Welder is a Miller trailblazer.

FWIW,
trailblazer is listed as 486 LBS (dry)

 

486 pounds... what's that? Like $550USD?

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It will crush the support if it's in long enuf.

 

You are smokin strawberry leaves again man. I’ve had it in there as a 900 pound skid for 15 years, no crushing happening. The ribs get filled in with flat bar before getting tightened. I am talking about cutting the weight in half and mounting with the entire bottom plate of the welder on the bed instead of the 5, 2” tubes of the skid.

 

So you put flats in there and build them up and thewy didnt crush,,, azmazing. But,,,, I have seen the stock stuff crushed with equipment, if you dont think its a problem then fine but we get rust and it goes from there and in a few fleet things involving pickups with equipmenty mounted not only the truck but some of the cargo has to be worked on. Climate and road types matter also, here we got hammering dirt backroads, every mile is 5 or 10 elsewhere.

 

I am sure this is model dependant and a generalization but seems we seen a couple 3 250s where they were forward loaded with stuff and got a crack across both frame top rails. I dont recall if it was around bolt holes, doesnt seem it was and might been just ahead about under the cabs??? I have seen the gullwing boxes that ride on the bed rails crush them, they can beef it up but we came up with a little frame stand in the bottom for it to sit on.

 

If the beds in good shape you could just bolt the bed, and the welder together using fender washers to spread the load on the sheet metal in the bed. Mounting to the frame is more complicated on most pick ups because of all the stuff in the way like gas tanks, brake lines , fuel lines, trans, etc. On my cab and chassis trucks there is more room , so I often run a piece of channel across the frames to make it easier to bolt together. If you installed with long bolts or threaded rod, its hard to get up through the frame, and hard to reach the bolts underneath the welder.

I don't think an Arizona truck will have the troubles SBerry was talking about. Here in NJ it might be more of a problem, especially if the truck gets used in the winter, and gets parked over grass/dirt/manure. I've had several frames crack, lost spring hangers, rotted out gas tanks, etc from weather, and salt. Good luck and post a few pics.

 

Fukken potholes too, I bet Jersey has them? I think maybe William or someone said NY too, vicious. We got gravel and clay as an additive for your rusting pleasure.

 

I built a new truck for an outfit and after I did it of course they copy another unit. The owner was pizzing about the time and the cost on the proto so they had the shop rat put the second together. Mine turns out to run years but theirs come in about 2 months ragged. I splain,,, Todd used drywall screws for everything basically and didnt have the forensic history from service to know what fell apart. Not smart enough to soften for hoses, let it rub on sharp steel and act like its a fricken mystery.
I see some new truck the other day still come bare steel frame, cant even be bothered to prime it.

 

the shop rat put the second together. Mine turns out to run years but theirs come in about 2 months ragged. I splain,,, Todd used drywall screws for everything

Grabber screws have basically zero ductility or impact resistance. They're too hard. I'm surprised they even lasted 2 months in a truck.

 

them little welders do fine mounted in a sheetmetal pickup bed, id think itd be more than fine to do what ur talkin

 

Can you smoke strawberry leaves?

This made me laugh and think back to when I was a kid. Some times to get away from my Dad for a bit I would go down to this produce farnm and pickstrawberries and other produce. Well I made a corncob pipe one summer I was about 10 or 11 years old then and me and my buddy decided totry some leaves. So we piocked some leaves from just about anything that grew there...apple trees peach trees plum trees pear trees strawberries beans peas cabbage you name it if Elmer Blyler planted it we figured we would smoke it. So we chop all this stuff up and mix it up and let it dry a bit. We dig out our homemade corn cob pipes and set there like 2 old boys with our 22 rifles shootin squirrels. Dave says to me this aint to bad smokin but its too dry. so we make it a little damp from a puddle of water and then it smoked better. Then me that night decided to go one better and put some of Dads Old Crow in mine. I treid it out the next morning and it tasted much better. I gave a bit of it to Dave and he liked it too.

Now Elmer and his son used to spray this orchard evry morning...I often wondered years later what damage we did to pourselves smokin all kinds of pesticides and weed killers.

Me and Dave were like Tom Sawyer Huck Finn Davey Crockett Dan Boone all rolled up into a couple of firecrackers ready to go off any minute.


Popeye

 

They rubber mounts for gasoline driven equipment. It takes out most vibration from your truck.
Note most welders have a rubber on frame but it still has a vibration a second will help a lot.

Dave

 

i used rubber "pucks" as vibration dampeners on this Lincoln skid

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BigB, I dono about your wife, but mine would pitch a major bitch if I put a welder in the bed, prolly better suited in the garage or something.

 

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In the end, I decided just to cut my skid in half and remount the skid. It spreads the load well the welders rubber mounted, and I'm able to get through the structure of the bed in several places.

 

That looks just dandy. Gonna work. I really like this class of machine, they can do some of all of it so to speak especially when you get to the 300. That 251 is prolly old enuf its a 300 but really a lot of AC power if needed, not very effecient but a lot and half the weight of a SA 200. A 200 has its spot but if you also gotta deal with space and weight then these got it going on.
The skid above might be lightweight? I used some free steel on my little one so I sacrificed a few #, would do it a gauge or 2 lightewr if I was buying it today but sure makes it easy to build.

 

Yeah, I would prefer a TB 302, just because of the 10kw aux power. Mine only has 4kw, so I can’t power a pocket mig, or my plasma cutter. As far as welding it welds beautifully! I run a Lincoln LN 25 off of it, otherwise I run 7018 for everything else. It has fairly low hours for its age, as most of my field welding is just final tie in welds. That’s 45 minutes to spool out all the cable, cords, tools, 10 minutes with the machine on, and 45 minutes to roll it all back up. If I continue to take care of it, I am sure it will last me the rest of my career.

 

Yes, that is a good setup and I like how you have a grip on the time etc. I dont carry plas and feeders and all that for the same reason, welding is so small, last time I had it out of my truck was for a couple 3/32 rods ha. Older machine is fine and as good as any for that, new wouldnt make or save any money and simply be added expense.