Anyone welded an axle shaft?

rbmedic75 said:

dont know if it hurt him or helped him in this case but blanketing (hard) metal after welding is not uncommon. chromoly needs to be blanketed after welding to control cool down because if it cools to quickly it gets very brittle in the HAZ

Click to expand...

Agreed. You need to prevent post-weld cracking (although most axles are on the low end of their hardness range) ....but...you then have to follow up with a heat treat to get back to where it needs to be. Otherwise you still have the softened spot around the weld.