Minor repair on a Horizon trailer. Side box bin crack.

[Team Ball's Out]

I noticed this crack a while back and I finally got around to repairing it.. Process was pretty easy. As I under stand the trailer is painted with Emron paint. Nasty stuff if you ever painted with it. So I pretty much emptied the entire side box in case od any fire during the welding process.

I removed the bracket for the awning, I got out my face shield not goggles and a good respirator mask not a... dust mask! and started the grinding process to remove the paint. After grinding a bit it had a very thin crack running about 8 inches line just barely enough to see. I was pretty hard to see after the grinding but it ran in a straight line along the bend on the box.

Next was to get the welder out. I used my wire feed welder and I do not have a Tig welder. I did the welding in about 5 steps, first I found the end of the cracks and spot welded about a inch past the crack, hopefully that insures I would stop any further cracking. Next I did another spot weld in the center between the other 2 welds that would keep it from separating during the welding process. Next was the welding process. I started at one end and ran a bead for about 2" inches and stopped as I did not want to but to much heat as to burn the paint on the inside of the box. I than ran a bead on the other side of the crack again about 2" and worked my way to the middle. I made sure I burned the weld in deep so I would not grind out what I just welded. Each time I made sure I overlapped my welds on the proceeding weld till I was finished the whole 8".

I let it cool naturally! very important! Do not use a rag covered in water and cover the weld. You want it to cool down slowly. I did however put a damp rag on the inside of the box to help the cooling there as it is doubled wall. This will not effect the weld.

After it cooled next came the grinding as I put on a nice Gorilla bead. I ground the area smooth and squared off the edge. Next I took a fine wire wheel and removed a bit more paint and feathered out the areas to be painted. More to come! Stay tuned.

 

[highdesertranger]

nice repair. too bad about your rendezvous sticker. highdeserteanger

 

[Team Ball's Out]

I know about the stickers. I had to remove all of them, oh well it's just a sticker.