Bad suprsie

[cowwboy]

I switched out my axles on my trailer so I could get rid of the spacers that were required to clear my 20's.

When I was working on it I noticed so very scary cracks in a support beam. 

I knew when the trailer hit bumps the I beam would flex at that very point due to it being where it bends but wasn't aware it was enough to rip the aluminum.

So I welded it up.

The bead fully penetrated the bottom but the puddle sort of flowed down since I was wleding upside down so it looks kind of sloppy.

Also realized that when you run the spool gun at it's limit the tips don't last to long.

 

These are the braces that will be added next time we get the boat off the trailer. 

 

I want to put the gopro on the trailer so we can view how bad it flexes before the brace and after and maybe look into shocks also.

Oklahoma roads are horrendous. 

[oldjeep]

My .02 - it cracked because the bolt going through the middle was crushing the tube - this is judging by the crack running side to side through he bolt and that the sides of the tube appear to have pushed out away from tube centerline.  I'd stick a spacer around that bolt in there so you can have the bolt tight without stressing the tube.

 

You  got a couple other cracks to worry about too

Edited May 2, 2016 by oldjeep

[cowwboy]

There will be a spacer tube added to that bolt. I was going to add through bolts to the other but the square tube is back cut to look nicer? So there is no lower material to bolt to. 

The cracks do not go through the bolt, they go close to but not up to the center bolt hole. So they started from the outside and went in.

The opposite side was also starting to crack but it initiates at the outer most top edge where it is trying to rip the top layer off the square tubing. 

This is how the I-beam flexes. So it is pulling on the top side of the box peeling it up as you would open and soup can. 

Also the other cracks are bypassed by the new welds tieing the I-beam to the sides of the box frame. But once the boat is off the trailer, any adjoining material will be welded. 

 

[mikeo]

I don't want to throw a manufacturer "under the bus" but maybe you should share who built your trailer. I know my trailer doesn't look anything like yours, so I think I'm safe. There may be others out there with the same brand of trailer who need to take a close look and see if they might be close to an impending failure

[cowwboy]

The labeling on the side says aluminator. It has a 800 number on the side that goes to some other company. 

Trust me, if I could get ahold of the ones who built it I would be chewing on some tail.

I got my boat from a used dealer and they got the boat without a trailer. So there is no telling what it was originally built for. 

Looking at some of the other generic bolt together aluminum boat trailers, the construction is not that out of the ordinary.

They made the axles so skinny that the bolts for the brake brackets would rub against the trailer frame. 

Just lots of little things that really add up. 

If it wasn't for the benefit of a aluminum trailer I would have ditched it for a nicer more bling factor newer trailer. 

[Andrew63]

Did you anneal the welded area after the weld?

You always find after welding the structure to repair a crack, it will crack again alongside the weld.

It is to do with the molecular structure of the aluminium changing through welding or along those lines.

learnt back in my trade in aircraft sheet metal, to anneal a weld all you need is a household soap bar.

Rub a few lines as close as possible to the weld.

Get a blow torch heat gun to heat the area welded & proximity to allow for the heat from welding until the soap marks turn black.

Clean with a wire brush to remove blackened marks

job done