Easy job to do. Perhaps rent one for the day to do the job. Make the job easy on yourself and flip the axle over, if its a spring under axle to finish the welding after tacking it in position. Don't need too much amperage for the job. My 220 volt ac welder made short work of it, and I'm sure I only used approx 130 amps with 1/8 7018 rod.

 

Renting for a day is a good idea if you don't think you'll have other use for it.

If you want to buy, I'd recommend a Lincoln 225A "buzz box". I often see them used in the classifieds for $75 to $100. If you happen across an AC/DC version, grab it. They're pretty good welders. Nothing sophisticated, nothing fancy, but they'll glue steel together fine.

If you get a used one for that kind of price, you can perfect your skills, and when your budget permits, sell it, get your money back and buy a TIG or MIG machine.

 

Renting sounds like a good idea, but I could use a welder of my own. I have some body repair and other small projects that need attention. The problem is I need one that will run of 110 volt house current.

 

Well, now you've changed everything. Stick welders aren't really suited for sheet metal. There are rods designed for the purpose, but they're pretty tough to control. I tried some years ago, couldn't make them work, and went back to gas welding.

Second, I don't know of any 120V stick machines. There might be some, I just don't know.

Your logical choice would be a 120V wire feed welder, which will do sheet metal and weld on a spring perch. There was a long thread on that subject about a month ago. See if you can find it.

 

I went to walmart to buy a cheap stick welder, they have a couple of campbell hausfield stick welders that'll do 110v, and actually do an alright job

 

sounds like a good excuse to get an underhood mobi welder...
mine welds pretty good....actually... it welds really good...i use a hand throttle to control the current and i can easily burn right through 1/4" plate.. you get a nice 110v outlet too.and a 200 amp alternator... and $800 deducted from your bank account...

 

First choice is MIG, second is DC stick, third AC stick. To me, the best all-around welder to have around the garage is a small MIG that can be used for sheet metal and up to maybe 1/4" plate. For now, at least I have a DC stick welder.