commodor47, the crack in your photo was just like mine. But in all honesty, I had to drill a 2nd stress relief hole plus do some reinforcing to stop the spread.
After drilling the 1st hole (which usually works for me on things), I noticed that it didn't rememdy the situation. After looking at the sag there from the pressure that the prop exerted and the weight of the stone guard trying to pull down on the aluminum hinge bar, I drilled and installed rivets and washers closer to the edge of the hinge bar. That extra 3/4 inch or so closer to the outside edge of the hinge bar took some of the sag out of that area and relieved the stress of the orginal crack (as well as a 2nd drilled hole). I also installed a rivet at the other end as a preventive measure. I, or the current owners have had a problem with that since.
BTW, that is a great photo to show how the drilled hole at the end of a stress crack is done.
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