A question for the alpha welders out there!
 

I was thinking about the inevitable cracking of the replacement steering box plate that I just installed. I was reading an old welding book and read a part about how the old timers (maybe new timers too?) would hard face their farm equipment so that the added metal would wear instead of the factory piece.

It seems that the plates seem to always break in about the same place and it does seem to me that there is some room in the shape of the plate to add some metal without affecting the installation. So, is this a good idea? or am I just being a dumb welding newby? [duhhh][duhhh]...Mark P.S. I suppose that the heat may weaken the factory steel, but would annealing the metal prevent that?...edit: I really don't want to lift the truck, so crossover steering is not an option, right?,,,

We still hard face all kinds of equipment and wear items, buckets edges, mill rollers, etc. The heat wouldn't be too bad as you aren't really too worried about fusion during hard surfacing. Just not sure it would add much strength. Possibly a fish plate with say a 7018 would reinforce the plate to stop it from fatiguing and cracking.

There was a member out there that was working on making new thicker/stronger plates but not sure whatever happened with it

Thanks, I posted about a replacement here and I guess it was a one off billet plate, but the maker didn't want the liability of producing them. I might just go ahead and do what I had planned, take it to someone with a CNC machine and have them make me a billet one. Probably not cheap, but what is my life worth? (don't answer that! [laugh][laugh])...Mark

Question about crossover...
 

Can I do just a spring lift and gain enough space for crossover?...Mark

You will need at least 2 inch of spring lift IIRC, to go crossover.
Or install a reverse rotation box like several here at DTR, including myself have done.

Thanks Oliver, is there a sticky on it? I'll do a search. The next question, If you may have one laying around, PM me...Mark P.S. That was not a question [duhhh]...

Check out T-man had a nice write up on the swap IIRC.
Mknittle did the swap as did PapeCat. I am sure Mark has some good pictures of it on his 2wd to 4x4 swap thread of his clean looking red truck.
I do have a two more RR box set ups I have been saving for years, but plan on using them on my black '85 crew cab and my '91.0 when they need steering work. I am loving the set up on my white crew cab with the 6 inch lift and big tires. I had Redhead Steering rebuild a box for me, that I pulled off my old '76 Ramcharger.
I think Tim [MrFusion] had a spare pair of RR box, brackets and such for sale a few months ago. He might still have one for sale.

hard face would likely crack sooner. The higher the carbon content in the steel the more brittle it becomes.
I think the biggest problem with that plate isn't what it is made of as much as the three mounting points. even at that it is a poor design.
RR is the way to go for a non to slightly lifter truck.

What rod do you use for hard facing? I was going to do a bunch of that to the bucket on my Case skid steer.

For that application I've had good luck with the Lincoln wearshield ME. IIRC you have a AC machine and this should work well for you

One of my first jobs out of high school was with a pipe laying/construction company, they also had their own gravel pits. I became fairly good friends with the old timer welder they employed....he was old school, and had skills that just amazed me.

He would rebuild all the buckets from excavators to bulldozers to loaders etc. He even rebuilt an old tilt deck trailer every few years since you couldn't buy a tilt deck like that anymore, not legal, and as long as they kept the old one registered and insured it was grandfathered. I still saw it being used a year or so ago. ;)

He would throw down so much hard facing on those buckets/blades that it would make my mind warp....amazing work he did.

Thanks Ashley.....will look into those rods!

Hard facing is more for abrasion resistance. You would be better off to weld a piece of steel into the weak area. You probably don't want to mess with heat treating. It is a pretty specific process.

OR

I still have a spare Reverse Rotation steering box, bracket, and pitman arm that I may be willing to part with. No lift needed. WAY stronger set up.

Check out Tman's post about his conversion.

This is the way to go.[coffee]

Yup, I sent him a pm. I wish that I would have done more checking or done this thread before I just spent the bucks on a new reman'ed redhead unit. If I make a deal on it, that will become available...Mark

I'm not 100 percent sure, but you could check with redhead about changing yours to reverse rotation........ Just a thought.