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Old 10-13-2019, 05:17 PM   #1
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Aluminess woes

Went out to prep my van for another outing and noticed the bar which the spare tire rests on and also latches the swing arm to the bumper has cracked completely off at the weld. No bueno. Leaves it unusable so I removed it and threw the spare inside the van. Not ideal but at least I can salvage the trip.

So my question is this. Has anyone else had this problem, and how was aluminess. Did they stand behind their product?

I tried contacting them but it’s Sunday and a holiday weekend.

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Old 10-13-2019, 05:50 PM   #2
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Bummer about your tire carrier. Am not sure that Aluminess tire carriers are all they are advertised to be.

On mine the bolt at the top of the main support post backed completely out during our north rim trip. I noticed it when we got to camp. One of the guys I was with had the right size bolt. We replaced it and had to keep tightening it daily during the rest of the trip. Was lucky that the welds at the base of the post did not fail.
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Old 10-13-2019, 06:35 PM   #3
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I had mine break on the box side and in the process of replacing that they offered to gusset weld my tire carrier. When I got is back the guy had welded the gussets at the point of the triangle where it latched. This does absolutely nothing and I was so frustrated by how they handled both issues I never did anything. Your post reminds me that I need to move past their lameness and have it done right.
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Old 10-14-2019, 08:39 AM   #4
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Assuming the swingarms are 6061-T6 aluminum (likely) weld repairing them without heat treating back to T6 condition will likely have a short life.....that's certainly the case with 6061-T6 bicycle frames.


..I'm assuming that Aluminess heat treats them before powder coating......


FWIW I've got Aluminess swingarms on a home brew bumper; I have fabricated the delrin wedge rubbing blocks under the swingarms and the delrin spacers at the hinges to eliminate all the slop/freeplay everywhere when the swingarms are latched to the bumpers. I'm betting that the weld failures people see are from impact loading when going down rough fireroads, etc. The spare tire and box weigh a lot.


I've set mine up so that when the swingarms are latched they are snug....no vertical slop......
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Old 10-14-2019, 09:03 AM   #5
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Originally Posted by boywonder View Post
Assuming the swingarms are 6061-T6 aluminum (likely) weld repairing them without heat treating back to T6 condition will likely have a short life.....that's certainly the case with 6061-T6 bicycle frames.


..I'm assuming that Aluminess heat treats them before powder coating......


FWIW I've got Aluminess swingarms on a home brew bumper; I have fabricated the delrin wedge rubbing blocks under the swingarms and the delrin spacers at the hinges to eliminate all the slop/freeplay everywhere when the swingarms are latched to the bumpers. I'm betting that the weld failures people see are from impact loading when going down rough fireroads, etc. The spare tire and box weigh a lot.



I've set mine up so that when the swingarms are latched they are snug....no vertical slop......

I have been less than happy with all of the movement back there. Only had my rear bumper with tire carrier and deluxe box on the other side for about 2 1/2 years or roughly 16k miles. Seems a little premature for a failure.

Perhaps you could post some pictures of your delrin spacers. I would absolutely love to make mine less sloppy.
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Old 10-14-2019, 09:50 AM   #6
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when I converted from 8x165 to 8x170 I made the new adapter for my tire carrier so the tire rests on the rear bumper instead of all the weight of a heavy wheel tire combo hanging ten. it’s greatly reduced how often I have to retighten all the bolts. Plus it gave me more visibility out the back window. I can’t see the tire at all in the rear view mirror.

that said I’ve seen a few posts of people having good luck with aluminess repairing their broken stuff. if it were me, I’d reach out to them and see if they would be willing to assist with the repairs.
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Old 10-14-2019, 12:58 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by shenrie View Post
that said I’ve seen a few posts of people having good luck with aluminess repairing their broken stuff. if it were me, I’d reach out to them and see if they would be willing to assist with the repairs.
Over the last couple years I too have read several Posts from members that have had a positive experience with Aluminess.
I have not had personal issues with the construction of any of my Aluminess accessories, but have contacted them several times for parts that have become worn out, and each time they have willingly come through.
***I'll second Shenrie's advise to reach out and give them an opportunity to address your issue.
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Old 10-14-2019, 08:46 PM   #8
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My rear swing arm is currently being repaired with the gusset Aluminess sent. They also sent a new latch free of charge. Nothing but positive experiences with their customer service on this issue as well as sales questions.
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Old 10-15-2019, 12:10 PM   #9
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Hopefully I did not give an impression of bad service. My issue with them was more of sloppiness or incompetence. My replacement box required a significant amount of modifications to simply install and make useable. The tire carrier was down there for a couple months and then came back exactly as I sent it minus the gusset in the wrong place. I just ran out of patience babysitting the process and doing re-work. They were super nice and apologized up and down but I also had to document and photograph everything to help them improve. I did but then just never sent my carrier back.
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Old 10-15-2019, 09:09 PM   #10
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Originally Posted by boywonder View Post
FWIW I've got Aluminess swingarms on a home brew bumper; I have fabricated the delrin wedge rubbing blocks under the swingarms and the delrin spacers at the hinges to eliminate all the slop/freeplay everywhere when the swingarms are latched to the bumpers. I'm betting that the weld failures people see are from impact loading when going down rough fireroads, etc. The spare tire and box weigh a lot.


I've set mine up so that when the swingarms are latched they are snug....no vertical slop......
I too added a rubbing block that takes the weight to the bumper, then I added a hold down in the form of a turn buckle from the trailer hitch to the bottom of the swing arm. It puls the box down tight on the bumper and keeps it there on the rough roads. The set up also extends the life of the latch, the main reason I did it. I also have gussets welded on the hinges.
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