i need suggestions

[bitchinexplorer]

tonight me and a friend r putting new bumpers on my explorer. its going to be just 3 inch pipe going straight across, nothing special. when im welding up my bumper, will it be ok to use a wire feed welder on this? i have a friend with an arc welder that can do it if he should. but will a wire feed be able to hold the bumper up? thanks.

 

[blueox]

It will be more than capable.

 

[rookieshooter]

Is it 120 volt or 220 volt wire feed and just how good are you at mig? What wire size to you plan to use? Is it schedule 40 pipe? A lot has to do with penetration of the weld. You are talking about something that has to be able to take a tremendous structural impact not just look good on the front of your truck. You know your capabilities. If you are just so so with the wire feed and your friend with the stic weld knows his sh-t I'd go with the stick. JMO. You make the call.

 

[jimbo74]

Is it 120 volt or 220 volt wire feed and just how good are you at mig? What wire size to you plan to use? Is it schedule 40 pipe? A lot has to do with penetration of the weld. You are talking about something that has to be able to take a tremendous structural impact not just look good on the front of your truck. You know your capabilities. If you are just so so with the wire feed and your friend with the stic weld knows his sh-t I'd go with the stick. JMO. You make the call.

what he said.....

im a competant welder, but wouldnt trust my 110 mig on a bumper........

 

[rookieshooter]

what he said.....

im a competant welder, but wouldnt trust my 110 mig on a bumper........

jimabena you said that about (hold on I have to look up this word, there it is succinctly) succinctly as possable. On my B11 project I mig the sheet metal which works great with my 110, but on the really thick steel I call on the big Dawgs and go stick.

 

[jimbo74]

jimabena you said that about (hold on I have to look up this word, there it is succinctly) succinctly as possable. On my B11 project I mig the sheet metal which works great with my 110, but on the really thick steel I call on the big Dawgs and go stick.

i can weld on a 220 arc as well, thats actually what i learned on.... and with it i welded up a control arm on my tercel when i snapped it.... it worked for awhile..... there is no way my current 110 mig would have held at all though on that control arm....

 

[blueox]

Sorry, I never even considered it would be 110. In my mind you were using my miller matic 220v and it is MORE than capable.

 

[ryf]

I have both a 220v Arc/Stick and a 110 flux Mig as well, They both should be able to weld a reasonable bumper, the Arc would would be undoubtably faster, since it should have a higher duty cycle as well as hopefully only need one pass. My current flip-up tire carrier (not wife friendly) was all welded with a 110v Mig, and the new rear bumper I'm starting in the next few weeks will be 110v Mig welded, mostly due to the lack of 220V in my new work area for now.

I agree with rookieshooter, whichever one YOU are comfortable with, use that, but don't let a "bigger welder" keep you from doing the basics like grinding a bevel onto the edge and prepping the metal.

If you have access to both, to save you time, I'd go Arc. It will probably put 2-3x as much down in a good pass. good luck and get us pics

 

[RockRanger]

I welded my old bumper with a 110v wire feed. It held my warn 8274 to the front of my truck for some pretty hard pulls. I used it to drag my truck about 20 feet on its driverside till I could get to a spot the i could flip it back on its wheels. However the way I designed my bumper I had about 8" weld on each side to help make sure the welds held. In a ddition to type of welder design will also play a big roll in how strong your bumper will be.