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Re: Is an Aluminum drawbar strong enough for a towbar rack

Originally Posted by Willie B

Years ago a friend now deceased gave me a sheet showing how to make beef taste like venison. I can't remember all the steps. Gut shoot it, chase it ten miles, leave it on the ground overnight so coyotes can eat part, drag it through a swamp, then sand, across a greasy garage floor, hang it up with the hide, guts, and head still there. Leave it for a week, hung low enough for dog to wander through open door, and pee on it. Cut it up after plenty of warm days so flies lay eggs. Leave in refrigerator two weeks. Cook leaving fat & gristle on.

The point was that people mistreat venison disgracefully. You wouldn't dream of treating beef that way.

It is an amazing thing to witness! I have a very hard time trusting to eat any one elses venison. But I have seen the light this year. I have hunted and had venison since I was a young lad. This year was the first year I dropped the deer in one shot nearly in the spot he stood. It is the absolute best venison I have ever had! I have heard the myth before but now am a believer that venison can taste like a steak! In a pan, little salt and pepper and WOW! I have yet to try it on the grill just to see. It is amazing! I have to try that every time.

Re: Is an Aluminum drawbar strong enough for a towbar rack

Those insert carriers are the rocking-est, wobbling-est, bouncing-est, noisy-est dayem things I've sever seen. I picture the wear rate on an aluminum insert being phenomenal. Of course I also realize that most folks that want one generally don't end up using them as much as they think they will either. Maybe three times in the first six months then they set all cold and lonely in a corner somewhere.

The ones I know that do use the heck out of them always buy those HF or Northern Tools ones on the cheap. Those bolt together ones start tearing their self apart right off the git-go. They'll come around wanting you to 'patch it up a bit' cuzz you have that welder. I won't touch 'em. The benefit-reward to effort ratio is all bass ackwards on them. It is still a turd when you're done.

Re: Is an Aluminum drawbar strong enough for a towbar rack

Years ago a friend now deceased gave me a sheet showing how to make beef taste like venison. I can't remember all the steps. Gut shoot it, chase it ten miles, leave it on the ground overnight so coyotes can eat part, drag it through a swamp, then sand, across a greasy garage floor, hang it up with the hide, guts, and head still there. Leave it for a week, hung low enough for dog to wander through open door, and pee on it. Cut it up after plenty of warm days so flies lay eggs. Leave in refrigerator two weeks. Cook leaving fat & gristle on.

The point was that people mistreat venison disgracefully. You wouldn't dream of treating beef that way.

Re: Is an Aluminum drawbar strong enough for a towbar rack

Well the fun seems to have come to an end in this thread. I thought I would get more of a rise out of the "steel doesn't crack" than I did.


But I would still use steel instead of aluminum for the OP's project. At least the part that goes in the receiver and part of the frame for the rack. From there I would bolt aluminum to the steel frame for the basket or shelves or what have you.

It does remind me of the times you see people stick all the heavy things on one side of their receiver rack and it bends and hits the ground on the heavy side after a few bumps in the road. I also get a kick out of the people that use them for hauling deer in the hunting season which around here is also salt/snow season at the same time. Nothing like salting down the deer all the way back to IL with road grime.

Re: Is an Aluminum drawbar strong enough for a towbar rack

Originally Posted by VPT

Yes but normally isn't the "arch" up instead of sagging?

Frequently both. The top is arched end to end, the bottom has a shorter steeper arch in the middle so the beam is thinner both in front at the pin and back over the wheels.

Jon

Re: Is an Aluminum drawbar strong enough for a towbar rack

Originally Posted by welderj

Attachment 1396781

That trailer is a semi trailer and that bend is factory. The frames on semi flats are fabricated that way to keep ride height down and still have a tall enough beam to carry the span.

Yes but normally isn't the "arch" up instead of sagging?

Re: Is an Aluminum drawbar strong enough for a towbar rack

Originally Posted by VPT

No, that isn't bent at all (before welding).



