Aluminum Spool gun wire

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Hello, I just bought a new Miller Spoolmatic spooling gun and told a few people around the small town where I live that I am now set up to do mobile aluminum welding and within the past 4 days 2 guys have came to me and want me to weld there triaxle dump truck boxes, one of the boxes should be sold as scrap and the other one isn't too too bad but what I want to know is,I used to use ER4043 wire years ago for general aluminum welding but I was wondering if the ER 5356 would be better, could anyone please tell me the difference between the 2 different wires are and also what would be the better wire to run in the spoolmatic to get the best results done for this certain job done.No one around here does aluminum so if I can do this job efficently and welded strongly I may get lots more work.I hope that someone can help.Thanks in advance.John
Reply:4043 is a great choice for the welding of heat-treatable base alloys and more specifically the 6XXX series alloys. It has a lower melting point and more fluidity than the 5XXX series filler alloys and is preferred by welders because of its favorable operating characteristics. ER4043 type wires are also less sensitive to weld cracking with the 6XXX series base alloys. Radnor® 4043 is suitable for sustained elevated temperature service, i.e. above 150° F.5356 is our most popular aluminum MIG wire. It is a great general purpose filler alloy designed for the welding of 5XXX series alloys when 40,000 psi (276 MPa) tensile strength is not required.source: AirgasJohn -  fabricator extraordinaire, car nut!-  bleeding Miller blue! http://www.weldfabzone.com
Reply:our macsimizer bodies are 7XXX series ali. we rotate between the 4043 and 5356. depends on the welder doing the work, but all my wire is 5356 for my general ali welding work on the dumps. it he bed is worn out, a new bed liner is a must. you'll spend 90 hours trying to touch up a worn bed. anywhere the bed is worn thin a patch panel needs to be installed. the frame works on the tailgate and such also take a pounding, just grind, clean and weld them. our driver beat the tailgates to death, always repairing them."Retreat hell, were just fighting in the other direction"Miller Trailblazer 302, Extreme 12 VS, Dimension 400, Spectrum 375, HF 251D-1, Milermatic 251 w/ spoolgun  Hypertherm 1000Lincoln sp 1702000 F-450 to haul it
Reply:Only my opinion anything that goes down the road needs 5356.You need A LOT of heat to weld the bigger parts like the tailgate.Sounds like you found a niche.  Good luckDavidReal world weldin.  When I grow up I want to be a tig weldor.
Reply:Been welding alum dump trailers for many years using 5356 & argon- helium mix. City, East, Fruehaef & other brands The 5356 has a better tolerance for dirt than the 4043.Last edited by lars66; 07-15-2007 at 12:09 PM.
Reply:I started last night on one of the trucks,the job is going not to bad except that I had one bad crack that I filled but then 20 min later is sounded like an explosion and the weld cracked again, so I went back over it with 5356.I set the heat on the Trailerblazer at 22-23 Volt and then adjusted speed until I heard the smooth hissing sound and all seems well but the contact tip is live at all times, and I get burnback and fuse the tip,I though that the tip would only be energized when trigger is pulled but this isn't the case.