ZF case material

[riotwarrior]

Curious about something...

ARE ZF cases aluminum or magnesium?

I'm considering a small mod and need to know if a small plate can be welded onto bell housing?


Anyone?

Al

 

[towcat]

Curious about something...

ARE ZF cases aluminum or magnesium?

I'm considering a small mod and need to know if a small plate can be welded onto bell housing?

Anyone?

Al

aluminum.
I've had cracked cases repaired via TIG for quite a few years now.
best results is by TIG due to the fact the cases are cast.

 

[icanfixall]

Thats correct sir... You know theres going to be a but.. In my defence its a tiny but... The material is aluminum but.. Its not the T6061 military grade we like to weld up. It will weld fine and its strong.. Its just not military grade strong.. TIG is the ONLY way to sucessfully weld aluminum for the right result. Warming it up before you strike and arc is important too. I use a oxy-actylene torch to warm it up till the soot blows off the hot aluminum. At that time its ready...

 

[jaluhn83]

All cast AL is going to be that way - aluminum is funny material and there's many different alloys all slightly different. Most of the stuff get for welding / fab work is a wrought alloy, ie 6061. Most cast is different composition and heat treating and it tends to be more prone to cracking and problems when you weld it.

Typical run of the mill steel is pretty simple - it's tough and easy to use and relatively insensitive to heating / welding / forging, etc, as it has inherent reasonably high strength. Aluminum in it's native state is very soft and not much good structurally, so structural al has all kinds of alloying, cold working and heat treating to make it stronger and more rigid. This also makes it harder to repair and more prone to cracking unfortunately. Essentially pretty much all Al welding is like welding a high strength fancy steel like 4340.

Point is it's doable, but you got to know what you're doing.

May also need to worry about warping the case from localized heating too, but I'm not sure how much of a problem that is.

 

[riotwarrior]

Did as much prep as I could on the case, I'm getting it checked out for welding today and tomorrow.

Hopefully its an easy mod...

 

[justinray]

What are you doing to it?

 

[riotwarrior]

What are you doing to it?

Im fixing stupd ok...That's what I'm doing...there I said it!
I gone dun broke my Slave cyl mount tab off...OK gottit

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

This writing is inside the bell housing, not sure if this is factory codes, or indication of possible Rebuild being RB...????no idea

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

Not sure, but green printing looking like it's a year warranty? RR n year/mo just don't making sense?

Anyone else seen this before??

This is the trans I have to install, and if good I pay, if not I pay for welding anyway..

so ya hoping it's in good condition.

 

[madpogue]

Are you thinkin' of sistering in a plate onto that top surface?

 

[riotwarrior]

Are you thinkin' of sistering in a plate onto that top surface?

Yes,

I dropped it off today at a machine and fab shop, the owner is a fellow SAR volunteer with a group in the area.

He took one look and made that exact suggestion which is what I had planned originally.

I'll be getting it back next week some time.

I'm off to the coast this weekend to attend a course for SAR.

Will post pics once I have the trans in hand!

Al

 

[icanfixall]

Al.... That will not weld unless its got a bevel on both sides of the crack. Even a bevel on one side will work better than no bevel at all. Adding a stiffener is a great idea. Wonder why Ford didn't do this in the first place...

 

[riotwarrior]

Al.... That will not weld unless its got a bevel on both sides of the crack. Even a bevel on one side will work better than no bevel at all. Adding a stiffener is a great idea. Wonder why Ford didn't do this in the first place...

Gary, Now think about this, I'm not the guy welding it....So I did not bevel so that the guy who is welding will have it in place, tack it as he said, then a light grind of crack on both sides and weld/fill as required!

I was smart enough to leave it to the PROFESSIONALS!

All I know is he was pleased with the cleanup and said he would do as I just mentioned! I told him I left it to his discretion as I wasn't sure how much to gouge/bevel and he said great!

Just sayin,

Al

 

[madpogue]

Al.... That will not weld unless its got a bevel on both sides of the crack. Even a bevel on one side will work better than no bevel at all. Adding a stiffener is a great idea. Wonder why Ford didn't do this in the first place...

Because Ford didn't make or design it?.....

 

[riotwarrior]

So got the transmission back, and I cleaned it up more today, I also drained it.

The oil was a darker colour of which was deep red not clear red. I did not see any chuncks, not even much in the way of small debri. it was quite good actually. Once fully drained, I reached in and felt all around best I could in the bottom and did not come out with any metal so to speak of, I was impressed.

So I cleaned off the gasket surface, got a thin bead of hi temp RTV, I hate doing this but it's what I had to do, until I purchase a NEW gasket and sealed up the case.

I then removed the fill plug, and poured in fresh new ATF into the transmission. I spun the main shaft and carefully moved around gears and then added more till it seeped out. Now I'm set to install the transmission

I found more markings on this trans too, like clearances or something so I'm not sure if it is an original, a rebuilt, or a wrecker replacement. All I know is it was quite clean inside!

So without further ado....

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

So there we have a cleaned and repaired transmission, however he did not plate it as I had hoped. If it doesn't hold I'm told it will be taken care of. !!!

Thanks for lookin

Al

 

[icanfixall]

In the last pic... Nice trees in the background shot.. Kinda took something away from the focal point of the pic... But you did a better job taking the pic than I could... My pics are terrible... I just can't take a good pic.. Even my personal pics look like someone you might see hanging in the post office walls or on a milk carton.... Nice weld repair too...