Don’t believe the hype! These are pictures of horsebox ramp and some of the aluminium parts we recently replaced. The ramp picture shows a mild steel ramp that should have lasted a long time. However, this ramp failure was simply down to poor metals knowledge and cutting corners, probably both! The fault was simply the aluminium skin on the outside was riveted directly to the steel frame without a barrier between them. Not a problem for a year or two, but when you consider all this damage is out of sight and add the fact that each ramp spring has up to 6 tonnes of compression. This was a serious accident waiting to happen!! The alloy floor planks and the bearers are just the same, the bolts used were zinc plated and of good quality, but each one had rotted through the planks completely. Again this is called aggressive galvanic corrosion speeded along with disinfectants and urine. Speaking to the customer, she was very disappointed at the length of time it had lasted and was under the impression that aluminium does not rot! The fact is aluminium is used as a sales hook but oxidises and rots just the same as steel rusts, in fact both deteriorate very quickly if they are mixed with dissimilar metals.
Posted on: Sat, 06 Dec 2014 10:28:55 +0000
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