Auto Welding

M

MicMurry

Joined
May 12, 2002
Messages
2,111
I'm about to tackle my first serious automotive repair. (serious as in my venture past oil, battery changes etc.)

Anyway, the door hinge on my sisters Jeep broke off. Im simply going to remove the door, fender and what ever else is in the way and reweld the hinge.
Though now that I'm about to do I was wondering if this will fry all the electronics.
Some quick googling turned up nothing. So my intelligence guided by experience says that it should be fine. Because the frame is 'ground' for a car so the common ground will simply be raised by 12v and everything will be fine. Maybe....

Any experience with this one? :confused:
 
I just did the same repair on my Jeep Cherokee.

All I did is remove the ground from the battery, hooked up my welder, and went at it. This is the second time I've had to weld a hinge, and have never had any problems with the electronics afterwards.
 
My understanding...

You have to keep the ground hooked up in such a way that it is the easiest path for the electricty to follow. Dont hook up the ground clamp to the front bumper and weld the rear bumper... but hook up to the same piece of metal your trying to weld!

I've heard all kinds of things can happen, but I myself... have never undertaken a welding project on a car! (hope I never "have" to) Mainly because my welds look like bird crap. :D
 
Cool, thanks for the tip CODE3. I wouldn't have thought about the ground wire. :footinmou

Any tips/tricks? I'm going to tackle it this weekend, not looking forward to it.
 
Only tip I can offer is to keep some water in a spray bottle handy, and maybe some damp towels on the carpet under the hinge. You will have sparks fall on the carpet, and leave black spots, so the wet/ damp towel will absorb those instead. The spray bottle is for any flare ups that may occur.

Also, after you weld the hinge, let it air cool for about 15 minutes. Don't put any water on it as this may cause fatigue on the hinge or the sheet metal behind it.

I did this with the door in place both times; I supported the door with a floor jack, and raised it up enough so the sheet metal behind the hinge lined back up with the doorjamb. I then ran a bead all the way around the hinge twice. The first time I only ran one bead, and it wasn't as strong as this time.
 
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