Holes on trailer frame

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I have a 34 foot travel trailer that has 8 9/16" holes in the A frame from some self threading bolts/screws.  I want to weld them shut.   The A frame is box tube with no access to the rear and the ends are welded up.  all the holes are on the side of the box frame so they will be verticle welds.Now I have plenty of experience with tig to do this, but getting my tig machine with power to the tongue is out of the question.  I can't maneuver the rig anywhere near close enough.   So I need to do it with my Lincoln 180 dual mig since  I have a long enough 240 power cord for it or can run it off my generator on 240.With mig,  I'm pretty much a beginner.  This will have to be flux core as it is outside and there is always a bit of wind.   I have thought that maybe I could make some washers with flats ground out on the sides and stick them in behind the hole as backers.  Then tack them on.However,   from there on I am not experienced enough to know the right technique with mig.I would appreciate some good advise.Thanks.(crud.. I think I put this in the wrong part of the forum)Last edited by Housedad; 09-10-2012 at 01:32 AM.Victor Oxy weld/cut Setup Meco Midget Torch outfitEverlast 2016 250EX & Power Cool W300Lincoln Power mig 210MP  w/amptrol and Spool GunEverlast Powerarc 200 Hypertherm Powermax 45Bandsaw, Lathe, grinders, press, Bridgeport, etc.
Reply:Originally Posted by Housedad(crud.. I think I put this in the wrong part of the forum)
Reply:Get a few short pieces of 1/2" round rod, tack a random bolt or welding rod with no flux to the end for a handle.  Hold in hole, recessed slightly, tack in place with mig.  Break off welding rod handle and proceed to weld over the whole thing, grind and sand smooth.  If you don't put a chunk of filler in you will be going, spot, spot, spot, spot, spot around the hole until its filled.
Reply:The frame holes you want to fill are probably quite rusty, so clean up the inside, and grind a small area around the holes to clean metal.Bgbkwndo.
Reply:Originally Posted by cd19Get a few short pieces of 1/2" round rod, tack a random bolt or welding rod with no flux to the end for a handle.  Hold in hole, recessed slightly, tack in place with mig.  Break off welding rod handle and proceed to weld over the whole thing, grind and sand smooth.  If you don't put a chunk of filler in you will be going, spot, spot, spot, spot, spot around the hole until its filled.
Reply:Clean the area around the holes with your favorite grinder.  Maybe use a round file to clean the inside edges of the holes.Now using the flux core wire feed you should be able to just start an arc anywhere on the circumfrence of the hole then draw a spiral around one or two times ending at the center.  The plug will look like a melted chocolate Hershey's kiss.  Grind flat as desired.I have done this so I  know my method as described above works.- MondoMember, AWSLincoln ProMIG 140Lincoln AC TombstoneCraftsman Lathe 12 x 24 c1935Atlas MFC Horizontal MillCraftsman Commercial Lathe 12 x 36 c1970- - - I'll just keep on keepin' on.
Reply:Just curious but why do you want to weld/close up the holes?Ed Conleyhttp://www.screamingbroccoli.com/MM252MM211 (Sold)Passport Plus & Spool gunLincoln SP135 Plus- (Gone to a good home)Klutch 120v Plasma cutterSO 2020 benderBeer in the fridge
Reply:Thanks for the hints and information.   Looks like it will be fairly easy.Ther reason I want to weld up the hole is that the box section is sealed and not painted inside.  The holes let in water.  They are from screws used to hold on a Reese WD hitch.I ditched my 1 year old Reese Dual Cam system and have gone to a different Weight distributing hitch.  The Reese was a piece of junk.  The design is fine,  but the ones they are making for the last two years are really hit and miss on quality.   Reese was bought out by Cequent, owners of Hidden Hitch, Draw-Tite, Buldog, and Techonsha, to name a few.  Once they did that,  all the production and design went to China.   Now they are selling Chinese junk.  On the one that I have, the Cam Brackets and snap up bracketsare manufactured so poorly {Bent wrong during manufacture) that there is no way to make the thing work without the brackets self destructing.  I went through 6 sets of brackets upper and lower, with the same problem.So,  weld em up and kiss the old hitch goodbuy.Victor Oxy weld/cut Setup Meco Midget Torch outfitEverlast 2016 250EX & Power Cool W300Lincoln Power mig 210MP  w/amptrol and Spool GunEverlast Powerarc 200 Hypertherm Powermax 45Bandsaw, Lathe, grinders, press, Bridgeport, etc.
Reply:Hint:If you weld them up tight you will seal in any remining moisture in the trapped air.  This could lend to increased corrosion rate from the inside unless purged completely with argon or nitrogen.Moisture is insideous.  Water vapor gets into EVERYTHING, but once it has penetrated it takes up permanent residence and does not leave by itself.Have you ever noticed areas of moisture that appear momentarily on the surface of new steel plate when heated with a torch?  In the first few seconds when the flame is applied you can usually see an area of moisture being driven off the surface.  Some of this moisture may be from the by-products of the combustion in the flame as all hydrocarbons release water vapor in the combustion process.  This moisture first condenses on the cool metal then immediatly evaporates as the temperature of the surface of the metal rises, but some of the moisture you see is trapped in the metal and the heat drives it out.  To get all that moisture out of the steel tube you will need to heat all of it at least to the boiling temperature of water.If you are trying to reduce the corrosion rate in the tubing you will be better off ventilating it by opening the ends.  Preventing corrosion in this situation ventilation will be your friend.Maybe you can seal the holes for a cosmetic appearance but still ventilate the ends of the tube.  You could try to saturate the atmosphere inside with a penetrating oil that could provide an anti-oxidation coating, but this would require recoating annually or semi-annually.  You could use conventional rustproofing applied with a spray nozzel on the end of a long slender pipe inserted through the open end of the tube Ziebart style, though I would not recommend Ziebart.  Conventional Ziebart coating that was popular in the 1970s and 1980s when Detroit was producing automobiles that had thin poorly protected sheetmetal hardens to a substance that can peel off.  In some circumstances moisture would get between the coating and the metal and promote corrosion rather than prevent it.  Better choices were greasy wax-like coatings that were sticky and did not dry or weep off like the popular alternative of hot bar-and-chain oil.  Texaco marked a coating I used on my 1970 Power Wagon.  I can't recall the name of the product other than Texaco Rustproof Coating.  It had the consistancy of high-fiber wheel bearing grease mixed with parrafin.  It was messy to apply and it stayed that way - you would get it all over yourself every time you crawled under the truck to service it - but once something was coated with that stuff rust never showed it's ugly face again.- MondoMember, AWSLincoln ProMIG 140Lincoln AC TombstoneCraftsman Lathe 12 x 24 c1935Atlas MFC Horizontal MillCraftsman Commercial Lathe 12 x 36 c1970- - - I'll just keep on keepin' on.
Reply:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmoline
Reply:Originally Posted by dbotoshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmoline