Welding on Tractor

[woodlandfarms]

My tractor is quite simple , not much more than a battery, generator and simple guages (not like the fancy new Deers and Kubota CPU's).

I want to weld a couple of hooks onto the tractor and am new to welding. Should I just disconnect the battery, or should I do more?

Carl

 

[Seon]

Welding on it shouldn't harm anything. Muffler shops weld on late model cars daily and they don't disconnect the battery.

 

[Soundguy]

Just for safety.. DO disconnect 1 or 2 cables from the battery. If you get froggy.. disconnect the vr terminals too. That's what i do on my old fords.. Also.. put your ground clamp as close to the work area as possible.. this keeps you from welding thru pins/joints/bearings.. etc.. and gives the 'lazy' currrent an immediate ground path.

Soundguy

 

[Tom_Veatch]

...I want to weld a couple of hooks onto the tractor and am new to welding. Should I just disconnect the battery, or should I do more?

Carl

It should not be necessary to disconnect the battery cables, but electrical current sometimes takes unexpected paths. As Soundguy said, it's cheap insurance to pull the cables.

Also, as Soundguy said, be sure the ground clamp is positioned as closely as possible to the point at which you are welding. If you place the clamp on the far side of any bearings, bushings, or moveable joints, you are almost certainly going to cause some degree of arcing across that joint. That may, or may not, destroy the integrity of that joint. Best not to take the chance.

I manage to frequently stick the workpiece to the welding table by connecting the ground clamp to the table instead of directly to the piece. The attachment of piece to table is a poor weld, and easily broken, but is way more than you want to see in a bearing.

 

[thingy]

Yeah,what they said,,,you might want to disconnect battery,,but probably ain't nessacary,,,what is nessacary is put that ground as close as you can to where your welding,,,and watch where the sparks might go,,,hydro cylinder,,,fuel,,etc,,thingy

 

[Soundguy]

Thingy actually brings up a -REALLY- good point... arc/sparks throw molten metal and slag.. you don't want that hitting your hood/piant.. or a thin readiator.. or sticking to exposed chromed hyd cyl pistons..

Soundguy

 

[TwinWillows]

I've worked in an industrial construction & maintenance environment for many years. I know of many costly repairs resulting from the damage caused by welding when the ground path went thru a pump, compressor or electrical control panel so I'm extremely cautious about welding around my machinery.

If welding is needed on an implement I always disconnect it from the tractor before welding. That way I don't have to worry about slag burning tractor paint, chrome hyd cylinders, electronics or bearings...

If you do need to weld directly on the tractor, the above advice to disconnect the battery & clamp your ground as close to the piece being welded "should" prevent stray current from zapping across bearings & electrical connections.

 

[thingy]

Course nowadays some tractors have computors and such just like cars do now,,,hard to tell how things like that act?? probably nothing to worry about as long as you keep ground close,,,,thingy

 

[rback33]

Depending on the what and where of the welding.. we used to weld on on the chisel, field cultivator and all that stuff while backed up to the shop and still hooked to a 335 hp Case 4wd..... did the same thing for in the field repairs. Whole tractor was electronic and never had any issues.