for you washington state guys.....

[jonzcustomshop]

saw this over on the hamb,
It looks to be aimed at homebuilt hot rods... but it might come into play with a lowered truck as well...
something to keep an eye on.

No more welding on frames in Washington State?

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I found this after a friend’s dad was turned away at the Washington State Patrol inspection station. He was asked if he had welded on the frame. He said yes he had actually built the frame. The inspector asked to see his welding certification. He is not a certified welder, so they sent him away. He has built several frames in the last few years without a problem until now.>>

WAC 204-10-022>>
8) Frame: A motor vehicle must be equipped with a frame. If an existing frame from a recognized manufacturer is not used and a special frame is fabricated, it must be constructed of wall box or continuous section tubing, wall channel, or unitized construction capable of supporting the vehicle, its load, and the torque produced by the power source under all conditions of operation. All welding on the frame must be completed by a certified welder and the structural strength of the frame must be certified by an engineer as meeting the applicable standards set under 49 CFR 571 Parts 201, 214, 216, and 220 through 224, and the SAE Standards.
>>
What do you guys think are they just talking about home built frames? Can I still weld on an original frame? >>

[ChiefRocka]

Wow...thats gonna piss some people off...

Typically, the welds/work I do on these old frames is far more superior and stronger than that of stock....

Hopefully the governator don't catch wind of this !

[Corts60]

WA unfortunately is just northern CA. That is an outrageous law. I wonder how hard it would be to obtain a certified welders certificate?

[mr48chev]

A couple of years ago there was a big stink here about the *auto rebuilder* shops that seem to still be in just about every back alley around here. They were/are buying two totals of the same make and model, one hit in front an one hit in the rear, sawing both in two and welding the good halves together to make a car that gets repainted and put on a used car lot. Several of these have broken in half here in the state when they got in another accident.

One other thing that may be the original thing behind the law is that on many heavy trucks and buses the frame cannot be welded on. You have to drill holes and bolt or use driven rivets on any thing you add to the frame. There are usually stickers on these frames that state "do not weld on this frame".

Although we all have seen vehicles that shouldn't be driven on any road or off road due to the poor quality of the welds along with poor construction of said vehicle.

I'll stop by the state patrol inspection station tomorrow on the way home from work and see if I can get a clarification on it.

[mr48chev]

The federal regs http://www.cs.brandeis.edu/~zippy/49-CFR-571.html referred to in WAC 204-10-022 primarily concern school buses along with side impact and roll over protection.

If interpreted as it appears paragraph 8 of WAC 204-10-022 would pretty well put street rod shops and guys building rods at home out of business in the state of Washington.

[jonzcustomshop]

from some of the verbage on the hamb, it seems that the certified welder thing is not too big a deal to attain,(we should all think about being certified anyway for our own piece of mind...)
It is the structural strength certified by an engineer that is going to cause problems.

[RunninLo]

When I was big into the mini-truck thing and crazy z's , bridge notches, step, notches , body drops (aka "channeling")were the order of the day. I purposely went to a 2 year welding program through my local University. I was AWS certified through that program and go back from time to time to recertify. With proper skill and instruction it isn't to bad to get certified. A lot of Vo-techs, trade schools and unions offer both courses and testing.
While I'm not a big fan of govt intrusion, when I had my shop a good portion of my work was repairing DIYer hack jobs and poor welds. I actually got a nice photo collection of "don'ts" through out the years.
I don't really want to see that type of law in my community but I can't really argue against the safety of such a law either.

Josh

[protrash64]

Originally Posted by ChiefRocka

Wow...thats gonna piss some people off...

Typically, the welds/work I do on these old frames is far more superior and stronger than that of stock....

Hopefully the governator don't catch wind of this !

....no doubt, with all the lowriders cruisin' Cali!!!!

[retodd7711]

No inspections 'round here.
If you can afford gas, you can drive it.