1G MIG welding bell housing?

[Hesh724]

I have a crack in my bell housing and i am weighing the pros and cons of taking a chance and having the crack welded with the trans. still in the car. i am aware that its not the best way to go but i have to work and cant have my car down for a week so has anyone ever tried this. ps i know its not the right way but i don't care i am aware of slag .

 

[viperlp01]

I just welded a bell housing on a built transmission that was hot tanked and bead blasted. I used a tig welder and it was extremely hard because of how dirty it still was. I would not recommend trying to weld a cast aluminum dirty bellhousing with a mig welder. With it being out of the car and have to clean the inside of the housing multiple times to even get a clean bead, I couldn't imagine what a mig weld with the trans in the car would look like. It honesty would most likely make the case weaker since you will not have good penetration. I had to make a groove in the case with a muffler grinder so I would have full penetration.

 

[Hesh724]

That makes sense what it i acetone it and v it out real good first i just need it to last untill i can find another bellhousing. Thanks for the info as well!

 

[viperlp01]

Mig welding aluminum is hard enough itself and requires different filler metal and possibly a different gas. Argon is needed to tig aluminum and I don't think CO2 will shield the aluminum.

Also the cleanest part was the outside. It pulls the dirt and grease from the other side of the weld. You can have a clean piece of metal on one side and dirty on the other side and the weld will be contaminated

 

[nickk90]

You need 100% argon gas and to mig weld aluminum you need a spool gun.

 

[brownfinger]

Even properly tig welded trans cases usually end-up getting dumped in favor of a different trans. You should be able to find one for around $300 with a little work and luck. Skip the BS, just replace it.

 

[Hesh724]

I am currently looking for a bellhousing so all i have to do is get that and i should be set. transfercase and trans is fine it didnt even act like anything was wrong exept some extra vibrations. but lets see what we find for sale. fingers crossed

 

[Below Ambient]

take it to a shop that has a spool gun... i would clean the area really well... a good welder should be able to further clean the material before welding it with a grinder and a number of fillet welds...

oh yeah TIG is overated

 

[Hesh724]

I hear the weld ends up being the strongest part so as long as another doesnt show up "fingers Crossed". im making calls tomorow to specialty welding shops and Cleaning and painting and taking advantage of the open space under the hood

 

[rlacasse1]

I have a spare 90 case laying around, well actually it's the entire trans, gears and all. So if your car isn't a daily and you can wait a month for me to get back to the US you can have it for the price of shipping.

I'd imagine you can put all your gears and shit out of yours in this case.

 

[Hesh724]

I have the trans out of the car and everything and reading my book and it looks like the guts are more attached to the bellhousing than the casing? I am scared i may either have to go with a whole new trans or lug this thing around to get it welded cuase im not very adept and internal trans stuff. or find someone who can come over and weld it which i doubt haha. Wish me luck!

 

[Gamble97]

I have the trans out of the car and everything and reading my book and it looks like the guts are more attached to the bellhousing than the casing? I am scared i may either have to go with a whole new trans or lug this thing around to get it welded cuase im not very adept and internal trans stuff. or find someone who can come over and weld it which i doubt haha. Wish me luck!

Yep that is what I learned when I took my trans apart. It's easy to swap the back cover but not the front bell housing. It looked like it would be easy and quick but it's not.
Get it welded. If you have room and it won't touch anything have it welded on the inside and outside and have them make a pass then square around it. So that it will be stronger.