The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline Heating steering parts, how far can you go?

The answers given above are only partially correct. Disclaimer, I'm not trying to argue just provide info about something I know a lot about.

First- pure lead melts at ~600 and lead alloys can be anywhere from 350-800 degrees. So unless you know exactly what you have you need to be very careful with this technique for temp. Wheel weights can even vary quite a bit.

Second- the real answer to the OP's question requires information about the condition of the material you heating up. For example alloy steel that has been quenched and tempered to 500F can be heated up to 500F for a short duration with no real problems. 1008 steel can be heated and cooled countless times with no significant changes in material properties. Austenitic stainless steels can be heated to bright red and quenched and nothing happens, but if you heat them to say 5-600F and hold for duration they get slightly harder and stronger but become highly prone to inter granular corrosion (there is a lot of science here that I can explain if anyone actually cares). And we can keep going for a myriad of conditions and materials. The long and the short is that if anyone knows the alloy and condition or an approximation thereof I can tell you how hot is OK, otherwise its guesswork - which sometimes works and sometimes....

Pro garage shop Tip on ASUTENITIC Stainless Steel. We all know that it work hardens ( again I can explain this if anyone actually cares) and sometimes can be difficult to cut or drill. Well what you can do to soften it back up is heat it above about 1400F and quench it in water and it will go dead soft again. If you have a difficult hole in a thick piece you can do this a couple times.

Spartan