Terrible factory welds

[iwillnc]

I have an 99 4 cyl 5 speed 2wd XE king cab.

I have a small bit of schooling on welding, that I took for fun, good enough to lay some welds and more than knowledgable to know good from bad welds.

And my god, there is no way I can see how the welds on the frame of this truck ever made it out of the factory, I mean besides the booger welds I'm seeing and seeing masses of welds that only have penetration into one part of the weld, particularly the body mounts are one of the biggest problem areas along with some of the front suspension areas.

I mean with 180k miles none have really broke up to this point, at least from the few I've looked at..

Has anyone else noticed any of this on their trucks? or know anything of the process?




EDIT: Pictures page 5

[zoomzoom]

maybe yours was built on a Mon or a Fri

[iwillnc]

Seems like a high possiibility, so does that mean these frames were in fact welded by people rather than machines

[JaydenH]

pictures???

I weld high pressure tubes for a living.
Also most filler metal is going to be stronger than the base steel so the welds may look bad but the base metal may fail before the welds will.

[speed demon]

Originally Posted by iwillnc

I mean with 180k miles none have really broke up to this point, at least from the few I've looked at.

If it's gone that far those welds aren't as bad as you say. Not to mention there was probably millions of first gens out there, and no history of weld issues. Not trying to bring you down, but maybe your not as schooled on welding as you thought. Is it also possible some half-wit bodyman had his way with it?

[iwillnc]

I'll take pictures tomorrow

[x_mods]

I think the 2nd gens are machine welded, but I don't know about 1st gens.. I looked over a lot of the welds on my truck, they look a little messy, but plenty strong. That's how a lot of machine welds look to me though. Seem to have good penetration, so all is good with me.

[roastbeef]

must... not... post... sarcastic... comment... aaaaah!

[joefrontier2]

Mine has weld from a half bit that welded my hitch on. The welds on the frame are good and they all look like machine welds.

[Jrjones]

Originally Posted by x_mods

I think the 2nd gens are machine welded, but I don't know about 1st gens.. I looked over a lot of the welds on my truck, they look a little messy, but plenty strong. That's how a lot of machine welds look to me though. Seem to have good penetration, so all is good with me.

Hah, machine welds look the opposite to me. I mainly look at agricultural machinery though. They look pretty much like a continuation of the steel, nice fillet formation.

I haven't noticed any shoddy welding on my truck, and I've done a little bit of welding as well. And I've never seen a weld from a manufacturer break, I've had the steel tubing tear instead, in one case.