Welding to cast cntrl arms

Has anyone here tried to weld to cast control arms? I have seen full size Gm trucks with brackets welded to the lower arms (which are cast). Pple have done it with Honda control arms and spindles. Dodge magnums, 300s and chargers require the spindle to be extended to fit a 26. Can it be done with Mig?

I weld on cast with my 220v mig, everything i have done holds fine.

Alot of people automatically think when they see cast stuff that its cast iron. Some of it is and some of it is cast steel....there is a difference.

I agree, there is a huge difference with cast iron and cast steel. What have you welded?

The most major part that i welded that was cast was a pitman arm off a steering box.

I know guys that have fullsize chevys that have welded link bar tabs to the pumpkin which is cast and they dont have any problems.

Take your time, turn the heat up and weld it slow and youll be good.

I have cut and welded spindles, and draglinks before. Both were cast steel, and i havent had problems with them.

http://www.esabna.com/EUWeb/OXY_handbook/589oxy16_1.htm
"Cast Steel Many castings are made from steel, rather than cast iron, in order to arrive at finished parts which have high shock resistance and good ductility, properties in which cast iron is generally deficient. Cast steel can often be distinguished from cast iron by its surface color. The

Nice info. Im glad to hear that pple were able to get it done. A few years ago I tried to weld a bracket to a navigator 4wd lower front control arm and it ended up popping right off and taking the surface of the control arm with it. I tried the same with an f150 pumpkin and had the same problem. Since then Ive been weary and havent tried again.

When welding cast, make sure you heat that shit up REALLY REALLY hot before welding, you can crack the cast other wise. if you dont have a torch, the oven in a house works too (havnt done the oven trick, but know it works just as good)

Originally posted by BclassBD



When welding cast, make sure you heat that shit up REALLY REALLY hot before welding, you can crack the cast other wise. if you dont have a torch, the oven in a house works too (havnt done the oven trick, but know it works just as good)

I think this technique is for cast Iron, I dont think any suspension components are made of cast Iron, its too brittle. Cast steel is more common due to its durability.

Anything that is cast needs to be treated differently than something that isn't before welding. The proper way is to look up the ASME number of the metal and find out what the iron content and other elements are to find out the true temperature it should be preheated to. Now that is a nice world, but in the real world most people dont do that or have the ability to do so. Just make sure that you dont let the metal cool too quickly and it also helps to peen the weld. You do this by taking a welding hammer and hitting the welded area to stress relieve it. Another way to get around preheating is to slowly weld it and dont let the area turn cherry red, if it starts to...stop and let it cool down and start up again.

back when i was in High school my welding instructor, who was a journeyman, always had me weld cast iron with a stick welder, but you have to use a nickel rod, the rod isnt completety nickel but its a carbon filler rod with a higher content of nickel. you should be able to get them at any welding supply store but they are expensive