Tig welding an aluminum rim

admin

I have an aluminum rim off of an Artic Cat MudPro  quad.  The owner hit something that punctured the rim, made a 2" long crack.   The only thing is, it push in a little bit  of the aluminum about 3/16" .     I was going to grind down the broken edges and somehow bend the bent piece back into place.    My question is:  What is the best way to bend it back into place?   Do I heat it up a bit and try to beat it back into shape or do I work it cold?     Obviously this rim would be a cast aluminum and I've always had it in my mind that if you try to bend aluminum to much, it'll just snap?   I don't have much experience in fixing broken aluminum, this is why I ask.  I wish there were more people around my area that were any good at this stuff.I have a tig, so this is how I will be welding it back together.    Just hoping for some experienced knowledge to help me out.
Reply:If you don't have much experience fixing aluminum you should not make this your first repair all the coaching and posts won't help.You need practice practice practice not welding forum suggestions that will only be sort of correct in many cases.What tig do you have?
Reply:build it up and sand off anything that doesn't look like rim.Two turn tables and a microphone.
Reply:No offense intended but you are not qualified to do said rim repair. Knowledge of metallurgy plays a big part. Welding, heat applications are critical. You cannot "beat"a rim or anything else back to shape that is part of dynamic mechanical function. This requires truing, balance,or the part will eventually destroy it self and attached components due to vibration. And most important, a person will be attached to the mech. when it fails, causing injury or death.Miller TrailBlazer 251Miller HF-250-1Miller MaxStar 150 STLHyperTherm PowerMax 380 plasmaLincoln PowerMig 180Millermatic 252Miller Diversion 180
Reply:Originally Posted by Pangeabuild it up and sand off anything that doesn't look like rim.
Reply:I used to weld broken stock car rims almost weekly for the local hillbillies. Seems like I'd do three or four for different folks and they would tell their friends and it got to be a decent sideline for the shop I worked at. If you are a decent welder, you can make a repair on the outer portion of off road rims pretty easy. The metal will be softer post weld so you should tell the end user that it is a stop gap fix and should be replaced for optimum performance and safety.Two turn tables and a microphone.
Reply:I'd cut the piece off and clean the area up and weld the chunk back in or just build it up again.  If the ATV is not going to go fast than 40 km per hour ( <30mph) you should be fine in the vibration department... A lot of cheapy ATV and scooter manufacturers sell bikes with oval wheels and get away with it because of the low speeds they do.  Anyway, you can probably balance the wheel well enough with just a grinder and something to test the balance like an axle between to axle stands (see utube).If it's for anything high performance, or you want performance from the wheel, you'll need a lathe and the material will need to be tempered again.
Reply:Thanks guys for the advice.   I think I'm a pretty good welder, just no expert.  I have a syncrowave 200.   I'll just try the build it up and grind 'er down method.  Thanks