Danger - spare wheel holder failure

[Binder]

Noticed my spare tyre on my trailer was not quite right when going through a gate today.

This is one of those "Ark" trailer spare wheel carriers they sell at supercheap. Probably about 2 years old. Not seen a lot of use, trailer does not do that many K's either, and mostly over good roads.

Obviously no way I could continue with the weight of the wheel on that, bl@@dy lucky it had not come off and destroyed the boat/trailer, or worse, hit another vehicle.

So I pulled the wheel off and put it in the boot of the car. Rest of it looked like it would get home without falling off.

Most of the cracked areas are rusty, so it has been on its way for quite a while.

If you use one, check it immediately, then keep checking it regularly. I reckon the only reason I didn't lose the whole wheel was because of the chain and padlock holding the wheel to the chassis rail.

For its age and use, no way this should have happened.

[Bi_polar]

The obvious design defect is that the tube with the stub welded into it should have had a flat bar cap welded onto it.

Not a knock on cap but just a bit of flat bar welded onto it and weld the stub to the other side of the tubing...do this and it should be fine

[dhess]

They are a complete POS.

Mine failed in identical fashion. To be fair, it happened after a few million corrugations on the way to Cape York.

Just like you I caught it in the nick of time.

[Binder]

I've made a comment on both the supercheap and Ark sites about what happened, told them if they want the picture to provide me an email address.

I will probably weld it up, unfortunately Bipolar with the silly design of it, you need to get a honking great spanner in the top to do up the nut on the other end of the stub axle, so it cant be capped.

It probably will be when I fix it, as I'll just weld it all!

[fishingnut]

What do u expect from "supercheap"

[tomca]

What do u expect from "supercheap"

something up to the task, usually. 2 years of sealed roads, probably not acceptable

[Bi_polar]

I've made a comment on both the supercheap and Ark sites about what happened, told them if they want the picture to provide me an email address.

I will probably weld it up, unfortunately Bipolar with the silly design of it, you need to get a honking great spanner in the top to do up the nut on the other end of the stub axle, so it cant be capped.

It probably will be when I fix it, as I'll just weld it all!

If you can make it to Victoria point I'll weld a cap on it and fix it up for you free of charge.

[Binder]

Cheers for the offer Bi Polar, but I'm handy enough with a welder myself, just matter of digging it out of the shed!(Or I have been eyeing off a new one, might just be the excuse to push me in to buying it)

[Bi_polar]

Cool, what are you looking at?

[Binder]

Thinking one of the gasless wire units. Tradetools have some that look ok for the price.

/>https://www.tradetools.com/products/MIG180GG

My old transarc stick welder is something like 25 years old now!

[Binder]

I've made a comment on both the supercheap and Ark sites about what happened, told them if they want the picture to provide me an email address.

Well absolutely no response what so ever from super cheap.

Had an almost instant response from Ark. They immediately offered to send me a replacement with the necessary modification to make them safe, before I even sent them photo's. Even though it was at least 12 months out of warranty.

This arrived in the mail today.

You can see that they have added a collar to them now, quite a substantial one, much thicker than the original metal wall thickness.

So a thank you to Ark for backing their product with good service, a thumbs down to supercheap who couldn't even be bothered responding to my offer to send them photo's of a product they sold failing.