Recent content by chad2198

That is indeed a nice trailer you built. Great reuse of the parts from the old trailer as well. :beer: Chad

I care where tools are made as well as other things. I hate buying things made in China. It's getting really hard to find anything made in the usa anymore. So if I can find a usa made tool. I'll gladly pay more for the tool if it was actually made in the good ole usa. I have nothing against...

:beer: I agree. Getting that metal clean before welding makes a world of difference in the weld quality. I used to weld rusty metal. But found out that it's worth the extra time taken to clean the metal before laying that bead down. I thought I'd save time by just welding it rusty. But...

I decided to do some welding today and test my welding. I took 2 pieces of scrap plate I had laying around and welded them together. I used 6011 rod 1/8" and my lincoln arc welder set at 115 amps. I then put the weld to the test by putting it in my dads's shop press and pressed away until...

Nice cart. And my favorite color too. :) Chad

Also a new hitch is needed anyway as where I welded the ball it sits to far out back from the axle. I need to make the hitch sit more over the axle. I'm gonna get some steel plate and drill a hole through the steel and bolt the ball through one plate on top and the other on the bottom. Once...

You're right just welding on the ball on flush is indeed a poor design. Especially for a trailer going down the highway. Like you said there's a lot of force going on with the trailer especially even more when loaded. And I don't want to rely on just that weld holding all that force just...

After seeing a pic of a factory made welded on ball hitch on TBN. I have rethought this thing about the ball being just welded to the hitch. It might hold. But I'm not taking the chance anymore. I'll be making a new hitch with the ball bolted on this time...

Thanks. Yeah I really thought it was gonna flip that garden tractor without any weight on the back. But luckily it didn't. That's okay. I agree that things like that ball are critical and does need to be done professionally. But unless I know that the weld on those "purchased" hitches were done...

My old fifth wheel camper "That I turned into a utility trailer" has the fifth wheel hitch coupler that is adjustable with bolts. I would tighten those bolts over and over and torque them and they still would work loose. "Not something I want when going down the highway. So I decided since...

I haven't drawn up any plans yet. But I was thinking something like a 4 wheel dolly "Kind of like ENGINE's Post above" and I'd have a place to hang the cables on the side. And make some hangers for my welding helmet and my chipping hammer and someplace to put my welding electrodes, clamps...

Nice cart. I've got a cart in the plans for my lincoln tombstone. It has wheels but it is hard to move around and there's nowhere on the welder to hang the cables so right now they're just strung out in the shop. lol Hopefully I can get onto the welding cart project soon. I just have to...

I've had to grind hours on some of my welds to get something loose. I welded a thick I beam to an old car rear end. It took me at least 2 hours to get those welds cut off so I could use the I beam for something else. I cut half way through the welds and tried to break them off and even with...

Sorry I didn't fully explain. I don't fully weld the nut on. I just run a short bead on the bottom of the nut to prevent the nut from coming loose. If I ever need to remove the ball I can cut through the weld and still remove the ball. It's just enough to prevent it from coming lose. Not a...

Thanks for that advice. I think I'll do that. I decided to ram the trailer into the tree again 10 more times just for the heck of it as the old bumper is coming off the trailer anyway as it isn't much good. The ball is so far still holding without any cracks. :beer: I know I said I wasn't...