aluminum semi wheel

[bill grooms]

I was wondering if anyone could help me with welding an aluminum semi wheel. I know how to v out, pre-heat and all that good stuff, the question is will welding take out any tempering that they may do at the factory. thankyou.

[Sberry]

I am not sure about the alloys in semi wheels, but, I can tell you for sure Mr. DOT wont find any humor in welding wheels. They are actually quite competetivly priced and I am sure the salvage yards have them. Another thought, what caused the need for a repair? If it is a crack of some sorts the whole wheel would be suspect not just what you might be able to see by eye.

[INTP]

I'm not going to guess on the alloy, but welding aluminum does ruin the heat treatment. Drops it in half for 6061-T6, for example.

I think that wheel is a good candidate for this

[jason]

Bill, the alloy is most probably 2024. While it is possible to weld this alloy, it is not recommended.

Jason
________
CM185T

[Franz]

I sure hope you have a spare tire rack onthat rig, cause if you get busted with a welded wheel running on the road, you are SO RED TAGGED you ain't going to believe it.
DOT guys around here will inspect the boltholes with a magnifying glass, and they have a trunk full of those lovely paste on windshield stickers to give out.

[rangerod]

Semi Wheel

bill grooms

I work in the aircraft field & if that wheel is made of any 2000 series aluminum I give one piece of advice, DO NOT WELD that wheel. I have experimented welding this aluminum series & actually watched the cracks run behind the weld as I was Tig welding it. The reason it is not weldable is that there is too high of a copper content in this series. Now you are talking about a part that WILL see severe stress. I have seen 2000 series welded panels that came from the factory but there is a heat treating process involved when they manufactured the part. Yes the welding process will take out the temper in the area you are weld repairing. I don't mean to offend you in any way just not wanting one of this boards memebers from getting wrapped up in a possible law suit. Sorry I was long kinda important subject Be safe.

[bjdenommee]

A Little off track here

About 2 weeks ago I had to move one of my machines from the shop to a job site the next town over, the only truck I had was a 1/2 chevy. The truck is all set up we just use it for small stuff, really seems to never go out much.

So I take the old cherry picker and set the machine in the back, and head off. Truck is very much overloaded and shows, but such a small trip it should be ok.

Along comes mr trooper, blues lites and all. lic, reg, and he starts to go over the reason for the stop, huh to much weight.

The old knee on the bumper trick and ticket book, nice he says whats this the fire extingsher gauge says empty.

I dont know, should be full he goes on and on more writhing and onto page 2 so while he is going over me for everything I try to occupy my time with the fire extingsher, funny thing wont come out of the bracket.

He was moving to look at the tires when I pulled the pin for the handle of the fire extingsher, and then there was this nasty noise.

Well seeing as I was behind the handle I was ok, however the trooper was COVERED in white powder, people going by were blowing there horns and all.

Well needless to say, total fine $525.00

Trooper covered in white PRICELESS

[banzaitoyota]

^you guys need to move out of those ticket happy locales. I did, best thing I ever did for my blood pressure

[chip hayden]

hey bjdenommee,
did he draw his weapon?
i hope you had your seat belt on! last Feb. they ticketed me for that [seat belt violation] while i was pumping gas.

[Mike Sherman]

I believe due to the low final heat treat temperature of aluminum, and the high temperature of welding, it is virtually impossible to weld it, with any process, without changing it's manufactured heat treatment. I believe that is the exact question you wanted answered?

[Franz]

Well needless to say, total fine $525.00

Trooper covered in white PRICELESS

For that price you should have gotten a picture. After all, the ball bearing meter maid certainly had to write up a report on how he got powdered for future officer safety training.

It's gonna get worse, my town just bought 27 computers for the meter maids, so they can just scan the license and registration, punch in the location and violation, and the machine will enable them to issue more tickets per hour.

[bill grooms]

aluminum semi wheel

Thanks for all the replys. I told the trucker that it wouldn't be a good idea to weld it. He told me he could buy used rims for around 200 dollars. That is what he is going to do. Thanks again.

[Sberry]

Good job Bill. It isnt that some things cant be welded, its that they shouldnt be,,, sometimes just for the liability factor if nothing else. We talk about welding hitches here once in a while, I am one that does it from time to time. But, a woman came a while back wanted one on her pickup truck to pull a horse trailer. I sent her packin, no way was I going to work on tha piece of **** truck with brakes on one wheel, rusted frame etc. She is whining,,, its all I can afford, on and on, (That alone precludes me wanting to date her,,, ha,,, she obviously cant afford me if she cant afford good truck) I tell her, its irrellevent that she cant afford it. That if I ever see this truck hooked to a trailer I am callin the trooper, junk shouldnt been on the road to start with and she wants to haul who knows how many thousand pound horse trailer behind it. Even if my hitch woulda been perfect, I would have been sued you can bet.

[Hobart Expert Rock]

BILL GROOMS............. Well I think you now understand that not everything should be welded..............I can also assure you being involved in this field, and talking to DOT folks all the time they have no sense of humor what so ever when it comes to safety..............Yours, mine, or theirs.................... I have never welded a Semi trailer or tractor wheel before unless it was to make a real Jim Dandy wood burner................BE SAFE......Rock..
[email protected]

[Pat]

Originally posted by Franz
Well needless to say, total fine $525.00

Trooper covered in white PRICELESS

For that price you should have gotten a picture. After all, the ball bearing meter maid certainly had to write up a report on how he got powdered for future officer safety training.

It's gonna get worse, my town just bought 27 computers for the meter maids, so they can just scan the license and registration, punch in the location and violation, and the machine will enable them to issue more tickets per hour.

Fran,

Don't look a gift horse in the mouth. With the new computers chances are that the people running them will get so frustrated with them that they shut them down and congregate at Dunkin Donuts. These laptops (crap tops as we call them) never seem to fail just when you need to run a person or plate. We had ours installed about 2 years ago and they still don't function half the time. About every 1/4 mile they disconnect and you have to wait forever for them to come back on line. I am not saying they are all like that, but the county purchased outdated Panasonic Hardbooks, and I think the software was created in someones basement. Then the other thing is that the State of Wisconsin DOT must have the most archaic computer system in the country. DOT files are down more than they are usually available. Sometimes when you run a person you get nothing back until a half hour later after you cleared the call and then find out the person had several felony warrants, Probation hold, or may be armed and considered dangerous. So all in all I think John Q. Public is benefitting from all this so called technology. When I am working my crap top is normally closed and used as a reading table for metal working and tool magazines. I can't seem to use it for anything else.