Emergency Trail Welding

| December 31, 2009 | 0 Comments
Trail Welder

Trail Welder

By Jon Crowley, UTVGuide.net

If you spend enough time with your UTV on trails like the Rubicon or Maob, it is pretty much a guaranteed that you will see breakage that just cannot be fixed through any “normal” means on the trail.

If you are lucky enough, someone in your group may have an onboard welder that is designed to weld out on the trail.  But for most of us, the expense of an onboard or suitcase welder puts it out of reach.

But there is another way to weld on the trail that is pretty simple, and very cheap. You will need two batteries connected in series to give 24-volts (even better is three batteries combined in series make 36 volts). Then you will need some jumper cables, welding rods, eye protection and you will have yourself a DC welder. Don’t trust your welds as anything more than an emergency trail fix, but this actually does work.

First, remove the two batteries from the vehicles so potential damage to electronics is removed. Then connect the positive terminal on the first battery to the negative terminal on the second battery. This will hook up the two batteries in series, yielding 24 volts of power. With a set of jumper cables, connect the open negative of the first battery to the work to be welded. Then connect the positive side of the second battery to the electrode. Now you are set to weld.

Make sure you take the time to remove as much paint, grease, rust and dirt as possible from the area to be welded. This will make the welding job much easier, and the strength of your weld much stronger.

Take the time to practice at home before you need to weld on the trail and be sure that you have proper welding eye protection. Eye damage caused by arc welding without sufficient protection can be permanent.


Welding on the Trail – Aaron Wedeking

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Category: How Tos

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