All Aluminum Trailers

I own a combo trailer with steel main beams. About 5 years ago my trailer started to crack at the front axle of my spread. The welder that fixed it said all Steel frames will fatigue/stress crack in the same area but aluminum does not. Aluminum has more give when stressed with a shock to its frame.

 

I cracked my all aluminum over winter. Up in the neck area tho. I've seen a few alum trailers crack around the axles. Combos I haven't seen many with cracks but I've seen more abuse related damage (operator misuse).

I've had another all alum no problems at all. And have a combo step currently. No problems aside from rust getting up underneath that's hard to get it all out.

next trailer I buy will be a combo.

 

We cracked both all aluminum reitnouer beams clean through. Step deck with 121" tandem spread. We think it was caused from dumping the air from the rear axle with a load on.

 

My first all aluminum flat was a 1983 Ravens then a 1993 Ravens, a 1995 Ravens, a 2005 Ravens and a 2005 Reitnour. The 83-93-95 all cracked around the front axle. The 2005 Ravens never had a crack anywhere, the 05 Reitnour developed some cracks at the cross members in the neck. The good thing about the Reitnour was they just unbolt and bolt back up.

If I was to buy a new one, hands down it would be a Mac.

 

I think the welder has inhaled too much toxic fumes.

Aluminum has about one-third the strength of steel, it also has about one-third the density. Therefore, all things being equal, you need three times the amount of aluminum to equal the strength of steel.

Aluminum, while being "softer" than steel, is typically less malleable and will endure a brittle crack or break whereas steel can be deformed more and still retain its integrity (the reason the vast majority of metal springs are steel). Think of the difference between steel and aluminum wheels; hit an object on the road and typically the steel wheel will bend while the aluminum one will break.

So, it may appear to the welder that aluminum trailers have more "give," I suggest it is actually a function of significantly more material (aluminum vs. steel) available to absorb stresses. Impose a big enough stress and it is more likely that the aluminum will break, but the steel will bend. What the welder was commenting on is more a function of design than material.

 

After reading these comments it appears both steel and aluminum crack in time.

 

Driver THANK you. I read that post and thought great another idiot welder putting crazy wrong carp out there. Steel has way way more yield strength than aluminum. Tensile vrs yield...

 

aluminum will eventually crack,,hard to find someone that can weld aluminum ,,steel repairs better and a lot more places to get steel repaired than aluminum,, only benefit from aluminum is weight,,if your loads are all 48,000# or more steel is too heavy,,
steel will have a higher weight rating for concentrated weight is a 10ft or 15ft area..steel tie down spools have a higher rating too,,if all you haul is sheet rock or lumber loads aluminum is about the only way to go because most shippers want you to haul 48,000 to 50,000# loads,,if they they reduce the load weights the rate drops to where it is too cheap to haul,,

 

A huge advantage aluminium has over steel is that exotic forms are fairly easily extruded whereas steel fabrication of complex forms is limited and very expensive even where possible.
Strength can be derived from ideal shapes and forms with aluminium where this is often not possible with steel. So even though high grade steel and aluminium have similar strength to weight ratios you can usually get better strength from aluminium because it is easier to form in to ideal strength forms.