There, I fixed it.

[Lanse]

Again.

Alright everyone, hows it going? This afternoon I read through the comments on my last post about the trailer, and established that there really needs to be a gusset on the top side of the tongue, and I headed out for the garage.


I realized that welding on the back side of the tongue (facing the front of the bed) wasn't going to be easy. It could be done (and Ive done it twice now), but its hard to see what you're doing, and I wanted these welds to be perfect, so I had to come up with something else. After a little head-scratching and some quality time with the plasma cutter, I had a "T" shaped gusset made of 5/8" steel bar. I ground down the "plasma marks", welded it clamped up in the vise,

...and it fit right in where it belongs. I was happy about that, and I even used a straight-edge to cut it with

And then I set about welding it in place. I removed what paint I could with the grinder (not much), and then put in a first pass with 1/8" and/or 3/32" Hobart 6011, and then started covering it with 3/32" 7018. I dont know what amperage I was running at (you never do with the stickmate, just a "rough guess"), but Im happy with the way that it turned out.

So to recap, we started with an non-reinforced downhill (cold) mig weld. And now we have an open root 6011 weld covered with 7018, two fishplates, and a heavy-duty gusset. I dont think it'll break again. And I know that the plates arent perfactly straight, but my cuts are alot straighter than they looked in my last post, and unless you stick your head (or camera) right down there next to them, they look to be as straight as an arrow. That being said, I think next time Ill definatly set up the straightedge.

And for anyone whos curious, here are a couple of pictures of the trailer itself. Its about 15 years old, and the owner says it was the cheapest one that he could find then. He built it sides out of plywood he found in a dumpster, and uses it primarily for hauling garbage and the occasional load of scrap metal. Its actually not that bad of a trailer, Ive seen worse.

And so now he just has to pick it up. He was supposed to get it last weekend, but I cant reach him now and he has yet to show up. Oh well.

What do you guys think? I think I should have gussetted this the first time around, but thats a lesson learned, and now all I have to do is spend a little time on the post-weld cleanup and repaint it.

Side note, thanks for the advice you guys, you're the reason why I went back and re-enforced it. And to those of you who just want to slam my work, idk. Go find a hobby or something.

Have a nice night, everyone!!

 

[Anonymous-0]

Well Lanse some of us came down hard on you the other night, glad to see you looked things over and inproved the job, it looks like it should hold now. The way it was I think it would of broke in the same place. Those diamond plate gussets would not of helped much if any to of kept it from breaking, only help it stay together after it broke. The 1/8" tube is not strong enought to be able to keep the bolts tight, even if the nuts stay tight the metal would of deformed then the plates would be loose> Don't beat youself up over it, you did what you thought would hold it, and when others said it wouldn't you inproved it so it would, instead of just giveing up. It also takes years to learn all this stuff. just remember when you ASK for help LISTEN to everyone who ANSWERS you not just 1 or 2. The 3rd person may be the one who repairs these trailers every day even if he gave you bad advice before he could be 100% right on this. YOUR DOING GOOD.

 

[Kirk Grau]

Lanse,

Don"t be too thin skinned about comments. As a professional who spends more time than I like composing e-mails I can attest to the fact that it is difficult to offer advice/criticise constructively/etc. via the written word. You lose spoken cues like inflection, unspoken cues like facial expression, and other means of expression. I did not read through the other thread entirely, but most of what I read was probably intended in a positive fashion, even though it came through as critical.

I admire your initiative for taking these projects on and trying to make a few bucks in the process. As somebody who pays a professional liability insurance premium over 5 figures every year I am a little concerned about the exposure you take on through this work, but since you have few assets the lawyers might not come after you "too" hard if something ever goes awry.

Anyway, have a good evening. And one other thing, you probably don"t want to make a career out of being the "cheaper alternative". Give good value and charge a fair price and work will come to you.

Kirk

 

[Brad Buchanan]

Hey Lanse! I enjoy your posts and think you are doing a good job even if I don't post much.

I build and repair my own stuff out of the scrap pile all the time but....

