Wheels/Tyres: Broken Jackk

[ian ferguson]

Hi, Today i decided to check the leak from the fuel filler pipe to the tank. As there is a LPG tank in the spare wheel well, to get a better look, i jacked the car up and removed the rear wheel. I put an axel stand under the car and had a look, found it, as was suggested on here it is the small rubber pipe connecting the fuel filler pipe to the tank., i took the axel stand out to drop the car down a bit in order to put the wheel back on, as i was trying to put the wheel back on the jack broke and the car dropped onto the inside of the wheel and punched a hole in it. I am putting this on here so you are aware of what can happen.

Can this wheel be fixed with Aluminium welding or if anyone has one i'd be interested. Thanks

[XC90Mk1]

Sorry to hear about that, quite a shocking story although my first thought is well done on the axle stands and keeping safe!

I have worked with aluminium welders (and played a bit with it myself).

You would expect to have a weld set up sheet to show how the get the correct ramp up rate, dwell and removal. Section test pieces etc etc.

I suppose what I am saying is this. Will you find someone to weld it. Yes.

Would I ever drive on that once welded. Hell no! No way would I attempt to pay someone to weld that. The cost will be more than the wheel to do it properly. If you pay £50 then I would say it’s not done right.

*if there is a wheel welding specialist or someone who knows more than me then fair enough, I am willing to be proven wrong, but unless I see evidence to the country I would not attempt to weld that.

[ltec]

Welding wheels is standard practice. Plenty of proper wheel specialists that will sort it. They will access it and only weld it if it is safe to do so. Bmw wheels for eg have always cracked and are welded all the time. The last wheel I had welded was quite a while ago and it cost £70.
Glad you kept yourself safe.

[SwissXC90]

I would just buy another 2nd hand wheel.

I bought 4 x good condition rims for my XC90 for 120 CHF, or 95 GBP, when I had to replace 2 rims due to too much corrosion causing air leaks.

I found a few places selling exactly the same rims as I had, so was no trouble buying them.
I even got back 15 CHF = 12 GBP in scarp metal value for my old corroded rims.

Cheaper and easier than any repair.

[ian ferguson]

Originally Posted by SwissXC90

I would just buy another 2nd hand wheel.

I bought 4 x good condition rims for my XC90 for 120 CHF, or 95 GBP, when I had to replace 2 rims due to too much corrosion causing air leaks.

I found a few places selling exactly the same rims as I had, so was no trouble buying them.
I even got back 15 CHF = 12 GBP in scarp metal value for my old corroded rims.

Cheaper and easier than any repair.

i have looked on the internet for the same wheel as i've got and i can't find any, also my wheels are like new, they were refurbished about 5 months ago.
I think getting a second hand wheel and then having it refurbished would probably cost more, but i won't rule it out if the repair is expensive. thanks

[ian ferguson]

hi, I had the wheel repaired, they did a really nice job, i'm very happy. the cost was £132.00 they had to straighten the wheel as well. the company is First Aid Wheels and they were only five minutes away in a little mews, i didn't even know they were there.

[Simmy]

Originally Posted by ian ferguson

Hi, Today i decided to check the leak from the fuel filler pipe to the tank. As there is a LPG tank in the spare wheel well, to get a better look, i jacked the car up and removed the rear wheel. I put an axel stand under the car and had a look, found it, as was suggested on here it is the small rubber pipe connecting the fuel filler pipe to the tank., i took the axel stand out to drop the car down a bit in order to put the wheel back on, as i was trying to put the wheel back on the jack broke and the car dropped onto the inside of the wheel and punched a hole in it. I am putting this on here so you are aware of what can happen.

Can this wheel be fixed with Aluminium welding or if anyone has one i'd be interested. Thanks

the jack supplied with the car is for changeing a wheel dont use one for maintainance buy a decent trolley jack and stay safe.

[Familyman 90]

Indeed, that's the emergency jack and not something that should be used for anything but roadside emergency wheel changing.

That said, even the emergency jack should survive actually jacking the car up.

[ian ferguson]

I jacked the car up and put axel stands under it, then went under to have a look. when i was finished took the axel stands out and dropped the car down to make it easier to put the wheel on, as i was fitting the wheel the jack broke. i have a 12 ton bottle jack i use when working on the car. what i did in this instance was similar to changing a wheel, which could have been a lot worse if i was doing it on the roadside. just to clarify i took the wheel off because i thought i might be able to get a look from the side behind the wheel. Sorry if this is a bit long winded, but I've always worked on my cars, I've always been careful and I've never trusted any jack. but i didn't expect this to happen.