Hey all! I cannot believe it has been a year since I have been on here! Life and time just got away from me!
I spent this winter doing a MASSIVE remodel project on my basement, so my Jeep has sat somewhat neglected in the garage all winter. BUT, I thought I'd bring this thread up to date with what happened after I got back from Moab last year.
My Moab trip last year was cut short due to a personal thing back home, but the one day I did spend there was really such an incredible experience. I got out there and met up with
@JMT and we hit Hell's Revenge as my very frist off-road trail.... ever. Aside from the main trail, the only major obstacle I did was Hell's Gate. It went really well. My mind was blown by what these vehicles are capable of! I'll post some pics when I get a chance. My phone is being dumb and won't recognize the cable plugin. grr (I had to email myself all of the photos I am about to post)
Toward the end of Hell's Revenge, I lost steering. We barely got it off the trail. I ended up putting my jeep on the trailer and riding with
@JMT on Fins and Things before heading back to camp and later deciding to leave Moab.
The short story, is that during my front end repairs/upgrades earlier that year, I had replaced my frame bracket/mount that holds the steering box in place. Despite my lack of experience in welding, I had decided to weld the new bracket on myself. If you don't try, you're never going to learn. Well, that weld failed spectacularly. When I got home (and after I repaired it), I realized what had happened. In my nervousness to execute the weld properly, I forgot to turn the gas on. Yup. I made that bad of a mistake. #facepalm How I excepted that ugly of a weld as good enough????? No idea. I was probably just in a hurry and excited to be done with that portion of the project. No excuses here.
And staying true to my walk of shame.... here is the photo of the damage and broken 'weld':
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The above welds clearly didn't even try to penetrate.
When I got home, I had to decide... do I make a second attempt at welding this myself??? OR Do I just accept defeat and send it to a shop to be welded? Well, I really do want to learn how to weld properly, so I went with Option #1. The problem was, at the time, I didn't realize I hadn't turned on the gas! So, instead of turning on the gas and trying again... I decided it was the machine's fault. lol I proceeded to list my current welder for sale on FB marketplace, and purchase myself the dream upgrade I had always wanted. Let's face it, it was a pretty decent excuse to get something newer and cooler.
Out with the Old:
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AAAAAND In with the NEW:
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To say I love my new toy, would probably be the understatement of the century. Now that I at least believed I was set up for success, I proceeded with the repair.
First, I coated the inside of the new bracket with POR15 (of course, I left some clean edges for the weld to stick to):
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Then I got busy cleaning up the frame to mount the new piece:
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Then I dry fit the new piece:
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And then tacked it on:
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Then I burned it permanently into place:
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Those are the only pictures I have of the unpainted weld. I did finish the weld in the front there as you will see in these final photos.
And finally, completed with a fresh coat of POR15 + Top Coat:
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