Aluminum wheel blow out

I've never seen it, or heard of it happening. OTOH, a few people have posted about cracked aluminum wheels, but I think they indicated the cracks were a defect.

I've welded many cracked aluminum wheels. None so far from a high pressure blowout.

Still, I would not run any pressure vessel of any kind above it's rated pressure.

Air pressure can do amazing, spectacular, catastrophic things when the vessel holding it decides to let go at once!

I've never heard of blowing wheels from over pressure, in the RV world. It's a big no-no in the commercial hauling world, but they over loaded them which is the real problem.

Most of the 6 lug alum wheels are rated for 80 psi. I would not worry about more pressure, but I definitely would NOT load them heavier than the rating. So the question becomes, why run 100 psi? It isn't needed at the load for which the wheels are rated. Your tires will handle that load at the original tire pressure rating.

I would not run 100 psi on a 65 psi rated wheel.

I remember reading on Alcoa's website that over-pressurizing an aluminum wheel typically results in cracks developing in the bead area.

:):)

I may lower the pressure down to 90 psi just to be sure.

True temper wrote:
I have a Jayco eagle with 6 bolt aluminum wheels. Right after I got it I put 14 ply tires on it. I never looked to see if the wheels had a pressure rating on them. I changed the valve stems to high pressure ones. Has any one actually seen or had a wheel blow apart from 100 psi in it? Pulled it a couple of years no problem so far.

The wheels are required to be stamped with either a PSI or weight rating on them. If you can't find that on the inner surface, you'll likely have to break down a tire and look for it in the valley. My wheels are clearly stamped "Max 80 psi" on the inner bead area.

Lyle

sounds like a lot of over kill , 80 psi is a lot of air.

Most have the weight rating embossed. Use the appropriate pressure to get you to that weight rating.

Or post the wheel size and rating for best answers.

Pull one wheel and look on the back of the flat flange area. Most are stamped there. Or the spare if it has an aluminum wheel.

Ken

SoCalDesertRider wrote:
..........................Still, I would not run any pressure vessel of any kind above it's rated pressure.

Air pressure can do amazing, spectacular, catastrophic things when the vessel holding it decides to let go at once!

Exactly. That is why in industrial situations some pressure vessels and piping are hydro-tested using water pressure, not air pressure. If a failure occurs during testing, it may crack or even break apart but it will not explode with catastrophic results as with air pressure. ;)