Garage floor receiver hitch

[jonno1]

Hi,

Just wondering if anyone has ever made a generic receiver that they concrete into their garage floor to allow things to be repeatedly bolted/mounted to it such as tube benders, grinder stands, vices on stands etc.

I am going to be getting a concrete floor poured soon and was thinking of ideas that would make working in there easier afterwards. Is this a bad idea?

Thanks!

 

[ratdoggy]

I don't know if I'd want that...
Swapping that stuff out of a receiver would get real old real quick...
Pulling it out if any rust formed would be a joke and just in general ******* that stuff around...
Now on the other hand putting an anchor in the floor so you could winch something into the garage is a good idea

 

[LB-1911]

Give this a look and follow the various links -

Receiver hitch in floor or other kinds of anchors
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4251

Here are some pictures I took from Red's post over at Shop Floor Talk.

Jim, those are receivers to be set flush with the slab, (upside down in the pic) the long rebar gets stuck in the ground to hold them in place, then wire mesh and mud. The top is a 6 X 6 X 3/16 plate welded to a standard 2 X 2 hitch receiver tube, with a 2 1/4 ' square cutout, works like a dust cover when it's in the floor. Then a 3 X 3 X 3/16 plate with a piece of 5/8 rebar welded in the center. The rebar "wings" will spread the twisting forces into the slab.
I'm makin' up stands for some of my bench tools,( 2 X 2 X 1/4 wall tube, with a plate welded to one end) grinders, flame cutting table, tube bender, vice's etc. so I can store them on a rolling cart, out of the way, and then slip the 2 X 2 stands in whatever hole i'm workin' close to. ( there will be 16 of them scattered around the shop deck) Also handy to use as pull points and levelers for my frame jig, and the fairly regular "straighten the tongue on my trailer" and "my boat tows funny" job's that seem to show up with the snowbirds, LOL. RED

More @
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=21078#post21078

 

[koditten]

I highly recommend installing pulling plates in your floor.

I just took a bunch of scrap, 4" I beam, cut into 4" lengths and laid them on their sides in various points of the floor. I welded many different things to these plates and when done, just cut off when I was done.

The concrete fills in the web of the I beam and they are impossible to pull up.

This is the way I did mine, but there are many different styles and ideas out there.

 

[koditten]

I see above is exactly what I did, except no rebar and I just used I beam for ease of fabrication.

 

[ratdoggy]

I highly recommend installing pulling plates in your floor.

I just took a bunch of scrap, 4" I beam, cut into 4" lengths and laid them on their sides in various points of the floor. I welded many different things to these plates and when done, just cut off when I was done.

The concrete fills in the web of the I beam and they are impossible to pull up.

This is the way I did mine, but there are many different styles and ideas out there.

That sounds like a great idea...You can move stuff around and if welded it isn't going to move

 

[jonno1]

something like this perhaps? looking forward to some better designs

 

[jonno1]

wow you guys are quick! LB-1911 I really like your design and never thought of welding to it, that is a great idea!
I do want to be able to bolt to it though, do you have any suggestions for this?

 

[mike93lx]

I see above is exactly what I did, except no rebar and I just used I beam for ease of fabrication.

so you see the "I" shape at floor level or the flat area of the flange?

 

[LB-1911]

wow you guys are quick! LB-1911 I really like your design and never thought of welding to it, that is a great idea!
I do want to be able to bolt to it though, do you have any suggestions for this?

Not my design...

The previous posts were cut from the referenced links provided, You can also click the box to the right of the screen name which will take you to the thread.

 

[koditten]

so you see the "I" shape at floor level or the flat area of the flange?

The I beams are on their sides. When concrete is poured it fills in the center area. When dry you are left with a square of metal that is even with concrete.

I did not want anything that would prevent a floor creeper from rolling across it.

When I needed an anchor, I just weld a hook to the flat plate of steel. When done, grind smooth.

 

[Jackfre]

I put five of them in my slab. Bought a receiver hitch with the reinforced collar. Welded rebar across it pretty much as shown in LB's photos. Taped the top and bottom openings and we placed them to string lines as we poured. I haven't used them a lot, but they are good to have.

 

[matt_i]

The free play in a receiver hitch, especially at 36-40" of stickout would drive me crazy. Trying to do something like hand grind a drill point with the grinder able to move 1/2" without placing pressure on it would be irritating to say the least.

I like drilling and tapping both sides of the I-beam flange with something like a magnet drill on a regular hole pattern. Then weld a pipe cap (etc) under it to seal it from the concrete. Then you have the best of everything, weld to it, bolt to it, etc.

 

[mike93lx]

The I beams are on their sides. When concrete is poured it fills in the center area. When dry you are left with a square of metal that is even with concrete.

I did not want anything that would prevent a floor creeper from rolling across it.

When I needed an anchor, I just weld a hook to the flat plate of steel. When done, grind smooth.

Makes perfect sense and a great idea

 

[AJO]

We put a receiver in the shop floor when it was poured in '95. I have a vice, 2 benders , hand shear and a manual tire changer set up to mount in it. If one of them gets left in for an extended period of time it might take a small pry to pull it out due mostly to dirt. Occasionally take the shop vac to the hole. I placed it 5 feet out from the work bench. It is great for working on over sized items in the vice. I wanted to put 6 of these in but we were pouring the floor in early november and ran out of time.

 

[vision8]

Repost:
I made 6" x 6" x 6" out of HSS tubing with a 1" Dia. round x 12" long thru at 3" so I could feed a sling or chain as a anchoring now have 6" x 6" caps as covers over them. Also put two 4" x 4" HSS tubes x 36" long with slots for bolts to use as hold-downs for my tire machine flush with the floor.
Put pods inline with the doors to pull a vehicle into the shop and outside 20 feet to pull a vehicle out of each shop bay.