welding in bed of truck

[ugabulldog]

I am going to take bucket in the pickup bed to a guy and have him weld on grab hooks (I don't trust my welding skills when lifting heavy items with bucket hooks). I was going to take some cardboard/blankets to keep sparks from damaging paint and plastic bed liner. My other questions is could this damage computet/electronics on truck? I plan on disconnecting battery. Just wanted to get everyones opinion if this sounds ok?,..... thanks.

 

[RNeumann]

They say you need to DC all the computers etc before welding on the truck. But their’s a simple fix! Just throw and old piece of OSB or plywood in the bed before you put the bucket in. Then obviously don’t have chain or some other conductive material holding the bucket in place. This will keep the bucket welding isolated from the truck.

 

[Shaneard]

I am going to take bucket in the pickup bed to a guy and have him weld on grab hooks (I don't trust my welding skills when lifting heavy items with bucket hooks). I was going to take some cardboard/blankets to keep sparks from damaging paint and plastic bed liner. My other questions is could this damage computet/electronics on truck? I plan on disconnecting battery. Just wanted to get everyones opinion if this sounds ok?,..... thanks.

Seriously? Cardboard and blankets and sparks could possibly destroy your truck by CATCHING FIRE. If you have to, take it on a trailer and unhook the trailer if your worried about the electrical system on your truck but please, keep the cardboard and blankets at home.

 

[ugabulldog]

I have a rubber bedliner (on top of plastic bedliner) that the bucket will sit on, so in this case there is no need to disconnect battery?

 

[Ford850]

Go to Harbor Freight and get a 8x8 welding blanket for $30. Lay in in the bed on top of the rubber mat before you lay the bucket in there, and drape the extra width over each truck bed side and up the front by the cab. The weld blanket will be handy to have in the future too.

 

[1stDeuce]

The only way you burn up electronics when welding is by grounding to things that you aren't directly welding on.

If you ground to the tailpipe and weld on the frame, or on the body, you may blow out a few components.
Ground to the bucket and weld on the bucket, no worries at all, whether it's on rubber, plywood, or right on the steel of the bed directly.

 

[RNeumann]

I have a rubber bedliner (on top of plastic bedliner) that the bucket will sit on, so in this case there is no need to disconnect battery?

That should be good.

 

[RNeumann]

Btw- the ground side is the issue with welding and the vehicle. With that, DCing the battery wont do much. Their are lots of grounds in a vehicle!

Btw #2- the high freq TIG is the most likely to cause damage to electronics. Not that I wouldn’t use precautions with other processes- just some stupid trivia.

 

[flewism]

You can rent a 4X7 open trailer for $15 a day + tax around here at U-Haul.

U-Haul

 

[joefromga]

Ask the tens of thousands of muffler shops how many of the tens of millions of cars they work on annually have damaged electronics.