Thanks I-40, remember to check your rims

Great thread -- thnx 4 posting!

-- L

 

So, when I left trucking, I went to get my degree in mechanical engineering, and one of the first courses I took was called "Strength of Materials", where I learned about Endurance Limits. This is a stress level that, if you never exceed it, your metal structure will never experience fatigue failure. Steel and titanium have endurance limits, but aluminum does not.

In other words, aluminum will ALWAYS fail eventually. A 'stress riser' from a lugnut might've started the fatigue crack, but it was always going to fatigue. All aluminum wheels do.

 

Duck Tape. As Red Green would say, "The handyman's friend".

 

That's wild. Most of the stuff I've been around run on roads far worse than any highway and I can't say I've ever seen a cracked aluminum rim. Seen a few steel ones crack though. Wonder if it was a defect in the rim or, as suggested above, an issue with wheel nut torque?

 

@Nahbrown
Look on the bright side, you’re in helluva lot better shape than this bozo!!
Riding Dirty-Busted By Iowa DOT

 

Was this an Alcoa Dura-Brite by chance? I had one crack just like this on my steer axle, and it was only a few years old! I always thought it was from a monster crater I hit somewhere but like AModelCat said, none of my buddy's had seen anything like it. I figured it may have just been a junk wheel

 

There was a recall a few years ago on some of the Alcoa wheels developing cracks. Most of them were manufactured in Mexico.

 

Ahh, that might bring issues of improper extruding, if it came from a Mexican aluminum mill. FWIW, I work in defense manufacturing now, and we will NOT accept aluminum stock from Mexico....

 

Found this a few years ago on my steer axle. Traveled the same roads I did several times a week before finding this and didn’t hit any jaw breaking potholes. Sometimes stuff just happens. Fortunately I was less than a mile from my tire shop when I saw it.