Uh oh (cracked Aluminess)

jage · 05-08-2018, 09:19 PM

Just found this.

Bbasso · 05-08-2018, 10:05 PM

Frozen water inside or stress?

opie · 05-08-2018, 10:24 PM

How old is it?

vandiesel · 05-08-2018, 10:34 PM

I just sent mine in last week for free upgrade work. Mine was cracked on box side of things. The tire carrier was requested to be sent in even though it had not cracked yet.

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jage · 05-08-2018, 11:00 PM

Stress and 2005. Upgraded the tires in 2008 then again in like 2011. Had 33 Toyo MTs then these 34" Nitto ATs and built an adapter plate or two to keep them touching the arms properly. (the modular Aluminess arms came later as did the 3 hinge arms).

The worst part is the van has been sitting for nearly 6 months and today is the first time I saw it- immediately on going to open the rear gate it was totally obvious. I'm wondering if the mechanic dropped the lift a lot too fast earlier today... we'll never know.

boywonder · 05-09-2018, 06:59 AM

Jage, is there any air space/gap between the swingarm and the delrin wedge block on the bumper?? That's a fatigue crack....

Also, where the swingarm contacts the latch on the face of the bumper....how is the vertical alignment? Does the horizontal bar on the latch receiver thing contact the swingarm mech high, low or right on?

shenrie · 05-09-2018, 08:32 AM

it wont help the crack, but an idea for after its been repaired...when i converted from 8x165 to 8x170 i modified the backing plate on my tire carrier so that the tire was actually resting on the back bumper instead of the entire weight of a 17x9 rim and a 35" tire hanging off the back of the tire carrier. its a lot easier to get back on the lug studs that way too. rest it on the bumper then fandangle it back onto the studs. way easier on my worthless back.

jage · 05-09-2018, 01:04 PM

I think boywonder is right, it's bigger than it looks and has probably been growing for a while. Basically the whole tube supporting the latch is flopping on the bottom bit now.

It's been loose, something I haven't addressed (d'oh). It's possible driving on my local washboards in the neighborhood brought it from internal fatigue or hairline to an actual crack- on inspection it definitely looks like it's been growing for some time, not new like I originally assumed.

The latch is/was loose on the spare and I never took the 5 minutes to re-align and square it up tight again. At least the crack showed up so I can address it. Maybe I'll find a good aluminum guy in Hays or somewhere else in Kansas.

boywonder · 05-09-2018, 02:07 PM

Assuming that they are 6061-T6...weld repairs generally end up cracking right next to the new weld unless the part is re-heatreated......which brings up an interesting question...does Aluminess heat treat these after welding when they are fabricated??

Without heat treating to get back to T6 condition, the post-weld yield strength will improve a bit slowly with room temp aging, but nothing close to a T6 condition yield strength.

vandiesel · 05-09-2018, 05:43 PM

My box swing arm was welded and cracked again exactly as you describe. The new style is square tubing and as I’m not an engineer I guess it must hold welds better or bear weight better.

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