Trailer build, my first real MIG welds

   / Trailer build, my first real MIG welds #21  
when you replace the bent piece, add a small spacer just below the bend point, then add a strap that goes the whole length of the tounge.
 
   / Trailer build, my first real MIG welds
  • Thread Starter
#22  
when you replace the bent piece, add a small spacer just below the bend point, then add a strap that goes the whole length of the tounge.
Should have done that with this one. I have the strap and there are already spacers along the whole bottom...
Perhaps I will set it up to dump this time...

Aaron Z
 
   / Trailer build, my first real MIG welds #23  
To those who said that the tongue wasn't strong enough, you were right, but the problem was the vertical dimension, not the horizontal one. My brother was using it last week to move dirt and when i got home from work he told me that "The first load, I filled it all the way up, the second, I only filled it halfway and the tongue broke" . My guess is that the first load was filled all of the way back, while the 2nd only put dirt in front of the axle (causing more tongue weight, but less overall trailer weight).
Adding diagonals wouldn't have helped much with this though as it bent vertically:
<img src="http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=330784"/>
Need to hit up the local fab shop and get a heavier piece of c channel or tube to replace the tongue.

Aaron Z

A couple pieces of 3" channel welded together with the ends of the 'c' together makes a pretty stout tongue, and will fit a standard 3" coupler. Might be a little overkill for the size trailer you have, but you'd have a lot harder time twisting it up again

Sent from my LGL35G using TractorByNet
 
   / Trailer build, my first real MIG welds
  • Thread Starter
#24  
Finally got myself, the trailer, the neighbor and his welder (now a Miller 211) in the same place at the same time to put a new tongue on the trailer.
We cut the old one off in two pieces with a torch and built a new one from 3"x3" 3/16" square tubing.
The next morning, we loaded the trailer with 18-20 bales of hay and put another 18-20 bales on the RTV to get hay down to the barn for the animals. Worked well.
IMAG0070.jpg IMAG0069.jpg

Aaron Z
 
 
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