Welding On My Truck

[oldshep]

Howdy. Ive finally got some work done on my custom bed for my bobbed truck. Question. Can I weld on the bed when I get it on the truck without blowing up the electrical or causing harm to the truck? And no Im not welding anything directly onto the frame. Thanks for your input. Oh and pics will come later. I promise.

Will.

 

[mdmorgan]

You should be fine but if you want, you can disconnect the batteries.

 

[Seth_O]

You should be fine. Might want to disconnect your batteries first. I have a '69 Landcruiser I weld on semi-frequently (suspension mod's, body work, etc) with everything still attached with no ill effects so far.

I suppose it could be different for the duece, but I can't imagine why.

 

[gimpyrobb]

Should be fine w/o disconnecting the batts, but its so easy to do, why take the chance?

 

[Hogg]

In my exerpience with welding on anything with an electical system, DEFINATELY disconnect the batteries. Its not worth the risk or headache if something were to short out... I work in the oilfield trucking industry and its common practice to disconnect the batts before welding on any part of a truck MV or not, my

 

[wildbilly1760]

Disconnect the batteries, also try to clamp the ground close to what you want to weld, so the current doesnt have to travel through any bearings or pivot points. You dont want any arcing or fusion going on where it isnt needed.

I welded on an old work truck one time that must have had a bad ground. Every time I started to weld the tail lights would come on until I stopped welding. I never noticed, because I was under the hood, but a by stander alerted me to it. It didnt hurt anything, but I am sure it was hard on the light bulbs. Bill

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'd make sure you ground to nice clean metal. Grind a spot down for the ground clamp when welding on a vehicle. If you clamp to crud, rust, paint or just plain dirty metal, the welding current will have "search" for the ground at the bad connection, and this is when things can get fried.

 

[tm america]

I've been welding for yrs without disconnecting the batts. No problems so far.But it is always best to diconnect if you have any doupts all you have to do is disconnect the ground from the batt not all the connections.i always put ground close to the weld if at all possible