JB Weld on Yamaha Lower Unit?

[anamealreadyinuse]

Does anyone know or have experience using JB Weld or other type product on a lower unit? I don't know if JB lends itself well to creating a strong bond on the "metal/aluminum?" on my Yamaha lower unit.

Attached is a photo of my lower unit where we hit it too hard with a rubber mallet and it cracked. I'd like to apply JB Weld to the top and bottom of the crack to strengthen and then install a hydrofoil. I am concerned the pressure of the hydrofoil could snap it off and am hoping the jb weld would restore some of that strength back. Thoughts?

 

[jason011]

Re: JB Weld on Yamaha Lower Unit?

from my experience with jb weld, it doesnt have alot of strength to it, if you go to your local boat shop they should have aluminum welding rods that you heat up with a propane torch, they dont cost much and are alot stronger than jb weld, they arent hard to use and you can grind the weld down flat to make it look good, i use these rods to repair props and they work really well...... jb weld is good for sealing up a leak or something but really doesnt have any strength to it, if you are going to get the rods you will probably need 2 or 3 of them and you should groove that crack out so thats a V shape so that the rod has plenty to bond to...... and make sure its clean before you start the weld, for best results, heat the crack first then start the weld

 

[anamealreadyinuse]

Re: JB Weld on Yamaha Lower Unit?

Thanks Jason, glad I asked sounds like just a little more work will end up with a much better repair. I appreciate the response, thanks!

 

[jason011]

Re: JB Weld on Yamaha Lower Unit?

no problem, im sure if you use jb weld it will just break when you put your hydrofoil on, those rods on the other hand work really well

 

[schematic]

Re: JB Weld on Yamaha Lower Unit?

gonna have a tough time with a large area like that using a propane torch. Any tig welder worth his salt will weld that up in a hurry without overheating.

 

[jason011]

Re: JB Weld on Yamaha Lower Unit?

i agree 100% schematic, i just figured he was thinking of using jb weld so he wanted to do it himself and save some $$$ so what i suggested was a cheap way out for him, but i cant see it taking any longer than an hour to fix it with a torch and rods

 

[fishrdan]

Re: JB Weld on Yamaha Lower Unit?

I'd pay the $50 (or whatever) to have it tig welded.

I've worked with aluminum brazing rods and they would probably work fine, but they are kind of a pain to use.

 

[jason011]

Re: JB Weld on Yamaha Lower Unit?

ive heard some people say that they had trouble using them, i thought they were pretty simple to use even from the first time i used them, so what kind of fish do you get in vegas?? i take it they would be lake fish??

 

[fishrdan]

Re: JB Weld on Yamaha Lower Unit?

ive heard some people say that they had trouble using them, i thought they were pretty simple to use even from the first time i used them.................

so what kind of fish do you get in vegas?? i take it they would be lake fish??

The rods work OK, but the molten rod runs like water so the part being brazed needs to be level or the rod material will pool up at the low end. Also, the temp of the rod melting and aluminum melting isn't that far apart, so if you're trying to heat a big part and get a lot of heat into it, before it dissipates, one section could be cold while another section is melting the aluminum.

Fish in Vegas, yeah lake fish... stripers, largemouth, smallmouth, catfish, panfish, trout.

 

[jason011]

Re: JB Weld on Yamaha Lower Unit?

lake fish here are mostly trout, large and small mouth bass, and the odd pickrel, what is a panfish??

 

[fishrdan]

Re: JB Weld on Yamaha Lower Unit?

Panfish= sunfish, bluegill, crappie, etc.. No pike down here, not cold enough for them.

 

[jason011]

Re: JB Weld on Yamaha Lower Unit?

ok i know what they are now, i hate pike, they werent here until about 10 years ago when someone started putting them in the lakes, same thing with the bass..... we had really good trout fishing around here until the bass heads started putting them in the lakes so that they could have tournaments all over the place, and the pike are always trying to bite you when ya catch them and their teeth are like razor blades