Chinese Steel, ...or where ever they obtain it or manufacture it..

Submitted: Sunday, May 04, 2014 at 18:38
ThreadID: 107618 Views:2819 Replies:7 FollowUps:18
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Bit of a worry!, Mates farm tipping trailer draw bar sheared off.. where it was welded to the main frame, both sides!,...Might have been overloaded , but when I think back at the farm, things used to bend before they just broke off.This steel looked sooo brittle, unless the welding made it that way, who knows? the thickness was nothing to flash either....Caravan chassis comes to mind now as I believe it is used through out the industry, Might be more than a bit of a worry me thinks!

Cheers Axle.
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Reply By: Ozrover - Sunday, May 04, 2014 at 18:47

Sunday, May 04, 2014 at 18:47
Had a lot of these cheep Chinese camper trailers come through when I was at Mt Dare.

Broken leaf springs, sheared off draw bars, really bad engineering as well!

You can tell it's Chinese made by the odd width of the leaf springs i.e. 50mm wide instead of either 45mm or 60mm.

I used to refer to the steel as plasticsteel as it has very little or no strength & looks quite dull when broken or cut.

Most had the draw bar bolted on so they can fit more into the containers.

Not the only shoddy trailers out there but some of the worst that I've seen.

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Follow Up By: KevinE - Sunday, May 04, 2014 at 22:10

Sunday, May 04, 2014 at 22:10
We've traveled extensively across this great brown land & the worst service we've received ANYWHERE was at Mt. Dare in 2012.

Suck that up!
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Follow Up By: Echucan Bob - Sunday, May 04, 2014 at 22:56

Sunday, May 04, 2014 at 22:56
Kevin

I suspect that says more about you than the people at Mt Dare

Bob
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Follow Up By: Allan B (Member, SunCoast) - Sunday, May 04, 2014 at 22:59

Sunday, May 04, 2014 at 22:59
Strange. I have never heard anything but praise for the people at Mt Dare.
Cheers
Allan

Member
My Profile  My Blog  My Position  Send Message

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Follow Up By: Member - Boobook - Monday, May 05, 2014 at 05:02

Monday, May 05, 2014 at 05:02
With an attitude like that I suspect you get bad service where ever you go Kevin. Strange about that.
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Follow Up By: Ozrover - Monday, May 05, 2014 at 08:56

Monday, May 05, 2014 at 08:56
KevinE,

What was your issue with Mt Dare?

Please share the story of "the worst service we've received ANYWHERE", let us all know your side of the story so that either I or someone else from Mt Dare has the right of reply with their side.

I'm no longer there but I was in 2012 so I may be able to enlighten everyone as to the validity of your comments.

By posting a one & a half line throwaway comment like that does nobody any good especially yourself, It just makes you look look a Goose.

So how about it? Care to share?

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Follow Up By: Member - Keith C (NSW) - Monday, May 05, 2014 at 09:48

Monday, May 05, 2014 at 09:48
KevinE, We have also been all over, and the best service we ever had was from Jeff and crew at Mt ,Dare in 2012, You must be hard to please.We broke the A frame on our van, Jeff fixed it while we went across the Simpson, had it checked by an engineer in Sydney, Passed with flying colours. Keith
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Follow Up By: The Landy - Tuesday, May 06, 2014 at 07:47

Tuesday, May 06, 2014 at 07:47
KevinE

The good people at Mt Dare may well be of the same thinking you expressed in your post to thread 106764.



Mind you, nothing wrong with constructive criticism, most reasonable people welcome it, and perhaps you need to elaborate, otherwise your post is in the same vain as the ones you have been critical of in the past!

Food for thought…hopefully!
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Reply By: The Bantam - Sunday, May 04, 2014 at 18:52

Sunday, May 04, 2014 at 18:52
Yeh there might be some reason to question the quality of imported steel.
The turner that threads pipe up for my brother simply will not thread chinese steel.....it does not machine well, breaks and blunts cutting tools.

BUT in this case you will probably find the problem is with the welding.

A lot of people weld straight across drawdars where they meet the chassis......this is known to introduce a stress point and result in breakages.

The smart fabricator uses webs or triangles and selects welds so they do not introduce a stress point to either the drawbar or the front chassis member.

The cheap chinese crackers wont help....but the above is the reason for may draw bar failures.

cheers
AnswerID: 531846

Follow Up By: Member - kev.h - Sunday, May 04, 2014 at 19:20

Sunday, May 04, 2014 at 19:20
If it s thin walled it may be a higher tensile steel which if welded the wrong way or in the wrong place like across the draw bar it will snap like a carrot
Kev
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Follow Up By: Ross M - Monday, May 05, 2014 at 08:45

Monday, May 05, 2014 at 08:45
Many caravans chassis are welded straight across the RHS section. Don't know how they get that past an inspector if they ever are inspected.

Lots of steel into Australia comes from NZ and IT comes from China.
Besides not able to machine it or weld it properly, you can't bend it with a pipe bender.
Fabricators near me will not use it, it just kinks, but where Aussie steel is used there is no problem.

I agree with the cheap Chinese Crackers, neither fireworks or biscuits.
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Reply By: Member - Andrew L (QLD) - Sunday, May 04, 2014 at 21:15

Sunday, May 04, 2014 at 21:15
..and why did the people buy the Chinese manufactured campers...?

