$100 Aluminess tire carrier

[lmpetersen]

So I am cheap....it has served me well in life, or rather, I love a great deal. I always buy used, I am always searching craigslist and FB marketplace, selling up, and rarely regretting it! A few weeks ago was no exception when I saw this:



Wow! Super cool! So I wrote to the guy but he already had someone coming to pick it up. I was bummed BUT, I knew that either 1) the person was a banner and got a smoking deal.... or 2) some local Jeep guy was going to buy it and realize it was too big and that it was aluminum so they couldn’t use their mig welder to “make it work”. So I decided that 2) was the most likely scenario and I kept checking FB for it to get relisted. And a couple days ago it did!



Sure enough, someone wasn’t able to use it on their tiny pickup truck. So I headed over to snag it! I was even willing to pay full price.

When I got there, however, the bottom bracket had been hacked off! Never mentioned in the ad....I was pretty mad. This guy, not knowing that this is an $800 piece of kit, took his grinder to it and just started cutting! So after some whining, I reluctantly offered $100.

Now my hope is that I can have it welded back together, but what do you all think? Is this a lost cause? If the structural integrity is compromised then I don’t want to attempt to do it and potentially have a spare fall off my rig. So I am seeking your professional opinions. I took a chance, it seems like fate brought us together...but I am also willing to cut my losses and run if she isn’t ‘the one’!

[rallypanam]

I’d have no concerns with welding it back on. Just make sure to clean the aluminum well, get off the old welds, and weld it all back together.

Steal!

[dokaman]

If you decide not to fix it, i may be interested in buying it from you.

[BrianW]

You’ll probably need to put some reinforcement gussets in, but be careful it doesn’t mess up the clearance behind the bumper

[boywonder]

Assuming the the material that Aluminess uses is 6061-T6......


Technically you would need to re heat-treat after welding to get back to a T6 condition.....otherwise the yield strength around the welded areas will be much lower than T6. Letting it age after welding by letting it sit around will slowly increase the yield strength a bit but it won't get back to T6 spec without proper heat treatment and aging, which I think involves heating to 1100F so the powdercoat would be toast as well.


This also assumes that Aluminess heat treats after welding......I'm not sure anyone here has confirmed that.