Outer Tie Rod Question

[JRouche]

Hmmm? Im not a fan of welding on certain parts. Some of those are brake pedal arms, steering shafts and spindles. BUT!! I have, Id rather not if there is another option. And yes, sometimes there is not.

Spindles would be my last pick for some welding mods, mainly cause thats the whole ball of wax. You loose that mount and it could mean you eating an entire family in a minivan on the freeway. Not something I could deal with.

A simple spark test would not be enough for me to decide to weld on a spindle, not when there are other fixes that dont leave anything to a "guess". And sure as not, the spindles are steel not iron, dont think the modern cars used cast iron spindles.

But the thing is it could still be a semi high carbon cast steel. Without positive carbon content you really DONT know what you are welding. If it has even a couple of points higher of carbon then the plates you used it WILL have carbon migration. And that might be enough to cause a weak joint, or at least a joint that is not perfect. And when you are talking about a car spindle you really should be looking to make the most perfect joint that you can.

So how do you do that? Well, Im not sure. I would start with NOT introducing a metal (the plates) that you are not certain they are the same make up (mainly carbon content).

The spindles could be welded without the plates. To keep it on the safe side I would weld the spindles like they were cast iron. Some decent pre-heating, a good welding process (Id use stick or TIG) and a proper filler, Id use a filler high in nickle and one that Id use for cast iron even though the casting is steel. High nickle fillers have great performance.

And then Id follow it up with a good post heat cycle.

But the last thing I would do is introduce some mild steel plate into the weld pool. You really are working with an unknown at this point. You dont have ANY idea what the carbon content of the spindles are, its just a guess.

I would always be thinking in the back of my head while running down the road at 60mph+ if I did the right thing buy using the mild steel plates.



And if there is not enough meat left over after you cut the spindles up that you really need the plates then it kinda sounds like a fix that you are chasing and not really fixing. JR