The other cheap walmart trailer is rust and china metal.

Attachment 1396781

That trailer is a semi trailer and that bend is factory. The frames on semi flats are fabricated that way to keep ride height down and still have a tall enough beam to carry the span.

Re: Is an Aluminum drawbar strong enough for a towbar rack

No, that isn't bent at all (before welding).



The other cheap walmart trailer is rust and china metal.

Re: Is an Aluminum drawbar strong enough for a towbar rack

Originally Posted by VPT

Thats not fatigue, that is rust, and shock load. You can tell with the blue trailer as it is bent and well the rust.

Uhm, no it's not. It's rusty for 2 reasons, one is the paint cracks and flakes from the metal stretching and the other is from the bare metal exposed when the beam cracked from fatigue due to constant flexing. It's hard for those not experienced to see, but the rust lines follow the cracks. The blue trailer is rusty from the welded repaire from the fatigue cracks not being repainted after the repair.

Jon

Re: Is an Aluminum drawbar strong enough for a towbar rack

Thats not fatigue, that is rust, and shock load. You can tell with the blue trailer as it is bent and well the rust.

Re: Is an Aluminum drawbar strong enough for a towbar rack

Originally Posted by VPT

Bologna! Show me one pic of steel that cracked from fatigue.

Attachment 1396661Attachment 1396671Attachment 1396681Attachment 1396691

Re: Is an Aluminum drawbar strong enough for a towbar rack

I understand the replacement bridge is billet aluminum...

Re: Is an Aluminum drawbar strong enough for a towbar rack

John, funny I was thinking exactly about THAT bridge, posting a picture of its collapse from steel fatigue, but alas I was shamed to tone it down. Not PC to discuss facts I guess.

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Re: Is an Aluminum drawbar strong enough for a towbar rack

You guys are all on crack!

Re: Is an Aluminum drawbar strong enough for a towbar rack

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Re: Is an Aluminum drawbar strong enough for a towbar rack

Originally Posted by VPT

Bologna! Show me one pic of steel that cracked from fatigue.

Yes you must be right, that why the Federal Highway Administration produced the Manual of Repair and Retrofit of fatigue cracks in steel bridges. Figure #1 in that publication is described as "Typical fatigue crack across a repaired flange butt weld in a welded I-girder test specimen. The arrows show the direction crack growth and the fatigue striations show how the crack grew elliptically through the flange. Photo courtesy of US Coast Guard."

2nd paragraph in Chapter 1 just above that picture says this.

FATIGUE

When cracks are discovered in bridge elements (members or connections) in service, fatigue is usually the cause. (5) Fatigue is the formation of a crack due to cyclic service loads. (6,7) Figure 1 shows the surface of a common fatigue crack. This crack originated at the toe of a repair butt weld in the flange of a welded built-up I -girder (hence the access hole cut into the web). The appearance of a fatigue crack is typically smooth and silky, as shown in Figure 1. Fatigue surfaces usually show distinct striations outlining the shape of the crack as it grew (as seen in Figure 1) and these point back to the origination point of the crack

https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/bridge/stee...0/hif13020.pdf



I'm too lazy tonight to find a steel paper clip and bend it back and forth until it breaks to prove steel fatigues and cracks due to repeated cyclical loading.

Re: Is an Aluminum drawbar strong enough for a towbar rack

Originally Posted by Oldendum

Ryan, you could lighten up a bit and still make your point. Sounds to me like you and VPT were making some of the same points in different ways.

Fair enough, I could "tone it down". No I don't really think we are saying the same thing in different ways. The original query was basically asking about a luggage rack on an aluminum drawbar, I gave him a real world answer, yes no issue albeit not with an aluminum foil tube. However others would like him to believe he needs a steel behemoth sticking out the back just showing an aluminum one that failed. To answer VPT :

No, they are not riveted for that reason.
Yes I have ridden in welded and riveted, as well as built them and captained them. I'll take welded every time.
The weld bead didn't break because that's not where the failure occurs in aluminum, it fails in the weaker HAZ outside the bead.
Any trailer can and will crack due to metal fatigue. The aluminum actually give you a bit more warning with it's larger plastic yield deformation, the steel may develop an unseen crack since it has a smaller plastic deformation zone, then a catastrophic failure.

