welding cracked rails

[kcdavidak]

have a 2010 m8 just found a crack by the lower front arm mount. question is what series of aluminum are they made from and what series of rod should i use if i tig weld it , or what series wire to use if mig weld it. thanks david

 

[wi.switchback]

i would definitely tig it a mig is a cold start weld and the penetration isnt there right away at the start of the weld and you have to have it super clean also,the tig you have more control of the heat

 

[joshkoltes]

i dont rcommend welding the rails but if you do use tig if available, clean it good then wire wheel it thuroughly with a new stainless wheel. after your done welding grind it flush then build a reinforcement plate to go over it or close to it
or call ice age and fix it with new better parts for about $360

 

[SRXSRULE]

OEM rails cracking is very coming. They keep building them lighter, thinner, and bigger cut outs in them. They all do it but cat has had issues for several years now. I would either run them the way they are or replace with new ones. Eric

 

[LoudHandle]

Most all rails made in the last fifteen years are extruded from a non-weld able 7000 series alloy. You can run a TIG bead and it will look pretty good until you look closely at the heat effected zone and you will notice it cracked on both sides most of the time worse than the original crack. Plus you took the heatreatment out by welding it and getting it hotter than 300 degrees F. You are money ahead by replacing them. Trust me.

 

[kcdavidak]

darn

not really what i wanted to hear. I have tig welded up egged out bolt holes before and redrilled them with good luck. so it sounds like a two part fix. 1 weld up crack and hope for the best. 2 call OTS and get replacements of some sorts $$$. thanks for the replies. david

 

[poorider]

Just use 5356 to get you by, and hopefully it works! (pretty sure that was the question?)

 

[kcdavidak]

Just use 5356 to get you by, and hopefully it works! (pretty sure that was the question?)

yep thats what we used.friend is a better tig welder than I am.

 

[phatty]

Call Brock at Ice Age
877-5-ICEAGE
check website.

www.iceageperformance.com


BEST RAILS AVAILABLE PERIOD.

 

[bart0678]

stock cat rails are 5xxx series al= junk!!
ice age rails are 7xxx series al=priceless

another vote for calling Brock great dude
Adam

 

[JHG]

I have a set of brand new black ice rails in a box in my garage if you're interested.

 

[Twostroke]

I've welded some. I didn't grind them smooth after welding them, had to really giv'er with a hammer to get the hyfaxs back on but they didn't crack again, atleast not while I owned the sled.