So I'm in the market for a welder for my F550, on my last truck I had a 300amp unit which I used fully so am looking at the 305 ranger and 325 trailblazer. I have a VMAC (currently at 100hrs) on my truck which is great but don't like the idea of idling out the motor. (Opinions would be welcome on that too) I'm pondering between red and blue and the concept of the 302 air pak from Miller as an all in one solution. I don't really like the price tag it comes with but think that it's cheap compared with having a problem with my trucks motor. Any thoughts and opinions from the great collective are always welcomed!
I have a 302. I like the one engine thing. Welder works great. I haven't put a reservoir tank on yet, but it will run pretty much any air tool except the ¾" impact. The suitcase capability is useful. We have a 12RC suitcase, and being able to wirefeed in the field is nice. It can run the Spectrum 875 plasma cutter, too. Battery charger is very nice as well. We only have about 200 hours on it, so I can't say about the longevity.
My vote would be AirPak.
It would nice if Miller upgraded the Air Pak to the same welder as the TB 325 and put the Excel power option on it. I've talked to owners who had 302's and went to 325's and they said the 325 was a nicer arc. Not that the 302 isn't a decent machine but the 325 is better and has a few more amps to boot if you wanted to burn 1/4" 7018 for example. Welder wise the Ranger 305G is the best of the 3. The thing you really have to be careful of on the new machines without fuel injection is over filling the fuel tank. With the EPA crap the carb vents back to the fuel tank. My buddy sold his old 305G because it had over 2500 hours and bought one of the new ones. It kept using oil and they said it just had to break in. Well the oil consumption got worse instead of better. He took it in to the Lincoln warranty depot and it needed to be rebuilt. $1600, almost the cost of a new engine and the kicker was it wasn't covered by warranty! In small print in the manual it states not to overfill the fuel tank because carb flooding can occur. What it doesn't tell you is that the carb flooding washes the cylinders down and causes excess oil consumption. Lincoln says to turn the key on and stop filling as soon as the fuel gauge reads full. The gas tank is in the bottom and you're not supposed to fill it up the filler neck. My buddy never overflowed it but filled it up 2 or 3 inches form the top like he always did with his other welders and older 305G. Never had any problems and his new machine always started and ran great except went through oil. When you head out in the boonies to do a job you don't want to run out of gas. The Millers use the same engine and will do the same thing but at least Miller puts a sticker on the machine stating not to overfill. What's even worse was the shop my buddy went to had 7 other 305G's in for the same reason. Personally I think it's flaw with the engine and should be covered by warranty. My buddy sold the 305G shortly after and will never buy another Lincoln machine if can help it. He bought a rather rare for N America diesel machine that can have 2 operators or can be paralleled for more single output. He really likes it and gets lots of questions about it. It has a Kubota engine but I can't remember the name of it. The company is more known for their generators. He considered a 302 Air Pak but didn't want to show up on jobs and get stuck doing all the gouging (air arcing). LoL The Air Pak is nice and it's a good size compressor but if you didn't need that big of compressor, I think I'd price out a separate engine driven compressor. It's another engine to maintain and takes up space but the 302 Air Pak isn't cheap.
We used to have air packs on all of our welding trucks, but have been phasing them out. Not sure why exactly. I had a thought that is a bit different than others have mentioned. Everything breaks, so when the air pack is down, you either need to rent another air pack, or a welder and a compressor. If you run separate units, you only need to source one to keep going. Just a thought.
Thanks for all the input. So I'm decided that air pak is the way to go, but this weekend I landed a corker of a deal on a low hour 302 trailblazer... Which will ease my cash flow to the end of the project when I will order an air pak and move on my trailblazer and hopefully make a couple bucks !
Isn't the 302 Trailblazer an air Pac???
No, there used to be a straight TB 302 welder and the TB 302 Air Pak. The TB 302 Air Pak stayed but the TB 302 welder was replaced with the TB 325.