tom2p 2,394 #51 Posted March 25, 2020 nice work ! good saying to remember if a weld is not the most attractive weld : A blind man would be happy to see that 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
oilwell1415 563 #52 Posted March 25, 2020 Thank you. Welding is something I do about once a year, so it's hard to stay good at it. By the time I get this project wrapped up I'll probably be doing OK. Then it will be another year and I'll be starting over again. I just feel lucky that this metal is thick enough I don't have to worry much about burning through. When I build the taillights it will be a different story. Of course all of those welds will get ground down, so appearance won't really be an issue. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
oilwell1415 563 #53 Posted April 19, 2020 Finally got back to it the last few days. Closed off the rear of the tongue and added a kick stand to the front of it. I guessed on the angle of the kickstand and it ended up turning out about as perfect as it could be. Sits dead flat on the ground and will keep the hitch out of the dirt and the wiring from getting pinched. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
oilwell1415 563 #54 Posted April 19, 2020 This is the original tongue. Getting it off was a nightmare. Couldn't get a socket on the bolts, so had to break it loosen them with a wrench. Then I could put a ratchet wrench on it and get the rear two out pretty easily. One of the front ones was 1/10 of a turn at a time, then the other one wasn't so bad because I could rotate the whole piece and use it as a cheater. As you can see, it's cheap stamped steel and probably not good for much other than hauling the weight of the trailer itself. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
oilwell1415 563 #55 Posted April 19, 2020 Yesterday I pulled the original tongue and got the new one installed. I am now convinced that there is not a single corner or pair of members on this whole trailer that are square to each other. I ended up taking all of the measurements, comparing them to each other, and installing this where it make the least average error among all of them. I'm sure it's off by a little bit, but probably not enough to notice. Got it all welded up, dropped in the new tongue, installed the guts to the hitch, and pulled the wiring for the lights. The only thing I wanted to get done yesterday and didn't was installing the brackets for the fenders. I'll do those next, then get the light housings fabbed up and the lights wired. At some point I'll add about 6" to the front of the bed so my tractor will wit in it. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
oilwell1415 563 #56 Posted April 19, 2020 Here it is back from the first road test. Pulls great with no wandering or instability; a great improvement over the original. The extra tongue length and added tongue weight that length added really helped it. Even with the new tires it pulled like crap with the original tongue. I bet there wasn't 5-10 lbs of tongue weight and it moved around all the time. None of that now. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ebinmaine 69,578 #57 Posted April 19, 2020 Looks good so far!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ebinmaine 69,578 #58 Posted April 19, 2020 5 hours ago, oilwell1415 said: no wandering or instability; a great improvement over the original. The extra tongue length and added tongue weight that length added really helped it I noticed the same on my orange trailer when I added an extension to the tongue. This is a woods trailer. Excellent that yours is that nice for the road. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
