Local welders

[Bryan C.]

I am looking for someone to weld in my Clayton long arm crossmember. I am looking for a good local shop or possibly another local member to help me out. I live in the bay area, but I am willing to travel for a knowlegable welder. Does anyone know what a shop might charge for this? Any and all help is appreciated.

Bryan

 

[ChuckD]

Congrats on the beginigns of a sweet trail machine, Frt and Rear Detroits, and Clayton Longarms, Sweet!!

 

[crazy4mopar]

Call Greg Hills at Heckler Fabrication of N. Highlands Ca.
916-539-0789. http://hecklerfabrication.tripod.com.
He had done all my fabing. He made rock sliders for Phil Weeks.
He is Anal about his welding!!! (They come out really nice).

 

[Phil]

Greg is a great guy, he set me up over Thursday and Friday night so I could go hit the trail Saturday morning. Really saved my rockers and doors. Quite a way to go for you, I think, but he does great stuff.

 

[CRASH]

I can do it for you as well, but it depends on how fast you need it. See what Greg wants to do the work, and I am sure I can do it cheaper.

I'm way out here in the sticks, though, so it may be worth your while to just have greg do it, since he is at least an hour closer to you.

CRASH

 

[useless]

Bryan,

If you don't want to drive up north that far come up here and check out FabWorx. ( www.fabworxinc.com ) Give them a call and ask for Brian, he has helped me out with plenty of projects and does awesome work. He will be welding in my Clayton crossmember on Tuesday. I'll let you know price and time. After he finishes mine he will already have a good idea for your install.

Gunnar

 

[Bryan C.]

Chuck - Thanks man, I just got tired of waiting for the RE 6300 kit to be released so I just pieced together a lift kit based on the Clayton arms.


Lee - Thanks for the info, I just might wind up going there, but it is a long drive. Is that your Jeep on that site?


Crash - Thanks for the offer, but I think I need something closer, like you said.


SantsRosa - I am definately interested in what Fabworx will charge you and the time required. Where are they located? Santa Rosa is a little over an hour away from me so travel time wouldn't be too bad.


To All - I have a standing offer of $60hr to install the crossmember. The dealer I work at has an on site body shop. The shop foreman has extensive experience repairing and welding Jeep unibodies, but he has never done this type of modification. He is a good guy and I trust him, but I don't like the whole open ended $60hr labor charge. I am planning on doing the prep and set-up, only using him for the welding portion of the install. Do you think this is a reasonable rate for the welding? The website says average install time is 4hrs. But is that for the whole long-arm setup or just the welding?


Thanks for the replies, keep em coming...

Bryan

 

[crazy4mopar]

Yup

 

[jeepme]

Hey bryan
I dony know if you found a welder yet but Iam the president of the wandering wheelers in Hayward and live in San Ramon and one of our members is a great welder and works in a shop in livermore. I talked to him last night and he said he would do it for ya if havent found anyone yet. Let me know if you are interested and I will shoot ya his e mail.

Jeff

 

[Bryan C.]

Thanks for the offer. I wound up using a local 4wd shop in Concord and had them weld it on for me. Too bad I couldn't take you up on the offer, I paid $180 for the welding and I did all the cleaning of the undercoating. Then to top it off, the guy burned a small hole in the unibody on the inside of the frame rail. It is just a pinhole and I'm not sure what to do about it.

I should have just driven a few extra miles and had a knowledgable welder do the work at the shops mentioned in the previous posts.

I have heard of your club and I am interested in meeting some local wheelers too. Could you e-mail me at [email protected] with some more info? Thanks again.

Bryan

 

[Karlm]

I live in Concord, Which shop did you use, so I know where to stay away from?

 

[Bryan C.]

I don't want to bash the guy so I will just keep you all in suspence.

He did say he had never welded on a Clayton crossmember. The rest of the welds look ok to me but I am noone to be judging weld quality.

Bryan

 

[SeanP]

Don't worry about the hole in the unibody, mine has several. Just something you have to deal with when trying to weld to the thin gauge steel.

There's probably only 50 XJ long arm kits from Clayton in production, so it's likely that no one in Nor Cal has even seen one.

SeanP