repairing cracked aluminum nerf bars

[DUALSTROKE]

Well I got a set of these AC I believe nerfs off another member here a little while ago and finally got around to repairing them today.I wanted to break out the welder but didn't want to blow the material to pieces so I chose to use the durafix aluminum welding rods.I have used these in the past to fix aluminum boats,etc.Problem is if the metal is too thin these rods don't work well cause the material when heated starts to break down.Well today I had great results doing this method and figured I would share.Here is some pics of what it looked like before.

You can see in this pic I used a hack saw and cut a fresh new groove over the crack for bonding and to give me some room to take a slight bend out.

 

[DUALSTROKE]

Here is a pic of the nerfs after pulling the slight bend out and just before welding.

And the finished product

I put them to the fat man test today and so far it has been rock solid.lol Time will tell.I am very happy the way it turned out so far.

 

[Blasterdude27]

Great write up! nice welds too
rep for you!

 

['blanshee'man]

Very nice dualstroke, can barely tell there was a crack. hopfully they hold up. those the ones you got from braap?

 

[DUALSTROKE]

Very nice dualstroke, can barely tell there was a crack. hopfully they hold up. those the ones you got from braap?

Thanks guys,yeah bro those are the ones from braap. If it doesn't for some reason hold up I have a few other tricks in the sleeve to do.But after standing on them with the fat man test I have confidence.lol

 

[245stroker]

looks great, add a little polish and you'll never know there was a crack there. Nice job

 

['blanshee'man]

Thanks guys,yeah bro those are the ones from braap. If it doesn't for some reason hold up I have a few other tricks in the sleeve to do.But after standing on them with the fat man test I have confidence.lol

hahaha that test never lies

 

[DUALSTROKE]

hahaha that test never lies

You are not kidding.lol and stroker is right I need to polish them and they will look even nicer.

 

[Dave16]

Great job on the welding, I can't wait until my dad teaches me to weld. Then I'll be able to weld on gussets and build hybrids!I:I

 

[blasterfreek30]

ive used those rods bro.....they do work pretty amazing.....u can repair anything aluminum

 

[The Ox]

You dont actually weld with those, do you? Is it more like soldering. Where do you get them at or what is the name for them if I look for some. Nice job. Wonder if it would work on engine cases,,,,,not that they ever crack or break...Good job.

 

[blasterfreek30]

u can get them at home depot......they are bernzamatic type with diffrent heat grades......look by the welding supplies

 

[Braapbraap95]

Wowww, sweet job Denny! Makes me want to work on something! Actually, no, its too cold out

 

[The Ox]

So do you heat it with propane or acetalyne torch or what.

 

[blasterfreek30]

So do you heat it with propane or acetalyne torch or what.

they work with a propane torch

 

[Ted5986]

So do you heat it with propane or acetalyne torch or what.

they say you can use any clean gas flame....like propane or mapp. they dont recommend acetylene tho. and you need to clean with a stainless brush.

 

[DUALSTROKE]

The rods I used were made by "durafix" aluminum welding rods.I ordered them off the net.They work pretty well,but takes a little to get used to.I use mapp gas instead of propane cause it gets hotter quicker.I have never used the home depot bernzamatic ones,didn't even know they sold them.lol I got 30 something rods when I ordered them a year ago and probably have only used 3 total so far.On a side note:If the material is thin it will not work very well cause the metal when heated will just blow out.I did a simple little fix on an aluminum boat to patch a few holes,well simple wasn't simple when the aluminum was so thin on the bottom it made a even bigger hole.I ended up adding a piece of aluminum on the inside and then using the rods and it has worked well to this day.

Dura Fix Aluminum Welding Aluminum Brazing Aluminum Soldering & Repair Rod

 

[stephen12091985]

wow them look really nice now

 

[jbblaster]

sweet bro looks nice. im taking welding in ag and so far im one of the best welders in the class and soon we will learn to braze. fiy that is brazing not welding.