Tire Carrier Failure (1 Viewer)

[baldboy]

Saturday afternoon I took the 40 out for a quick drive. Long story short on the way home while driving on a city street all four welds broke off of the tire carrier and the next thing I see is my tire carrier BOUNCING down 36th street in my rear view mirror. First of all I'm so thankful that no one was in the vicinity. I realize what a dangerous situation that was.

My second thought is what the heck happened there...??

It is a heavy duty tire carrier/cooler/gas can carrier. It had no obvious signs of failure (not leaning, bouncing, shaking etc...) Just broke clean off. It was on the truck when I bought it last year.

Here is a before:

Here is after:

Welds up close:

Really looks like it only had partial attachment to begin with... But that was not obvious upon inspection before it failed (not to me).



At this point is it realistic/possible to grind this down and have a professional weld it back together again? Shouldn't this carrier safely hold a skinny 34 or 35 inch tire?

This has left me really gun shy as this could have caused a major accident so I want to make sure it does not fail again.

 

[DTSkyCop]

I agree with you, the welds looked mediocre at best... I would take it to a good welder and he could grind those welds down and "Beef" it up a little and get better penetrating welds and you should have no issues. It looks like the welds were minimal and rust set it under them... Then ALL the bouncing etc. Due to the poor welds and the shaking etc, the thing was destine to fail. But I think you are right, it should hold the 34 / 35 tires no problem IF PROPERLY WELDED in the first place... Just my opinion, but I am not a welder, I just play one on TV... lol

 

[reddingcruiser]

Calling the welds 'mediocre' is being pretty polite. It looks like there is evidence of an earlier crack on the side closest to the tub (note the rust in the existing weld material). IMHO, not enough of the main tube is welded to the mounting bracket. More surface contact between the main tube member and better welds will fix the problem.

 

[TLCJC]

Anyone recognize and know the manufacturer of that model carrier?

 

[Dave 2000]

Cannot see if there was anything to support or stabilise the top part of the carrier? If not then tube would 'work harden' pretty quickly. Add in the rust and it was an accident waiting to happen. We see that a lot here where the front bumpers have 'roo bars', prats, there are no kangeroo's in Spain! The tube gets moisture in it which collects at the bottom, this then rusts through.

If you are happy to keep the rack then go with the above ideas, weld and strengthen, perhaps insert solid bar into the tube and weld properly. I use agricultural welders companies (think tractors), for any heavy welding. When the welding is done I would drill a tiny hole at the lowest part of each tube, then a bigger hole in the top, pour in some rust treatment, catch it as it comes out of the lower holes, recycle it through the holes. Plug the top hole but leave the bottom ones open.

regards

Dave

 

[bikersmurf]

Welding the rectangular tube to the solid plate is tricky. I'd have it re-welded by a welder and also add gussets to the plates to attach to the cross tube of the carrier. I'd also add brackets to tie into the holes on the outside ends of the rear cross member. I'd also add a box around the lights that ties to the added metal on either side of the lights.

It looks like your carrier was either a 4PlusProduct or a copy of theirs.

 

[Pin_Head]

The failure point looks under-engineered to me. There is not enough mounting area and too many right angle joints for stress risers to form. The plate and triangular gusset mounting set up needs to be a piece of angle stock instead. If you plate the top of the mount and then weld the bumper back on to a much larger surface, you should be OK.

 

[rkymtnflyfisher]

At least it didn't happen driving down South Memorial....

 

[SouthBostonFJ40]

It looks like your carrier was either a 4PlusProduct or a copy of theirs.

View attachment 1248997

Looks like a copy to me.

 

[tls3601]

Looking at my 4Plus it also looks like a copy to me, Dave's stuff is just SO heavy duty.

 

[Weber Sarge]

I'm with the others , it's a horrible copy and all the correct ways to make those joints were left out - not to mention crappy cold welds . This is why I hate seeing folks buying 110v wire feed welders and thinking they can build anything - that mounting is a prime example of welding without enough power , and definitely not knowing the difference in penetration .
Sarge

 

[John McVicker]

I also agree w/others...Dave would not let those welds get INTO his shop...much less LEAVE his shop.

John

 

[DSRTRDR]

does not look like 4+ to me - the first picture shows a very different configuration

 

[thebigredrocker]

The guy that welded that needs his pisser smacked with a spruce branch

 

[baldboy]

Initially I thought maybe it was an old version of a 4plus. No idea who made it now though.

The other thing I noticed in addition to the welds has been the weight.

I have a true 4plus carrier on my other 40 and I can't lift that thing by myself. This one seems a bit lighter. I was able to move this one by myself and the other absolutely requires another person.

Also the latches are different. This one has two spring loaded handles (that rattle like crazy) that drop into holes.

I will say this thing held up well for being dropped on the pavement at 40mph. Not a dent. Maybe it's the way it landed.

Again, really thankful no one was hurt and really appreciate the jeep guy who slowed traffic and helped me collect the wreckage.


Thanks for all the feedback. I think I'll see if I can get a proper repair done. I'll let you know...

 

[Weber Sarge]

I'd take it to a competent welding shop , let them know what happened and see what they say about all the welds , not just the mounts . Next time it could start crapping individual parts...almost worse .
Sarge

 

[GA Architect]

FWIW: Once bitten, twice shy...Unless you are willing have all the welds reworked, scrap it and call 4plus.

Oh, 4Plus has the Yeti 45 basket option.

 

[honk]

If those taillights are part of it then it reminds me of Man-e-Fre/4x4Plus stuff, but I have a problem believing that any professional builder would risk selling such crap work, especially not 4x4Plus.

Those two red handles - I've seen those used in here somewhere but can't find where?

The welds that hold those triangular trusses to the mounting plate don't look like there's much penetration - cold beads just laid on top of the steel.

Anyway, after seeing the fails who could trust any of the welds on that thing?

 

[kevos37]

Find a competent fabricator, have him evaluate it. I would also look around to see if there are anymore "harry homeowner" welds on your rig and dispatch those as well.

Nice rig BTW.

 

[fjgoober]

Baldyboy,

Take no offense, but I got one hell of a laugh at reading your original post. But to make you feel better I'll tell a little story as to why you brought tears to my eyes laughing.

I was at a customer's facility early early in the morning, I had dropped off product and was headed back to my day time job (this was when I was first getting started ) . I was on the highway headed back into town coming around a hard right hand corner and all of a sudden I heard a thump thump then had a tire pass me on the left hand side! Went right past my drivers side window! I thought WTF just happened....to be honest it scared the day light out of me.

Next thing happened was the left rear end dropped to the asphalt and I pulled or should say skidded down the highway to the shoulder while watching my tire bounce a half mile down the road! I'm not kidding on this. Looked just like tin cup when the pro hit the golf ball on the road.....it just kept bouncing and bouncing down the darn road came off the elevated highway and cleared the 3 strand barbed wire fence by 15 to 20 feet and kept going in the field!

Had to go out into a pasture to get my tire, pulled a lug nut of the other 3 tires and got back to town however I was a little late for work.

I'd do whatever pinball says. He's pretty quick to the point but 99.99999% he's right!