Hot Rods Almost got smoked in the 34

I agree but if you are going to cut it make it close to one end. If you use a reinforcement slot the tube length ways and weld the inner tube to the outer through the slots.

 

I ALMOST CASHED IN MY CHIPS, WHEN MY QUICK-CHANGE LOCKED UP, DOING ABOUT 100, COMING BACK FROM EL MIRAGE. BOTH REARS LIT UP, SLID SIDEWAYS TOWARD THE CENTER DIVIDER, THEN IT UNLOCKED, SHOOTING ME BACK TO THE RIGHT IN FRONT OF 4 LANES OF TRAFFIC....IT'S A CHEEK SQUEEZER, FOR SURE. GLAD YOU DIDN'T HAVE A WORSE STORY.

 

The person that used thin wall tubing for a splice should be shot. The way I shorten any tubing is use a solid splice about 8" long and drill a 3/8" hole in each end of the tube for a plug weld and then join both chamfered pieces with a TIG weld. It's actually stronger than the tubing.

 

Almost word for word on what I was thinking, after they ground what weld they had on it down most of the work was being donee by that thinwall.
It rather looks like that the tube slipped down the inside of the tie rod when they stuck the other end on. That looks like a cut end rather than a break and tear.

 

In the above picture it shows that the weld has no penetration. You are so lucky that you weren't hurt and your car wrecked.

 

The repair described above has always been my approach with tubing. Wether you use a solid slug or tubing for the strengthening slug, round the ends prior to inserting it so you don’t create a stress riser within the repaired piece. Time and time again the areas next to the weld will fail rather then a properly prepped and welded joint.

My question is why would you tempt fate with steering parts that can be purchased in the proper width that have been sourced from reputable manufacturers?

There is no joint to fail

I try to build my cars with the mindset that I will never produce something that I wouldn’t put my Wife, Daughter, or Son into and know that they are as safe as possible. The world is already filled with chaos

The original poster is a blessed guy. Someone was looking out for you and all of the folks around you. Like someone said earlier, hug the ones that you love

 

"Magnafluxing" to what purpose? If the weld is properly designed and executed, magnafluxing isn't going to add anything. As @choptop40 pointed out, that tube should have had a heavier slug and rosette welds instead of a weld with almost no penetration.

 

The overwhelming majority of people don't build hot rods with the plan of driving them like you see in the vintage proving ground videos nor put tons of miles on them (necessitating oversized parts for longevity) so the hobby tends to err toward very light steering and suspension components. When all your parts have relatively thin safety factors when assembled properly you can easily be left with barely any safety factor when parts are assembled improperly.

Even without an inner reinforcement that weld would have been fine if it was done right. So just do it right and move on.

 

Years ago, people would cut down a tie rod by using a tire iron with the curved end cut off and they would drill some holes in the tie rod a few inches away from the joint which was was left with a 3/8" inch or so gap and weld it all up. That was back when everything was built from junk yard parts.

 

"that weld would have been fine if it was done right." Really? Driving hot rods on public streets and roads, whether on a once in a while basis or in daily use, would make it necessary for those vehicles to be built to industry standards. Whoever made that weld did it to no standards whatever so, it wasn't done right. Butt welding a piece of tubing in the steering system with little knowledge of what the welder needs to do to make it safe isn't right and you can't make that weld right without changing how it's done.

 

After reading this, I was going to say "scary" "glad you're ok" or "it could have been much worse", but I see that's been covered. So, I'll just add that that's a beautiful car!

ironandsteele.com​

 

With that blown up pic we can't even call that a weld. Looks like a rat went around it takin a shit.