Poor Welds on Trailer A-Frame Coupler?

[RABRods]

Good morning all!

I have an enclosed trailer that needed a new trailer coupler welded on. This task was something I didn't want the liability of welding on myself at home, after seeing what the trailer shop did, I think I could have done a better job. Take a look at the pictures, should I take the trailer back to the trailer shop and question their quality? Should I have them/someone else redo it? Will heat generated from cutting off and re-welding on the frame again cause strength issues since it will now be done for the third time (including when trailer was initially built) ?

As you can see from the pics the weld on the top look OK, the welds along the length of the coupler look rough. My guess either the metal was not prepped and/or low heat? What should I do? Am I overreacting?

 

[lilredex]

Take it back...now!!

 

[Lx460]

That's some hobbly looking welds. I would think a "professional" shop would have better skills than that.

I personally would not be pleased.

 

[chruler]

That does look pretty shabby. Secure, but shabby.

 

[RABRods]

Ok, that's what I thought. Now will cutting off and welidng again be OK structurally? Should I take back to same place and hope they do better or take to new shop to fix the mess?

 

[MoonRise]

Pic #1 and 2 = **** welds

Pic #3 (the 'flat' welds on the 'top' of the coupler) = mostly OK, could be really picky and say slightly uneven fill/fillet

Pic #4 and 5 = crappy, but not as bad as the welds in Pic #1 and 2

Take it back and have them redo it. You paid for welds, and the only 'passable' welds are shown in Pic #3.

re: worries about all the rewelding. A valid concern, but if the 'proper' rework is done (grind out the iffy/crappy welds all the way down to clean shiny 'OEM' metal, that means all of the crappy weld beads get ground out and not just pass a grinding wheel over the surface) and good weld beads are done then the metal should be just fine.

 

[chruler]

That's a tough call. I would at least start the conversation politely at the shop that did the work. While it's true they messed it up in the first place, all progress will stop should the conversation become rude.
Just what you want to do with you day huh? Sorry you have to go through this.

 

[koditten]

What are you using to cut it off?

I use a combination of thin disks and a plasma cutter. If you are not skilled with a plasma cutter, I don't suggest using one.

I hope they did not weld on the inside. Those really **** to remove.

Thin disk all the sides except the last side, you should be able to pry up the one side and crack the weld on the in cut side.

You won't hurt the parent metal by cutting off the couple and resending a new one or use the same coupler after you clean it up good.

With that said, I had to trace a coupler on a customers trailer 3 times one year.

 

[Professur]

This is from a commercial shop? I'm thinking I want the MOT inspector meeting me there when I talk with the shop owner.

 

[Fender1325]

That shop is probably incompetent to make good welds. I dont know that Id want them to fix it for free even if they offered. I hope they didnt charge a lot. Id say it certainly can be fixed. Pic 1 and 2 look the worst. If you cut ties with the shop, then wire wheel that paint off so we can really see what we're looking at.

I suppose you could ride it by another shop and get their opinion.

 

[sberry]

They did a crappy job but it wont fall off from it.

 

[rsanter]

I would go back with the trailer and ash to talk to the manager. Do not tell him this is work they did. Just ask him to help you out and look at something for you.
Show him the welds and ask him if he feels these are good enough for the application.
If he says no, well you have your answer.
If he says yes, then ask him if the welds would be certifiable.

If they redo it, they will not cut it off, they will clean it up a little and then lay weld over it

Bob

 

[Tim_P]

That's totally unacceptable work from a paid shop to do this kind of work.

 

[BD1]

I agree with Rsanter's logic.

The welds are poorly done for sure but #3 as mention isn't bad.
Upon returning it , ask for documentation that the welds are certified and trailer is safe in case of a issue later as stated.

 

[Danguitarman]

Frankly, the "polite" approach would not be part of my strategy if I had paid for someone to do that. Tear the manager a new one. Those welds look ******* horrible. He obviously needs to keep tighter tabs on what his guys are doing, if he even knows the difference to begin with.

 

[sberry]

They wont have any certification and if I really thought it would come off would run a couple bolts thru it. Dealing with them is going to be a lesson in futility and not worth the effort.
I would like to see a grown man take a 12# sledge and a pry bar to this, let me know when you get it apart.
Lots of hitches and the bumper this is connected to are help by a few simple bolts, often owner installed although that can go either way. As ugly as it seems this has a lot of weld on it, the back is anchored to prevens shift of any kind and I can see a couple buttons on each side bigger than a quarter pretty well fused.
The nature of overhead can be rather ropey, this aint coming off. I have seen some really bad stuff, this isn't all that terrible in comparison.

 

[koditten]

I agree, Cary. I still could not let it leave my shop looking like that.

 

[sberry]

Look at this gem that fell off a truck the other day, supposed to been done by someone who should know better. Probably some blind old fugger needed glasses a decade ago, been doing this 40 yrs and never did learn how.
Probably had hundreds of pieces bust off in a career.

 

[sberry]

Probably proud of the fact he has always used an AC welder and that 13 stuff, the brown rod cause that other aint no good, knows more about it than most people do for sure.

 

[sberry]

I agree, Cary. I still could not let it leave my shop looking like that.

I agree it wouldn't leave mine like that either. Here is the underside of a snow skid job. Its about a foot off the floor, didn't want to grind, blew a little paint off and weld it up.
You cant see this, its underneath the machine. The original poor weld lasted a long time until it wore out other parts. The whole machine was done by an amateur fabricator with some kid welding it up with a buzzer.

 

[zkling]

Just because someone is a professional, it doesn't necessarily mean the know what they are doing.

I have a feeling someone different did #3, wrapped corner, pretty consistent.

