soldering steel lines

[Anonymous-0]

I'm trying to repair the hydraulic lines on my Massey Pony and having no luck. I've brazed copper tubing for tears for Refrigeration and soldered copper for water lines many many times but can't seem to get anywhere with steel. Does anyone know what I am doing wrong? i've tried silver bearing solder, 95-5, leaded solder, silfoss and all of the fluxes with no good results. Help greatly appreciated!!!

 

[Anonymous-0]

just 3 things...clean , clean, and clean...heat the tube to boil some of the oil out scrub, heat again, scrub, wash wit MEK or denatured alchol, If the tube has any sign of a phoporus or zinc coating , that will have to be removed with a file/grinder. if the tube has a split, you would be wise to remove the damaged section and sweat in a sleeve,that would slide over where the break was. also I would recomend a silver /tin solder with a flux that is rated for about 1100 degrees , you have to get the steel to about that tempature to get everything flowing. The blue , pre-fluxed rods of silver solder(benzomatic) I have never had much luck with, I now buy my flux and solder at a reputable welding shop and have had much fewer problems. You also have to watch for overheating, if the flux goes from liquid to white powder and then the powder residue melts,and starts wicking you are getting close,start trying some solder, watching for it to wick, if you keep heating too long, the flux will go back to a solid state and turn black....let it cool down, scrub everyting clean again and start over. I hope this helps..Shawn

 

[Anonymous-0]

Never soldered one in my life. I have brazed many including the high pressure line on my boys 4020 which always has 2000 PSi in it when the hydraulic system is not in use. It has been that way for over 5 years, J.

 

[Anonymous-0]

are you trying to solder them or silver solder them you can do both soldering will not hold as much preasure soldering can be done by using a flux called sothern speciality it is a liquid acid heat the pipe or tube aply the flux with a small acid brush heat again a little more acaid and then heat enough to melt the solder 95/5 is the wrong solder use 50/50 if you can find any no lead will work for silver soldering they make a white flux clean apply flux heat to cherry red and apply silver solder if you have experiance in this feild should not have a prop.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Regular solder won't work. Real silver solder could work. You could braze it with brass brazing rods. You have to build it up a little thicker so it will handle the high pressure. Many people say that brazing hyd. lines is better than welding them because it doesn't put at much stress back in the tube. I've seen both work. Make sure it is clean and build up the brass about 1/8 inch higher than the tube. Dave

 

[Anonymous-0]

wrap the part that is cracked with something like safety wire and
braze it.

 

[Anonymous-0]

if you are trying to use copper brazing alloys and tecniques it won't work . use regular brass brazing rods and flux .

 

[Anonymous-0]

Thanks for all of the replies!! I'll head back to the shop and practice!! Thanks again