..and with great knowledge..not..go into the semi rougher regions of Australia...

I hope Mt Dare charged them accordingly.
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Follow Up By: KevinE - Sunday, May 04, 2014 at 22:01

Sunday, May 04, 2014 at 22:01
]

Yeah, Cheap Chinese Crackers won't go anywhere where it's a bit rough lol...........................................

No broken nothing on this camper getting to Mt. Dare.
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Follow Up By: Ozrover - Monday, May 05, 2014 at 09:05

Monday, May 05, 2014 at 09:05
Andrew L,

Any work performed at Mt Dare on vehicles, trailers, motorbikes etc... is charged at an hourly rate, plus materials, the same as anywhere else.

Some things take longer to correct so it costs more accordingly.

KevinE,

Yep! Your a Goose, what has anything that you've posted got to do with the original post?

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Follow Up By: Member - Keith C (NSW) - Monday, May 05, 2014 at 09:55

Monday, May 05, 2014 at 09:55
Jeff, Jeff, Chill man , you're living in paradise
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Follow Up By: Member - Andrew L (QLD) - Monday, May 05, 2014 at 19:03

Monday, May 05, 2014 at 19:03
Ozrover...Kevin E....did the thread not start out regarding chinese steel, then venture into chinese manufactured campers with YOUR post..being the 2nd in the thread..?

It may seem that your silly name calling suits your ability to read...somewhat.

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Follow Up By: Member - Scott M (NSW) - Monday, May 05, 2014 at 20:01

Monday, May 05, 2014 at 20:01
I thought Jeff's post was relevant to the thread - and given the experience he's had @ Mt Dare hauling trailer & 4bies out of the Simpson, he's more than qualified tp offer an opinion on this topic....
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Follow Up By: Ozrover - Tuesday, May 06, 2014 at 08:59

Tuesday, May 06, 2014 at 08:59
Andrew L,

I can read quite well, can you?

The OP expressed concern about a trailer that failed with the possible cause being Chinese steel. I replied to that post with the fact that we had quite a lot of trailers of Chinese manufacture that had also failed.

KevinE came back with a attack at Mt Dare & their staff, completely irrelevant to the OP. KevinE aka "the Goose" seems to have a problem with Mt Dare, let him put up or shut up!

I don't know what your problem is regarding anything that I've posted? You are the one that brought up the cost of repairs & I replied to that with a simple statement as to how we charged for repairs.

Carry on...

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Reply By: coonick - Monday, May 05, 2014 at 11:25

Monday, May 05, 2014 at 11:25
early last decade or late 90`s, cant remember exact dates.
There was a strike on that caused short supply of steel rolls for holdens.
Where did they then source the rolls from?......China !
Apparently major issues with quality of steel. It did happen however very hush hush.
They didn't want to acknowledge the use of this steel .
Hate to have a bombadore from that era.
AnswerID: 531898

Reply By: Slow one - Tuesday, May 06, 2014 at 05:00

Tuesday, May 06, 2014 at 05:00
Looks like history repeats itself.
In the early seventies some steel sources from Japan was exactly the same. Normal mild steel at point A and then go to point B which might only be a few inches away on an RSJ, and the steel would be hard as hell.
AnswerID: 531952

Reply By: Emerging I.T. - Tuesday, May 06, 2014 at 14:56

Tuesday, May 06, 2014 at 14:56
At the end of the day the responsibility lies with the trailer manufacturer imo. He or she can choose whatever steel they want. If it breaks whilst being used within tolerances then I suspect they won't be in business for long. Having said that I see plenty of trailers being over loaded. If you want to haul heavy loads get a better trailer.
AnswerID: 531970

Follow Up By: philw - Tuesday, May 06, 2014 at 19:57

Tuesday, May 06, 2014 at 19:57
Australians love buying inferior imported products that are advertised ad nausea as top quality. Compare an Oztent or a Black Wolf tent to an Aussie made Southern Cross or Freedom tent and you'll get the picture. Support your local manufacturers.
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Follow Up By: Alan S (WA) - Tuesday, May 06, 2014 at 22:04

Tuesday, May 06, 2014 at 22:04
Phil
I sort a disagree on the basis that your example is poor example. You have compared two high quality imported products against a an Australian. In fact all three even though being tents are all different and have different features.
The oztent is bought because it is easy to setup, may the Australian made one could actually design a product that people want to buy, instead of relying on people buying it because it is Australian.

Alan
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Follow Up By: Emerging I.T.- Wednesday, May 07, 2014 at 10:21

Wednesday, May 07, 2014 at 10:21
So true Alan
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Reply By: Member - blackbird1937 - Tuesday, May 06, 2014 at 21:50

Tuesday, May 06, 2014 at 21:50
Hi all. I met Ozrover [Jeff] at Mt Dare a few times and found him very helpful. If you go to the desert with a hard brittle drawbar on the trailer it will be very difficult to weld successfully to last the trip. I also use an old heavy canvas Freedom One Minute tent. I have found that you get what you pay for. I was in the engineering caper for some years until Australian companies were undercut by cheap Asian imports.
AnswerID: 532005

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