Cracked Frame

winsa12

Anyone have any advise on how to weld this crack back together? If it matters its a 1989, the cart was bought this way. This is the upright behind the passenger side front tire and its currently pulled closed with a system of ratchet straps and lumber. I tried an 1/8" aluminum rod with my Lincoln Arc welder at various voltages. I could get an arc, but I could never get a bead. I'm a competent carbon steel welder (hobbyist scale), but gave up on this after an hour.

******, the picture flipped upside down. Sorry.

Attached Images

DS Crack.jpg (38.0 KB, 0 views)

BGW

__________________
This advertising will not be shown in this way to registered members.
Register your free account today and become a member on Buggies Gone Wild Golf Cart Forum

Budule

you could put some flat stock in there and drill and bolt it back together if you cant weld it , then you could take it somewhere and have the flat stock welded in if you want to take the bolts out....

Fairtax4me

Best thing might be to remove the front body and take the cart to a welding shop. That crack has a bunch of dirt and oxidation in it and will probably never accept a weld. Aluminum has to be **** near perfectly clean or else the weld puddle will just blast out and the rod material you add to it will just roll off like water on fresh waxed paint.

It may have to be cleaned either chemically or by cutting out the cracked section entirely.
That's going to need material added on at least one side to make it strong enough to not break again.

Are there any other cracks in the main ladder? Or any broken welds where that tube runs across? How about the cross piece at the front of the frame where the bumper bolts on? Look up from underneath. I'd expect to find something else damaged or cracked. The way that upright usually gets cracked is with a hard front end impact.

winsa12

Yeah, a couple of the welds to the right up top (as you look at the cart) popped as well. I was really hoping I was doing something wrong, if it was steel I could have had it fused together with no problem. I got some friends that have better aluminum welding rigs than mine, I'll see if they can do it before I pay a shop.

Thanks.

scottyb

We had luck with a very competent TIG welder. Still was a struggle with the contaminants.

Hit it like a champ

Get it very clean and use a (mig) aluminum spool gun practice on some scrap pieces till you get it set up right.