 

[Slowgsr]

Terrible work, no reason for that.
I do all my own welding, last winter we were slow so me and my dad put together a 68ft tandem bucket truck. I was the only one to do any welding on that unit. I do have a few cwb certificates I got years ago that are long expired though (never do it professionally)

What did they charge you for this?

 

[kerrynzl]

The term "professional" means they were paid.....It doesn't mean they were any good at their job.

I would be seeking a refund ...... but I certainly wouldn't be getting them to do it again.

If you took it back to them, they would grind it back all the visible welds then probably romance it with a pretty weld over the top.

cut off the coupler [they're cheap to replace] and start again.

 

[kkroger]

I have inspected welds done by a "Welding" shop, they have WELDING in the NAME of the shop... I would not have them weld a little red wagon! I have seen PRETTY welds that would not hold anything, and UGLY welds that were very structurally sound, Shoddy looking to be sure not something I would be proud of! But most likely solid. I would not cut it off unless there was porosity, Grind it down and lay down a good weld or just groove it out a little bit and run some 7018 in it. It's stuck but ugly... some of the welds look good, like done with a squirt gun... others look like they were trying to weld inverted with the wrong rod...

 

[DekeT]

They did a crappy job but it wont fall off from it.

I would not bet mine or anybody else's life on that.

 

[sberry]

You do every day, you just are not aware of it. Just because you don't see it doesn't mean its not coming down the hiway at you and whizzing past. I can tell from a picture on the net that it isn't coming apart. I see this on a regular basis, this isn't even close to bad. It doesn't get an endorsement but its not coming apart and the welding was all done by one guy, he has some trouble with the overhead fillet.
Here is one not very straight but smooth.

 

[stihlntime]

Most 17 year old farm boys weld a helluva lot better than ****. We call it chicken tracks. I echo all those would said take it back immediately. Good lord almighty, I would have never hooked on to leave.

 

[koditten]

I'm not getting into this ******* match. The welds are structurally sound, just ****** looking. I've seen lots worse. Drill a couple of holes on each side and bolt it for insurance...or remove it and start over. You should be able to reuse the coupler if you are careful.

 

[mustange70]

Those welds will hold with no load, but long term with full trailer load you will likely run into issues down the road (lots of undercut, lack of fill, etc, plus with it being painted you cannot properly inspect it and I would hazzard a guess the "nice" looking weld was done wrong). Regardless of whether it will hold or not, you paid for it to be properly welded, not that chicken ****. Take it back and have them fix it. Those welds fail every code of construction out there that a trailer could be built to.

 

[sberry]

You got to wonder, most of the professionals think it looks crappy and will hold while most amateurs think otherwise.

 

[stage20]

Tell them DOT looked at it and asked you to get it checked out. Lol. Typical from a trailer shop that hires hacks. Prob turned the heat up and let it pop through the paint without grinding it first.

 

[sberry]

I bet if you took a grinder and flushed it off it wouldn't look too bad.

 

[DekeT]

You got to wonder, most of the professionals think it looks crappy and will hold while most amateurs think otherwise.

How is it you can determine who is an amateur and who is a pro?

 

[BD1]

How is it you can determine who is an amateur and who is a pro?

You don't ask them, just look at their work.

 

[404]

I bet if you took a grinder and flushed it off it wouldn't look too bad.

Why not go whole hog and cover it with bondo. Sand and paint.

To the OP: Get a refund and take it to a shop that has "Welding" in the name.

 

[steel 35]

Why not go whole hog and cover it with bondo. Sand and paint.

I had someone ask me to repair some welds that a few had broken; had clamps holding them together. They used silicone to hide the voids, that would be so much easier Told them I can't weld silicone & good luck.

OP Don't know what size, weigh this trailer is, that would pertain to my answer As to leave it or repair! Your area with the salt environment may be a factor in longevity!

No way I would take it off, but its ugly.

 

[DekeT]

You don't ask them, just look at their work.

Your post does not answer my question to Sberry. He claims the pros are saying the welds hold and the amateurs say it will break. How does he know who is whom?

 

[stage20]

i looked on my phone this morning. picture blown up it looks like they ran a torch on the coupler because it would not sit level on the frame. they cut too much off and bridged wire between the 2 metals. its hard to say. it wont fail immediately, it may never fail. there is a possibility of it to get rust and then crack over time. id have someone grind it down and reweld. i would not remove it.

 

[383 240z]

It's ugly, I'll give you that. If they didn't have time to do it right the first time, they wont have time to do it right the second time either. I'd drill a few well placed 1/2" holes on both the vertical and horizontal planes, put some GR8 bolts thru with flat and lock washers and run it. Problem would have been solved HOURS ago. Keith

 

[kkroger]

Why not go whole hog and cover it with bondo. Sand and paint.

To the OP: Get a refund and take it to a shop that has "Welding" in the name.

Couple years ago I had someone bring me a kart frame to repair, they had slicked up their welding work with bondo....
Pissed me right the hell off when I was trying to clean it up to repair, the welds underneath looked like bird ****... cold and barely stuck, most of the stack o tacks were broken... Had gaps and bondo shoved in the gaps, by the time I ground out the bondo the welds were gone. I called them up and bitched about it and asked if they wanted me to fix ALL the welds... or just the ones that were bad... which would be more expensive because they were THAT bad, cutoff disk and took out most of the weld then burned it in over it with a welder instead of a spatter tacker... I could tell they were trying for the MIG like TIG look and just did a stack of tacks instead of a stack of dimes... plus it was all Chromoly... They didn't get the look they wanted so they tried to slick it up with Bondo... I TIG welded it in. made it purty for em. they were so happy they paid me extra...