Sad reminder of the importance of welding

[chad22]

If you have any doubts in your welding skills, even a little. Do NOT weld anything that can potentially cause harm if it breaks apart.

That's good advice there.

I had a trailer that I welded up " I believe back in 2008" fail on me sending the scrap metal and trailer frame across the road. The scrap metal landed in the ditch and the trailer frame landed in the middle of the road.

Thank god I was the only one on that road that day.

I never welded any other trailer after that until I was confident in my welding ability.

On my converted trailer. If I had doubts about my ability to make strong sound welds with good penetration using the proper welding machine then I wouldn't have tackled the welding of the trailer.

I may not be able to make my welds look good. But I sure can make them strong.

I haven't had that converted trailer fall apart on me yet. If the weld doesn't penetrate and isn't a strong weld then I'll grind out and redo the weld until I'm satisfied that it's a strong weld. "Not a good looking weld but a strong one"

If it doesn't look all that good but is a strong weld then I won't grind it down.

Those welds I did on that trailer that fell apart were good looking welds. But they failed. Because they didn't actually penetrate the metal. The welds were too cold.

Would I weld another trailer now? Sure I would. And I wouldn't worry about it falling apart either.

 

[Brad_Blazer]

Maybe this guy had something to do with the original story. He's an inattentive driver on a mission to blame all trailers for his accident.

History

 

[davesl708]

Whether the story is true or not. If you manufacture an item that is used on the highway and sell it you have an implied warranty of merchantability. In other words you are implying you used due care and constructed the item in a workmanship like manner.

If it fails and causes injuries to others you may not face criminal charges but the injured can certainly bring civil charges against you.

No different than if you build a bridge and let people cross it. If it fails you are civilly liable.

 

[loudhornsrule]

Yeah, that trailer chaser is a nut.

 

[Sodo]

To understand the structural needs of a weld can be more important than than the weld itself. Welds are often unjustly blamed for poor structural design, because anyone whose seen a broken weld thinks, upon discovery of a broken weld, he's now a weld inspector. With -almost- any weld that breaks (in simple structures such as a trailer) there was a simple way to remove weld strength from the equation by design. ----that wasn't done.

When designing a critical structure (or repairing one) it should be able to support substantial forces just "tacked". Anyone doing such work should think of their structure performing well if any of their welds was "just a tack". Completing the welding should make it 5x stronger. And then add some overkill ontop of that 10x, 20x. Basically no weld should ever break.

These stories of trailers breaking (due to welds) always, conveniently, never have one photo showing the problem area, because the person reporting doesn't know why the trailer separated. If one broke due to a weld (and surely this has happened) assessing that weld without assessing the structure dependent on that weld, is useless.

I bet 99% of trailers separating from the tow vehicle are because the person hooking it up made a crucial error. Forgot to clamp the ball being #1. 2-5/16" hitch on a 1 7/8 or 2" ball being #2. -----PLUS a safety chain problem.

 

[ultrarunner]

Seen a few trailers fall apart and each one was grossly overloaded or had been recently.

One belonged to a friend that was very meticulous with his equipment... his godson bought a small tractor and had asked to borrow the trailer when my friend was on a once in 20 year two week vacation with his wife... the tractor turned out to be a dozer with hoe... destroyed the trailer... it bowed from the weight and he was told by someone else that the godson had put All the Air he could into the tires because they looked flat...

I think trailers are ripe for abuse...

I let my neighbor's son use my trailer once... my neighbor has always been there looking out for my place... anyway his son picked up a tractor way back in the woods and in the process ripped the tongue jack right off the cross member... sure enough... the welds didn't hold!!!

 

[Sodo]

Trailers are ripe for misuse. Well said.

I'd be interested to see that tonge that ripped off. I'd be willing to bet cash that there was a significant design problem that way overshadowed any weld deficiency. Unless it was homemade, certainly could have been birdpoop. Almost willing to bet cash there are no pics either. . Understood on that one, who has pics of every event?

 

[davesl708]

The only trailers I have ever seen fail are those wonderful home built trailers where someone hacks off the bed of a pickup then welds some channel to the butt end of the frame and then butt welds the hitch to the other end and calls it a trailer.

I get past them as fast as I can on the road.

 

[Arc weld]

My dad was pulling a properly equipped trailer and was rear ended by a provincial Politician. When the cops came, this idiot tried to claim the turn signal on the trailer wasn't working... No -hit Sherlock, because you just ran into and broke it! Ex Edmonton Oiler Dave Semenko used to drive a Lincoln continental. He caused an accident and tried to get off because he thought he was some king of celebrity. He asked the people in the other car if they knew who he was. As far as trailers I saw a trailer built by a custom trailer manufacturer have an epic fail. The hitch was put on the ball of a truck unlatched to move the trailer 30ft closer to a shop door. They had to put a larger ball on the truck. Both safety chains were clipped on just in case. There was a little dip in the road and the trailer came off the ball. Both welds on the safety chains were welded with a small pass of 6010 and they broke like they were stuck on with bubble gum. This was at about 1 MPH. It's scary to think what would have happened if the trailer had come uncoupled on the highway.

 

[ultrarunner]

My one incident could have been a disaster...

The ball failed and the trailer dropped onto the freeway deck... the boxx trailer was legal with one safety chain and this is how it was equipped.

Anyone familiar with the old concrete section freeways... about every 20' a slab... knows after years, at least around here each joint will over time raise or lower noticeably... the old Nimitz freeway going through Hayward.

Anyway, the tongue hit the lip of the concrete slab freeway section and snapped the chain... trailer went bouncing across the interstate.

When I think what could have happened and somehow didn't...

So, now all my trailers have double chains, crisscrossed and threaded link for the connection.