I have heard around one of the Ranger Sites that you shouldn't weld on the frame of the newer Rangers.

I have an '03 and was wondering what I needed to do when doing an SAS ?

AND / OR... Does this apply to drilling the frame for a bolt on SAS ?

Just wondering before I start the project.

 

Weld away. Only thing I do is unhook the battery.

 

I have welded on mine too when i did my sas.

 

lol you are good to go on the welding. its not a hardened frame like a transport truck

 

Grev, just make sure to clean the area up first with grinder (tiger paw or flapper wheel)

I honestly would recommend pre-heat and a slight post-heat.....but thats just me.

Ive welded on my 04 with no problems.

And as said above, unhook the battery. EVEN THOUGH electricity is lazy and will find the shortest path to your ground, its always best to be safe.

 

I've always heard to unhook the battery as well, a sudden jolt of electricity could find it's way into one of the sensors or computers & cause all kinds of issues.

Also heard that you should be careful about the sparks so that they don't find their way around the glass... an old timer told me once that he had sparks hit a rear window & it exploded like it was shot with a gun
He could have been full of BS, but if I ever have to weld around a vehicle, I'm gonna try to keep the sparks contained just in case

 

Unhook the battery and install the bumpers, then worry about SAS.

 

Thanks to all for the comments.
As far as the bumpers 98liftedranger ya you are right but they are on a list of things to do and with the weather getting cold up here and the shop packed with a jeep project that is slower than $hit getting too I am not going to get to any of this until next year when the warm weather comes in. Also, I like to get my duck in a row before starting and this is the beginning of collecting the ducks.
I have a D-44 front end out of a TJ, the five-O, trans, T/C and 1350-drive shafts and also a 31 spline 8.8 so the parts are piling up just need time and effort on my part.

Also, thinking on SoCal for a two month vaca, the wife wants to go, my daughter lives out there so there is no room-cost but it still isn’t New England.

 

there is no need at all to pre and post heat the steel... that is unless your frame is made out of cast iron? lol. what ever you need to weld ion the frame will be fine. it is all mild steel

 

I didnt say it was absolutely necessary, but it does help.

Its getting cold up there. Pre-heating will help get rid of moisture that will result as soon as an arc is struck. Helps keep porosity to a minimum.
It also keep contamination of the weld metal to a minimum.

What can usually happen around the weld area after its been welded? The base metal can and will crack before the actual weld because of the massive temp. difference.
Postweld heat helps with stress relief of the weld and base metal.

I could go on all night.

As I said, its not absolutely necessary....but If Im welding on the frame of my vehicle, id pre and post heat.

 

Thanks to all for your input, i needed it !
My reasoning for asking, those that know me I am not good at getting started or finishing projects, I wanted to get started on the V-8 swap but worried if I did the V-8 and then found out my frame was more of a POS than I thought, I would have spent a lot of money on swap for nothing.

The consensus on the frame welding is not to worry about, there are a lot of people out there that have done it and will be doing it.
Also, it was suggested on a number of postings in other sites to make sure to brace it up, very important.

So if I can get the answers to questions I have asked in other threads I may get started on MY 5.0L Swap and get rid of the 50K 3.0L.
The SAS will have to wait until I get to it on the list and thanks to you guys my list is long.