Busted TRex

[jeepGold]

Has held up for about 6 months and I don't hunt in rock infested areas. I contacted the manufacturer and he will work with me on rewelding it stating that in 3 yrs no one has broken one.. I don't have the time to send it across the US and then have him send it mid way across the US to weld it then send it back to me... If local weld shops want to charge me an arm and a leg then I will but otherwise I won't. These scoops take abuse at the hand of what they do but that's what they are designed for.. all things fail after awhile I suppose and I found a local shop to do it for 45.00. Shipping would be that much and I need to get back to the beach. I didn't post this as a stab but only for awareness and to see if anyone else has had the same problem.

Has anyone else broken a TRex 9.5 at the welds?

 

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[DewGuru]

Not broke a trex but several RTG's and saw a broken stealth a time or two as well.
I can see on that design how it could break. With that said, they all do.

 

[TooManyHobbies]

Not yet, but I'll keep an eye on mine. I wish got out enough to give it that kind of abuse.

 

[MrMikeJackie]

Wth? I've broken three wood handles and am now using a fiberglass one. I hunt in rocks, clay(the worst) and deep sand and my t-Rex has held up. Maybe a bad weld? Man that sucks.

 

[jeepGold]

I think it's just a crap luck day. I first drove 13 miles ea way to the beach only to have that happen, came home, went to a welder after calling the trex dude. Got the trex fixed, came home got my stuff again and then headed out to the beach again. As soon as I pulled my excal out of the trunk, the hip mount snapped where it ties into the belt. WTH!? IM DONE for the day.
Got home, ditched the plastic tie in thingy for the belt and drilled holes into the belt (carpenters leather belt) and just ran the bolts with washers through the belt, into and through the excal... fixed. Now it's to late (1pm) to go the beach because one, its to packed now, and two, its getting to hot... I guess a night run is in order. It's just weakness leaving my setup right?

 

[plymouthian12]

Never heard of one breaking destroyed my stealth in 3 weeks great customer service had a new one in a couple days used my back up till it arrived also destroyed my diamond head

 

[streetglide]

The Reason they break is that they grind down the welds to make them flush and even. That takes away the strength of the weld. Have your welder lay a heavy bead on the repairs. Also check the other welds. I had that happen to a stealth scoop last year. I had a welder beef up all the welds. I hit the beaches a lot like you do. So in time , wear and tear they will break down. The average guy that goes out a few times a week with that scoop it will last them a life time of use. Good luck Joe

 

[rsc]

Probably too late, but get the other side rewelded also. Looks weak to me. HH Gayle

 

[jeepGold]

Both sides got a reweld. If you mean the insides, I thought about it but didn't ask. If it fails again I'll take it to the shop and say ,"what the hell? "

 

[Hydro Man]

You scared me Jeep!
Just pushed my supper aside and ran outside to check my 9.5!

Mine's fine, I couldn't see any fatiguing or cracking.
Just to mention the T-Rex is my primary, has a 5' handle and I don't baby it.

Just by what I can see though, the TIG work on mine appears to have better penetration than that on yours.
Here some pic to compare.

 

[lookindown]

Probably just a bad weld on it...I would think that every weld could be a little different...like in the pics Hydro Man posted above.

 

[Fletch88]

I have a trex and a stealth 720. The stealth seems like a better design and definitely easier to empty on wet sand hunting

 

[jeepGold]

I have a back up everything for the most. I don't have a back up scoop. I thought it was pretty much overkill for where I hunt. Apparently not the case, so I'll be buying said back up... How much difference in weight is that 720? The 9.5 mated with a 37" wooden handle can give some serious tennis elbow lugging it around for several hours.

 

[MrMikeJackie]

The stealth 720I is 2.85 lbs the T-Rex 9.5 wet sand scoop is 3.9lbs the new improved T-Rex 9.5 dry sand scoop is 2.8lbs. Not including handles.

 

[jeepGold]

I have the "new improved"... That's the one that split on me. It's only about 6 months old.I guess they shaved 1.1 lbs of weld off the new one.

 

[MrMikeJackie]

That's not the one you have, 2.8lbs is for the dry sand scoop model. Yours is the wet sand model with extra reinforcement points which in your case didn't really help. Yours weighs 3.9 lbs without handle. The weight after a while does catch up to you. When I know I'll be out the whole day I usually bring my RTG aluminum scoop. Very light however the sand tends to stick in it when dumping the bucket. That stealth looks mighty interesting though.

 

[jeepGold]

(Link removed, not a supporting vendor) whichever the case, the beast model of the sand scoops should of held up. As you can tell from the above photo's I posted, the weld failed at the reinforcement and the welds along the body of the scoop didnt penetrate at all and appear to be almost cosmetic only. It sheared right down the line. No jagged marks indicate zero penetration.

 

[MrMikeJackie]

I agree, if that happened to mine knowing how much I spent on it, well I'd be ticked off also. I feel they should have sent you a new one right away and asked for the old one back so they could examine it and learn from their mistake.

 

[jeepGold]

I very much thought the same and although he was willing to "reweld it", that's not fixing it. That's covering up a design flaw that should not have been there in the first place. I actually felt like he was somewhat implying that there's NO way dry and wet sand could of caused it and after suggesting I send it back on MY dime to have him look at it (in FL) then send it to PA to get welded, then send it back to me was a joke. Maybe his time isn't, but my time is valuable.

 

[MrMikeJackie]

To be honest, from that picture I can't even see a weld at the seam. Did you send him pictures at least? You have very right to be off.