Has this guy lost his mind or did I?

[shovelhead]

I want to do the rear bumper fortification on my 21RBS.  I have a friend that can do it for a case of beer if I get the material (2X4). But he is in PA. Expense trip but cheap to get the job done.  I started checking around and found 2 places that would take care of me.  With them supplying the 2X4 + labor (Welding)  One shop was  $275  the other $300.  On eBay the 2X4 1/4" 8' is $89+$27 shipping.    I thought both locals were way high.  How much labor would 6 or so small welds take.      I may wait until I have to go to PA and not a special trip for this project.

[whoofit]

Sounds like your idea of taking some welding courses could be profitable in your area. I would do the trip to PA. It's not a pressing matter for you but it's a great excuse for a road trip and to see your Bud.

[geo92128]

Just got my bumper reinforced for $220, hope a pic is attached. Also included in the price was welding a missed weld by LL on the frame. I discovered this when checking the spare tire.

I really struggle adding pictures on this site.

I will post this and try again.,

[shovelhead]

[quote source="/post/11142/thread" timestamp="1432154594" author="@whoofit"]Sounds like your idea of taking some welding courses could be profitable in your area. I would do the trip to PA. It's not a pressing matter for you but it's a great excuse for a road trip and to see your Bud.[/quote]Same thinking here.  If I supplied the eBay 2x4 at near $120.  We know the local guy can get  it cheaper, heck he may already have it in scrap.  But again
say I supplied the 2X4 then they are charging ~$150-200 for  20 minutes of work.   As you said it's not a pressing mod and I do plan a PA. trip early November  to do some deer hunting. (Sorry Vegans, Bambi lovers) .  I may even expand on that and have my bud design some sort of water resistant storage locker.

[shovelhead]

Monte you cant post direct.  You need an alternate "photo" site like PhotoBucket , DropBox, Flickr..... I use Amazon as a prime member for music and pics.

[geo92128]

Part of the problem I had was finding someone that could weld aluminum! AMD welding in Winder GA was the fourth shop I contacted regarding the 2x4 addition. I even contacted one large RV shop known for repairs and they said NO to welding aluminum!?
No luck on adding pics this afternoon but it is basically the same as Charlie's pic on his bike rack mod, I put the same Swagman bike rack on and the same reinforcement. I attached our two bikes but have not gone anywhere but so far this looks like a very good bike rack.
Quite honestly it appears the technical skills to weld aluminum requires a premium fee for the service; we certainly paid more for the LL trailers due to the aluminum!

[shovelhead]

I didnt know you were in JawJaw... Winder is what 30 miles from Cumming? I'll lookup AMD.  Did they supply the 2X4?  also are the welds underneath as well?

[geo92128]

[quote source="/post/11146/thread" timestamp="1432156454" author="@monted"]Part of the problem I had was finding someone that could weld aluminum! AMD welding in Winder GA was the fourth shop I contacted regarding the 2x4 addition. I even contacted one large RV shop known for repairs and they said NO to welding aluminum!?
No luck on adding pics this afternoon but it is basically the same as Charlie's pic on his bike rack mod, I put the same Swagman bike rack on and the same reinforcement. I attached our two bikes but have not gone anywhere but so far this looks like a very good bike rack.
Quite honestly it appears the technical skills to weld aluminum requires a premium fee for the service; we certainly paid more for the LL trailers due to the alu

[geo92128]

Yes, they already had the tubing in stock, they welded along the top (  I think you can see this in a photo I attached a few minutes ago) and in the corners to the main frame. He did not weld along the bottom but I am sure he would if you asked him. Derek is the owner and the one that welded this for me. I dropped it off as I am only about 15 minutes away. He called me about two hours later telling the job was done. I should have waited, but he had 3-4 garbage trucks there getting repairs etc. and my repair was low priority I thought.

[cadman70454]

I've worked in metal fab shops for a long time.  We usually have 1 or 2 guys doing our aluminum welding.  None of the companies I've worked for would do work like you need, they work on large scale projects and aren't set up to do little stuff.  However, their welders do work after hours for money and/or beer, sometimes at the shop or sometimes at their home shop.  If you can find an aluminum fabricator, you could call and ask and they would probably give you their welders name and phone number.  Or show up and talk to someone at the front desk.  We had lots of walk ins like this.  The boss liked guys being able to make some extra money.

[pinstriper]

Seems to me for something like this brazing would be sufficiently strong and something that most anyone can manage doing.

[ammobob]

Not to throw salt on a wound but LL did mine at the factory for $15. Had to ask Shawn 3 times if he was sure of the costs. I run a sheet metal shop and have 5 welder. Only one of them can weld Aluminum proficiently. The last thing you want is cracked welds. Anyway I would make sure you find a good welder that is proficient welding aluminum. Look at some of his/her work if you can. Most welders will say they can do it but it's a separate skill from standard MIG/TIG welding.

[whoofit]

[quote timestamp="1432210997" author="@ammobob" source="/post/11164/thread"]Not to throw salt on a wound but LL did mine at the factory for $15. Had to ask Shawn 3 times if he was sure of the costs. I run a sheet metal shop and have 5 welder. Only one of them can weld Aluminum proficiently.[/quote][p]Hey, Bob. Don't take this the wrong way. You seem like a great guy and all. But what exactly did you do to Shawn that would motivate him to want to get rid of you so quickly?....!![/p][p]
[/p][p]Kidding of course. That is well below wholesale cost of just the materials. So now we know the cost of doing it at the factory. It's no wonder they moved locations!... (rofl)
[/p]

[ammobob]

[quote source="/post/11168/thread" timestamp="1432216671" author="@whoofit"][quote source="/post/11164/thread" timestamp="1432210997" author="@ammobob"]Not to throw salt on a wound but LL did mine at the factory for $15. Had to ask Shawn 3 times if he was sure of the costs. I run a sheet metal shop and have 5 welder. Only one of them can weld Aluminum proficiently.[/quote][p]Hey, Bob. Don't take this the wrong way. You seem like a great guy and all. But what exactly did you do to Shawn that would motivate him to want to get rid of you so quickly?....!![/p][p]
[/p][p]Kidding of course. That is well below wholesale cost of just the materials. So now we know the cost of doing it at the factory. It's no wonder they moved locations!... (rofl)
[/p][/quote]Shawn is a heck of a nice guy. I may have drove him nuts with all the e-mails I sent him checking on my camper. I think the costs of the bumper reinforcement were just the cost of labor for welding it on. Suspect they used drop (scrap) for the material.

by the way he has not gotten rid of me yet. My camper went from ready to ship to SIRV on 6 May to this week we are taking it to the new plant to fix all the problems so delivery delayed a few more weeks. Went from thinking it would be sitting on SIRVs lot for a month to will it be there when I get there June 15th.

[whoofit]

Good luck with that.