As for the broken aluminum drop hitch (which was a horribly design), here's steel failures, which similarly don't prove anything other than things break. Who knows how the part was used before the failure, most likely it was abused and overloaded as we all see almost daily on the road and in the LONG trailer fail thread.Attachment 1395881Attachment 1395891

Re: Is an Aluminum drawbar strong enough for a towbar rack

Originally Posted by duaneb55

My post wasn't directed at you. It just came up right after yours.

Just teasing, Duane.

Re: Is an Aluminum drawbar strong enough for a towbar rack

Originally Posted by DSW

Huh? I can think of any number of heavy equipment threads that show cracked steel ( buckets, loader arms, suspension components..), as well as plenty of picts in the trailer fail thread of cracked steel.

Bologna! Show me one pic of steel that cracked from fatigue.

Re: Is an Aluminum drawbar strong enough for a towbar rack

Originally Posted by VPT

Steel doesn't crack. Never seen it happen ever. Stainless maybe but not steel.

Huh? I can think of any number of heavy equipment threads that show cracked steel ( buckets, loader arms, suspension components..), as well as plenty of picts in the trailer fail thread of cracked steel.

Re: Is an Aluminum drawbar strong enough for a towbar rack

Originally Posted by xryan

Those are about the most ignorant statements I've ever read.

Apparently aluminum is the only metal that fatigues in your bizzaro world. Have you ever seen an aluminum object that has been welded fail, where it fails, why it does so, where the base metal has been weakened without additional heat treatment?

You both also ignore that POS adaptomatic-turnover designed for every truck/trailer combination which is disaster, safe for none. Where's the rest of that photo's story? The chains? The boat on the trailer? The tires? The, most likely, idiot driver?

If you'e worked in avaition you know that every system of the airframe has mandatory inspection and overhaul hour limits, regardless of the material.

Welded vs rivited aluminum boats? I'll take welded every time. Yes "I've ridden in them" both as a passenger in a vessel and Master of it (merchant mariner licence, ie: Captain) I've welded them, repaied rivited ones, as well as steel. I guess you've never seen a ship split in half and sink like a rock taking the crew with it that was made from steel. Would you like me to show you pictures of steel trailers that are 2 years old that have failed, with no rust?

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Steel doesn't crack. Never seen it happen ever. Stainless maybe but not steel.

Re: Is an Aluminum drawbar strong enough for a towbar rack

Originally Posted by Oldendum

Duane, you got a problem? Bring it on, LOL!

My post wasn't directed at you. It just came up right after yours.

Re: Is an Aluminum drawbar strong enough for a towbar rack

As a truck driver almost any of us will tell you aluminum trailers are preferred. They're lighter. Last just as long. They don't rust, aluminum doesn't bend well so usually they don't dog Leg over time like steel ones do. If they break big deal. That's what insurance is for. Usually the welds on the rub rails where you secure your chains and straps is what breaks if they ever do break. Easy fixes. Weld it. Don't have to worry about bending and hours of hammering and straightening like you do with steel

It's simple. get a mud motor. shoot ducks in the face.

Re: Is an Aluminum drawbar strong enough for a towbar rack

Duane, you got a problem? Bring it on, LOL!

I hope the OP wasn't talking about using 3mm wall tube. That is my concern. ~ 100 pounds sticking out the back and no mention of the length, load distance or road conditions ...

I remember flying in Boeing 727's where the wings would flap around all over the place. Felt much better in a 737, especially when I was flying "strapped-to-the-wing class".

Re: Is an Aluminum drawbar strong enough for a towbar rack

Yep, tone it down boys. No need to turn this thread into a pissin' match.