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- Feb 19, 2016
- Messages
- 326
I am stealing your rod rack idea!
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Show Us Your Welding Projects!
- Thread starter RandyM
- Start date
I am stealing your rod rack idea!
- Joined
- Apr 12, 2011
- Messages
- 3,575
Excellent, I am glad you like the idea. Make sure we get to see your handy work.
- Joined
- Feb 19, 2016
- Messages
- 326
- Joined
- Mar 12, 2014
- Messages
- 1,531
A little repair job I did about a week and a half ago. I had a hitch adapter to repair for myself and one for a client so I thought I would knock them out.
I have repaired about a dozen hitches and ball mounts in this manner now over the past 10 or so years and they have held up extremely well although they are a bit time consuming to do so if you have to take them to a shop to have done, it may not be cost effective. It is a common issue to have the hitch pin holes elongate over time (mostly miles).
Hitch pin clearance in elongated pin hole.
Some 1" 8620 I had on the shelf.
I used a 1" diameter sleeve with .625" hole drilled to accept a standard hitch pin, actually slightly bored out a few thousandths more. I then chamfered the sleeve to accept a weld bead yet be flush with the surrounding stinger. I then bored the elongated hole out to .998" so it would be an interference fit into the stinger before welding using some 309L stainless steel TIG rod. I like the 309 due to the slightly different composition material but also because it gives a slightly better elongation characteristics that seem to hold up better to the shock loads present on the hitches when in use.
Machining the sleeve as well as the side bushings/reducers for the receiver part of the hitch. I have the steel chucked up in my new 5C collet chuck on the lathe.
Picture of the sleeve pressed in and TIG welded.
Couple pictures of the first pass around the reducer.
Couple pictures of the cover pass with a slight weave to increase the size of the fillet.
All in all a pretty straightforward repair but it give a lot more surface area for the hitch pin to spread the load over.
Mike.
I have repaired about a dozen hitches and ball mounts in this manner now over the past 10 or so years and they have held up extremely well although they are a bit time consuming to do so if you have to take them to a shop to have done, it may not be cost effective. It is a common issue to have the hitch pin holes elongate over time (mostly miles).
Hitch pin clearance in elongated pin hole.
Some 1" 8620 I had on the shelf.
I used a 1" diameter sleeve with .625" hole drilled to accept a standard hitch pin, actually slightly bored out a few thousandths more. I then chamfered the sleeve to accept a weld bead yet be flush with the surrounding stinger. I then bored the elongated hole out to .998" so it would be an interference fit into the stinger before welding using some 309L stainless steel TIG rod. I like the 309 due to the slightly different composition material but also because it gives a slightly better elongation characteristics that seem to hold up better to the shock loads present on the hitches when in use.
Machining the sleeve as well as the side bushings/reducers for the receiver part of the hitch. I have the steel chucked up in my new 5C collet chuck on the lathe.
Picture of the sleeve pressed in and TIG welded.
Couple pictures of the first pass around the reducer.
Couple pictures of the cover pass with a slight weave to increase the size of the fillet.
All in all a pretty straightforward repair but it give a lot more surface area for the hitch pin to spread the load over.
Mike.