer hose inside the bumper, im gonna toss that in the dumster.

But turned out great, that gave me an idea that maybe ill drill some holes and just bolt my spare tire rack to the bumper itself with bolts the same way, instead of using the bracket that wraps around the bumper.

Unplanned Tourist · 06-17-2017, 02:57 PM

Looks good. Back in the '60's on the farm, we didn't have any tanks for the welding torches or a welder. We bolted lots of things together. I'm still amazed at some of the machinery my dad repaired and also built.

Durango Dave · 06-17-2017, 05:12 PM

Thanks, and also the spare tire is redone. Just had to have someone here kick me in the tail to use mechanical fasteners lol..

Drilled 4 holes in the bumper, my bit was just bearly long enough to go all the way through, i had to just bearly put it in the drill to make it lol..

So now instead of the weight of the tire being on the heads of the bolts like before, the weight is shared and most of the weight is now on the shaft of the bolt which is much better. It should never come off there. Plus i gained 2 more inches in ground clearance of the tire by doing it this way.

This project probably saved me about $120 in welding costs. Plus the second bracket on the bumper gave me room to mount my creeper.

Now im exhausted, hot, and sweaty, time for some ice cream, a soda, and some rest.