06-19-2018, 07:13 AM
I used to do repair work on livestock trailers...after shoveling out the you-know-what. Treadplate is embossed...or, the diamonds are rolled into the surface. The compressed aluminum itself can be weird enough and old aluminum welds worse than fresh aluminum (also worked on new livestock trailers where the material was new).
It really sounds like you are dealing with a coated or flash plated material. The tread side gets a coat of something and will be a bitch to weld unless that plating/coating is completely removed. Fasteners are quite often the best way to assemble aluminum and welding often reserved for more of a seal than any kind of strutural thing.
It really sounds like you are dealing with a coated or flash plated material. The tread side gets a coat of something and will be a bitch to weld unless that plating/coating is completely removed. Fasteners are quite often the best way to assemble aluminum and welding often reserved for more of a seal than any kind of strutural thing.