DIY roof rack for 5th gen 4Runner ...

[Bret4207]

I made several mistakes that I had to touch-up, so far from perfect, but thank you guys for the praise.

Funny saying- "A grinder and paint, make me the welder I ain't!!!"

For the record, I own several grinders and I;m not afraid to use them!

 

[Bret4207]

Gas welding is a very much effective and sadly lost art. Most of us wrench wranglers are pretty good at scabbing together exhaust systems with the old blue-point wrench and coathanger wire from the uniform closet

That's where MIG shines for me- building exhaust systems without 27 unions, couplers, reducers, 157 clamps and enough tags on all the pieces to pose a serious fire risk the first time you start it up! MIG is real nice on clean exhaust metal. Lots easier than stick, for me a least.

Brazing I'm a whiz at, the result of years in a body shop back when brazing was all we had. Gas welding? Ehhhhhhhhh, not so much. I still have the first Brownells bolt handle I tried to gas weld to a Mauser bolt with Brownells super duper expensive aerospace rod. It still looks like someone had a terrible accident with a tiny bumper jack handle...