Farm equipment weldingin Fresno County.

Joaquin Ag Repair does farm equipment repair and welding on implements and tool bars at the shop, and goes out to the field when the machine cannot be moved.

Call (559) 210-7899

Shanks and pieces in at $85/hrCallouts from $450Harvest hours

Farm equipment repair we take

Implement frames

Tool bars

Disc and ripper repair

Shank and standard repair

Wear buildup on worn edges

Brackets and mounts

Guarding and shields

Hoppers, chutes and bins

Conveyor and elevator parts

Bin dumpers and stands

Why implements crack where they crack

At the toe of an old weld, because the heat-affected edge of a factory weld is the stiffest line on the part.
At a bolt hole or a cut corner, and a crack at a corner gets drilled at the tip before it is welded.
Where somebody added a bracket, because a stiff plate on a flexing frame moves the failure a few inches down the rail.
On the wear edge, where hardfacing lasts longer than plain rod and which one a job takes depends on what the implement is digging.

Protect the electronics

Modern tractors carry controllers that do not survive stray welding current.

Welding current takes the shortest path back to the ground clamp. If that path runs through a bearing, a hydraulic ram, a wheel hub or a control module, it damages what it passes through. The clamp goes on the piece being welded, as close to the joint as it can get, never on the far end of the machine.

Both battery terminals come off before any welding starts.
Unplug the controller if the work is within a few feet of it.
The clamp goes on the work, not the frame rail across the machine.
Current is kept out of bearings and hydraulic rams.

Where the work happens

Most implement work comes to the bench.

Shanks, standards, sweeps, points, disc gangs, guards and brackets all unbolt and travel in a truck bed, and that makes them drop-off work at $85 an hour. A tool bar or a frame still on the machine, or equipment down in the field, is what a callout is for.

During harvest

August through October is the busiest stretch of the year for equipment repair.

Down equipment moves ahead of scheduled work, so say the machine is down when you call.
Evenings are normal working hours here, and a machine that has to run in the morning can usually be welded that night.
After 9pm the rate is $195 an hour and a same-day callout is $260, and you get the number on the phone before anybody drives out.
Dealers and shops send us overflow welding when their own bay is full.

Before we get there

Disconnect both battery terminals on anything with electronics, and unplug the control modules if the work is near them.
Clear ten feet around the joint, moving back the dry grass, fuel cans, oil rags, hydraulic puddles and seed bags, because the Valley is dry from May through November.
Wash the area if it is greasy. Weld metal does not stick to oil, paint or rust, and cleaning it on site is billed at the same rate as the welding.
Support the load, since anything held up by the part being cut or welded has to be blocked beforehand.
Have water and a fire extinguisher nearby, although we carry both on the truck as well.

Rates

$85/hrPart brought to the shop, by appointment

Quotes and estimates: No charge
Billing after the first hour: By the quarter hour

Part brought to the shopMost work	$85/hr	One hour minimum
Callout, Monday to Saturday, 7am to 9pmBooked ahead	$130/hr	$450 minimum
Callout after 9pm, Sundays and holidaysAfter hours	$195/hr	$550 minimum
Same-day callout, any hourEmergency	$260/hr	$650 minimum

Most of the work here is done at the bench, and a part brought in is billed by the hour from the time the work starts, with a one hour minimum and nothing added for a trip. A callout is the other way around: the minimum covers the drive, the equipment for the day and the first two hours on site, and the clock runs by the quarter hour after that. Several jobs at one address, or several stops on the same run, are billed at the hourly rate without a second minimum. Rates do not stack, so a callout at 10pm is billed at the emergency rate rather than at the emergency and the after-hours rate together. Example jobs and what they came to are on the welding rates page.

Questions we get

Do you come out to the ranch?

We cover Fresno, Clovis, Sanger, Selma, Kingsburg, Fowler, Kerman, Reedley and Madera, and we go farther out for a bigger trip charge.

Can you weld during harvest?

Harvest is when most of the work comes in, so evenings and weekends are normal and down equipment gets moved up the list.

Will you damage the tractor's computer?

Not with the batteries off and the clamp on the work. Ask to see where the clamp sits before we start if you want to check it.

Can you build up a worn edge instead of replacing it?

We can build up a worn edge while the base metal underneath is still sound, but once the section is thin all the way through it needs a new part.