Cracked weld on my tongue.

[spot1]

[quote source="/post/10986/thread" timestamp="1431897456" author="@whoofit"][quote source="/post/10957/thread" timestamp="1431869530" author="@fasteddieb"]I'm going to check out ours right now.


[/quote]Yep Eddie it is still under warranty for another 9 months. I have a friend who builds all aluminum trailers as a business among other transportation devices. He'll fix me right up. I can't wait for him to explain what happened. It will be far over my head right down to grain boundary reasons I'm sure but he will handle this for a six pack or so... This trailer is a 2013 leftover with about 1200 miles all put on by us.
[/quote]Sounds like you are in good hands!  Thanks for the photo!

[david]

Without getting too deep into welding technology (which I am no expert in, btw), that cracked weld looks like a classic case of lack of penetration. Look at the top of the weld. It looks like the welder simply daubed metal filler on top and didn't let the welding heat penetrate to fuse the underlying metal.

So I would definitely point out this problem to LL so they can learn from it.

The fix is easy- grind out the weld metal and bevel the joint. Then re-weld it.

This is typically done with an argon or helium shielded arc, sometimes called heli-arc. Simple stick welding won't work because the aluminum needs the inert gas shielding to keep it from burning up. Steel can get by with a flux coating on the welding rod but aluminum can't.

David

[whoofit]

Yes, David I see more of a puddling and flow like braze versus bead like arc welding. I'm kind of embarrassed I did not see this sooner. I did not make it to the shop today as work ran over in this my busy season. I'm going to ask that he has his crew do a full inspection on the key areas while he has it. I'll forward a copy of his findings to LivinLite

There's a lot of welds on this puppy and I am obviously not qualified to handle a comprehensive inspection... Will not stop the trip to Mt Ascutney this weekend though.

[whoofit]

[p]Repairs done. All at no cost to me just yet. I'm sure I'll pay dearly for it in the future in returning the favor...he's good like that.  [/p][p]
[/p][p]They found no other obvious flaws but did the other top side weld just to balance things out in appearance. He joked about watching my tongue weight now with all the added material in the weld. The crew, who weren't present when he welded my dinette mod, all joked about the size but in reality they were jealous.[/p][p]
[/p][p]On the first of June he will add the additional 2x4 to the bumper. Said he might want to pad some space between the 2x4s, by adding 5 or 6 spacers, then weld a top plate to accept the receiver. Figures $100 will do the trick.  All that long-haired techie stuff is over my head..[/p][p]
[/p][p]Here's the product:[/p][p]
[/p][p]

[ammobob]

Very nice welds. He's a pretty darn good welder. You should have took beer to cover the IOU

[whoofit]

[quote source="/post/11134/thread" timestamp="1432137100" author="@ammobob"]Very nice welds. He's a pretty darn good welder. You should have took beer to cover the IOU [/quote]How true. Funny you said that because after the first weld being a bit crooked I asked him if he'd been drinking already or if he was sending a message to me in the shape of dollar signs...heh

[aznighthiker]

I visual check all of my vehicles, camper and trailer on a routine basis. When I worked at the fire dept. a lot of coworkers had campers of all types and makes and it was not uncommon to find a broken weld, missing bolt or something broken that could be a serious problem. I was underneath my camper once checking the spare tire only to find a large gopher snake loafing on top of spare.

[swbc150]

Check my Bearcat over yesterday, every thing is perfect.

[whoofit]

[p]This crack seemed to appear overnight while just sitting there. Reason I say this is I snapped a pic of the sticker regarding my need to have an auto battery connected for my safety brake system to operate. I posted it in PEIslanders thread regarding those. The sticker is maybe 4 inches from the weld that cracked. I do believe I would have noticed it then.

Next morning it was cracked. We are not THAT active...[/p][p]
[/p][p]Nevertheless it was a crummy weld...[/p]

[jefflatsch]

Inspection is a must

[whoofit]

[quote source="/post/16322/thread" timestamp="1445998111" author="@jefflatsch"]Inspection is a must [/quote][p]Truth. Have not had any further issues. Inspection mirror is a good idea.
[/p]

[david]

Compare whoofit's cracked weld with the good ones on rideandfly's trailer. As I said earlier the cracked weld looks like a classic case of lack of penetration where the filler was just dabbed on top and the underlying metal was not fused. Ask your welder friend to look for more like that. Whoever made that bad weld probably made others.

That weld should have been obvious to anyone checking for quality at the factory.

I just bought a boat anchor and there was a sticker on it with the QC guys initials on it attesting to the weld quality. If an anchor mfg can do it for something critical for safety, maybe LL should also do it.

David

[pjcd]

I would think that there had to be some kind of flexing for that weld to come apart, did you inspect the frame under the trailer?

[whoofit]

I would think that there had to be some kind of flexing for that weld to come apart, did you inspect the frame under the trailer?

[p]I did and so did my certified (and quite certifiable lol) welder friends crew. Of course they came back with all kinds of critique about how they, themselves, could have individually done better work almost as if they were bucking for raises or brownie points with the Boss. But in the end they were satisfied with all the rest of the structural welding.[/p][p]
[/p][p]I know there is a lot of flexing in a trailer. Always. Even by design as you are sure to have seen with long flat beds having a huge upward arch while travelling unloaded. [/p][p]
[/p][p]I can tell you that while building the dual battery platform across the A frame last week that the three pieces (outer tubes and inner tube) that make up the tongue are not on the same plane precisely. There is 1/4" drop from center tube to end tubes...and which one is level or correct is anyones guess.[/p][p]
[/p][p]I can only add that one should never seek to level their trailer fore to aft or port to starboard using the tongue as their reference....because of bending, flexing and twisting.
[/p]

[admin]

I would think the welds are also impacted by temperature changes. Between the heat effect from welding, and the difference in material thickness I could see the crack forming overnight as it heated and cooled.
If this was a case of lack of penetration the the little bit of filling metal wouldnt take much to crack...or at least thats how it seems