Artec Truss

Ordered up the new Artec front axle truss for my Rubi 44. Talking to the techs at Artec they informed me that there is no need to remove the Diff when welding on the Cast centre section. Saying that does anyone no if the centre section is cast steel or cast iron. Talking to the welder at my work I can weld with my 220 Mig to cast steel but not to cast iron. Thanks for any help.

Its cast steel. Preheat to about 400 degrees, post heat, then wrap it in a weld blanket so it cools slow. Its a lot easier if you pull the front end. Have some water in a squirt bottle standing by to cool off the UCA bushing mounts so they don't melt/catch on fire.

What he said but, before you commit to doing this, you should know that you'll most likely BEND your axle more than it probably already is by installing this. I see it all the time and taking your time won't be enough to prevent it. The best guys out there to do it take extra steps to help mitigate bending of the axle but even at that, it's just a best guess.

Its currently not bent, this is being installed to prevent the bending. Spoke with a couple of people who have installed and the common feedback was take your time welding. It will be out of the Jeep and on the bench for a couple days so there is no rush to install. Hope this will prevent any form of bending. When you think about it this is not the first truss kit to ever be installed on a diff.

Mikes Offroad said:

Its currently not bent, this is being installed to prevent the bending. Spoke with a couple of people who have installed and the common feedback was take your time welding. It will be out of the Jeep and on the bench for a couple days so there is no rush to install. Hope this will prevent any form of bending. When you think about it this is not the first truss kit to ever be installed on a diff.

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I've done three and none were warped that I could tell and they aligned fine. Use skip welds. Do a couple inches and stop and move on to another region of the housing. I use a stick welder so the clean up gives a lot of time for it to cool between welds. If your gonna MIG it you might want to walk away for a while between welds.

If you live in a salty area you also might want to etch prime the inside before you put the 1/4" cap on cause its almost impossible to do once its welded up. I've also seen where people preloaded he housing from the bottom side with load binders but I didn't.

Mikes Offroad said:

Its currently not bent, this is being installed to prevent the bending. Spoke with a couple of people who have installed and the common feedback was take your time welding. It will be out of the Jeep and on the bench for a couple days so there is no rush to install. Hope this will prevent any form of bending. When you think about it this is not the first truss kit to ever be installed on a diff.

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Nope, not the first, there are plenty of people who have done it and only the honest ones will admit that there was some bending after installing it. Like I said, timing is far from enough to prevent bending. If you want to do it right, you have to take significant additional steps above and beyond that. There are only a few pros that I know who do this and even then, it's still just a best guess. Don't get me wrong, I'm just trying to save you some grief - maybe the bending you'll get won't be enough for you to notice or care.