A new hitch on an old Ford

[tom37]

It seems that my trailer is getting heavier and heavier. So I decided that it was time for a real hitch. I used 3/8" bent plate with a 3" hole for the 3"x1/4" square tube to fit thru. I used 1/4" plate to beef up the area where the receiver tube attached to the 3", front and back. There is 3 grade 8 1/2" bolts on each side.



Sorry folks I forgot to get the camera until it was pretty well put together.








Well its gona take one more post to get the rest of the pics.

[tom37]

As you can see I am not very good at making the transition on the corners, but I hope with practice I can catch on.





I know the tube is sorta long but it made a great place for the jack while I was fitting the hitch to the frame.



I marked up my cut lines last night and went to work on it this morning. Between the kids, the wife, and the neighbors I got picked up about dark.

I ran the little 180 maxed out with .035 wire and co2. I was going to use 7018 but I tried a test piece, and after the destructive test it appeared that I was getting good penetration with the mig. So I ran with it.

[walker]

Nice work! It looks like a good design that is safe and well thoughout. I would feel comfortable driving behind it.

[metal-doctor]

That looks nice & beefy. good job.

[Desertrider33]

Looks great, nice work.

I would cut down the tube protruding forward so a spare tire can fit under the bed.

[tom37]

Thank you gentlemen I appreciate it. The average joe wouldn't have a clue what goes into most welding projects.

I agree about the spare tire. I just have to come up with a good secure way to mount it again. When I got the truck it didn't have a spare and the carrier was trashed. I think it fell down while someone was driving maybe. I didn't measure it but there may be room for the rear side of the tire to set right on top of the receiver tube and then I can make some sort of a bracket for the front side.

[CarbedNotch]

very nice work

[loudnproud]

looks like you've got a good bumper there. how did you bend those plates where it mounts to the frame?

[urch55]

Great job your hired.!!!!!!

Looks like you did a real nice fabricating and welding job. How much tongue weight are you having to hold up. Reason I ask I only see one weak spot. But if you will have a 500 lbs or less you should be fine..
Bob

[Pass-N-Gas]

Round off those corners..

Do yourself and every mechanic in the distant future a favor by rounding off those corners with a grinder then a flap disc.. Nice work just keep it safe for all of the people that work around it..

[tom37]

Thank You again for the good comments.

loudnproud looks like you've got a good bumper there. how did you bend those plates where it mounts to the frame?

The plate came from a friend of mine. He is an ironworker and he makes reference to these plates as ( bentplate ). I really have no clue as to what these are used for but he gets left overs of all sizes of thickness and size of flange and leg.

urch55 Great job your hired.!!!!!!

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Looks like you did a real nice fabricating and welding job. How much tongue weight are you having to hold up. Reason I ask I only see one weak spot. But if you will have a 500 lbs or less you should be fine..
Bob

Thank You urch55

It would not be out of reason if I was to exceed 500 lbs.
I welcome any input as to a design flaw.

Pass-N-Gas Round off those corners..

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Do yourself and every mechanic in the distant future a favor by rounding off those corners with a grinder then a flap disc.. Nice work just keep it safe for all of the people that work around it..

Yes I agree of the corner and sharp edge hazard. As soon as I decide if I can use the length of the receiver tube for the spare tire carrier, I plan to take the hitch off and dress up the corners and make it pretty with a good coat of black paint.

[Sberry]

I agree fine job and I like the saftey chain plate, I probably wouldnt have bothered with the back plate just for time and extra work but it isnt going to hurt anything. I would be interested in the design flaw also?

[fun4now]

nice job

looks great.that thing will out live the truck its hanging off of.

[urch55]

Capacity Rating

Hey there Guys. It's not a Design Flaw, I think it's a great hitch, for a certain rating. I am around a lot of equipment trailers and trucks from the construction and forestry trades. I have had to repair 6 to 12 hitches of that same design made by truck body shops. I am not talking about the cheap out of the box hitches.
The problem lies with lack of support for your receiver tube, with a heavy vertical load plus let's not for get the shock load factor, there is going to be a twisting action of that 3" sq. tube. you need to install another one as far back as possable. plus on the side plates it would have been nice to leave about 2 or 3 more inches before coming down on the 45 degree angle. I only say this because I have seen it happen. But the hitch looks great YOU DID A GREAT JOB... I noticed the date on the photo so it looks like you have been using it for a few years...I do not mean any dis respect here......
Bob

[tom37]

My apologizes gentlemen,I think I am the one that used the word design flaw

Urch There was No disrespect taken at all. I always welcome advise, if I didn't want ideas and thoughts I wouldn't have posted. That is the reason we all post here isn't it. Well and the satisfaction of hearing good words of others on a job well done.

I want to make this completely right. And looking back at specs of the hitches built this way, they all have a tongue limit of 500 or 600 lbs with out the weight distribution. I do want to be able to carry more then this safely since I borrow my dads dump trailer 8x16. I have never weighed it but I would think that it crosses the scales at more then 500 lbs on the tongue.

I had actually thought briefly of supporting the front most portion of the receiver tube. Tho my thought was to use 3/8x3 angle. Now I am not sure that the angle has enough support the way I would place it. Maybe I need to use the square tube instead.

Here is a pic of the placement I thought of.

Another thought is. Does anyone think that maybe since I am only using 1/2 bolts that I should upgrade to maybe 5/8. I am not sure I can get the right length but I have bought bolts from the Cat dealer and if I remember correctly they were equal to grade 12. After looking at the hitches on super duty trucks they have 4 bolts on each side.