Cracked Aluminum Wheels
 

A friend of mine has had two OE aluminum wheels on the front of his 2000 F350 PSD crack over the last year or so.

He replaced the first one with another OEM wheel from the dealer and then later the second OE front wheel did the same thing (the other original front wheel, not the replacement)

They are cracking on the iside in the air chamber area not near the rim or bead part of the wheel and not in the face or lug area of the wheel.

He is a remodeling contractor and the truck isn't used off road. It has a short flat bed behind a crew cab and carries maybe 1000 to 1500 pounds of tools on a daily basis.

There have been no known curb strikes or large pot hole hits or anything else to explain these failures. The tires just begin to loose air and when he takes it to the tire shop for repair, they report that the wheel is cracked.

He has not reported this to Ford as he probably should have.

Have any of you experienced this or know of a recall or TSB regarding this issue? Are these wheels made by Alcoa?

Thanks,

Gene

Are the cracks on the inside or outside of the wheel? The aluminum wheels are prone to seizing on the hub and sometimes people beat on the wheels with a big hammer or maul trying to break it free.

They are cracked on the inside in the air chamber area. They began leaking first, prior to being serviced.

Gene

The metal could have been cracked a long time ago and over time fatigued to the point that they began to loose air. Is he running over sized tires and high air pressure?

No, stock tire size. Couldn't say about the pressure but I doubt that it is over the recommended pressure. They could be under inflated which can lead to wheel damage. He isn't "in to" his truck but he does keep it professionally maintained so I doubt that they are extremely under inflated either.

I am just wondering if other people have experienced this problem because it seems very unusual to me. I believe that these wheels are made by Alcoa and if so are forged not cast aluminum wheels and therefore very strong and non porous. 18 wheelers run on the same type of wheel.

If others are experiencing this problem then maybe there should be a recall of the wheel. I had a BMW motorcycle that had alloy wheels of a type that a few instances of hairline cracks had been noted. There had never been a catastrophic failure of the wheel, only the few reports of cracks. Because of that they recalled every wheel of that type for free replacement regardless of the year or who owned the bike at the time. My bike was seven years old and I was the third owner of it and still got the free replacement.

I don't know if anything of that nature is called for in this case or not. I'm just trying to gather a little information from the group to see if anyone else has experienced this.

It is possible that his wheels were damaged in shipment or something like that before he bought the truck. He is the original owner of it though.

Gene