I keep a small stock of tube, plate and angle and if a job is going out the door for a customer I use all new stock.

You might be saving the customer a buck or two but if he gets into an accident with the proverbial schoolbus lawers are going to be all over your work.

Trying to be constructive, keep up the good work!

Brad Buchanan

 

[DENNIS MIN]

I rarely comment, however, you being a young buck, I must say you do quite well with some of the experienced critique of your work. I am unsure I could say the same for myself at a similar time in life.

Congrats on a pathway to success,

D

 

[scotc]

Lanse,
I would have used the plates that were in where you put your T gusset, and just ground them down if they were too long once you cleaned up the other pieces. If I didn't have those this is what I would have done.
The green is the shape of the fish plates I would have welded on and bolted where the yellow marks are. The red spots are where your plates are most likely to break. If you can put a radius in the metal they are less likely to crack out than having a square corner.
You would have had to make a couple spacers to bolt through the old gusset, nothing too hard there. And I would have run the fishplate well back in under the trailer, too.
I think you did OK, I'm just showing how I would have done it. That, or constructed a whole new tongue like someone else said.
I also would have boxed in the top of the fish plates to the front of the deck.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Lanse, here are a few things to remember:

1) Not everyone is an expert...so don't listen to everyone.

2) Nobody has ALL the answers...so listen to more than one point of view.

3) When you see something you could've done better, that's the time to go back and do it better...as you did on this trailer. THAT'S a sign of integrity. May cost a little more to do it right, and it may hurt the wallet a little if you only priced the job out using the first scanario...but the pride in knowing the job was done right lasts a lot longer than the money will.

4) No mattery HOW you do a job, there will always be someone who says he could've done it better/faster/cheaper...or maybe even all of the above. Maybe he's right, and maybe he's wrong. Some folks can ONLY criticize, and never compliment...that's just how they are. Accept it, and don't let 'em get under your skin. Learn from the ones who are right, ignore the ones who are wrong...and learn how to tell the difference.

Might take a lifetime to gain the experience to do what I'm advising in #4...but then, at this point it looks like you just happen to have that exact amount of time ahead of you.

 

[BFO]

That looks better Lanse, and I hope my criticism wasn't taken too hard. There's a place for bolted connections and this certainly wasn't one of them. You might consider taking those plates off (and putting them on the wall of your shop as a reminder to use a straight-edge), and plug weld the holes, grind smooth,and paint. The one thing I think you should invest in is a wire-wheel for your small grinder. Then you can get rid of existing rust BEFORE you paint. Just a suggestion.......

 

[eastexan]

Lanse, I'm glad you posted the picures of the complete trailer.
I, maybe like several others, were expecting a larger and more heavy duty trailer than what it is.
Your pics show it to be a small light duty trailer which IMO your repairs should suffice.

 

[Puddles]

(quoted from post at 09:02:42 09/22/11)
Lanse, I'm glad you posted the picures of the complete trailer.
I, maybe like several others, were expecting a larger and more heavy duty trailer than what it is.
Your pics show it to be a small light duty trailer which IMO your repairs should suffice.

Bingo! That trailer is maxed out carrying a couple lawn mowers.

It's easy to spot a novice fabricator, they always want to over weld everything. Some of the suggestion on here would have Lanse putting at least 8-feet of weld on those two fish plates. Come on guys, that trailer only has 1/8-inch thick square tube. We're not building sky scrappers, or bridges. Just repairing a little POS trailer that was junk when it was purchased new! :lol:

 

[Oldmax]

Lanse good job. After seeing the trailer. I wish I had that skill a your age. At least you try. and are not sitting on your A$$ playing computer games. Men this is a young MAN that will go far in life. Keep up the good work.

 

[elmersooner]

Lanse, why not put on a gooseneck hitch while you are at it? good job as always--should outlast the trailer.

 

[BFO]

Yes it is easy to spot the novice fabricators. The first thing is to establish good old cause and affect. The upper tongue is heaviliy gussetted to the verticle tube, so nothing needed there. The joint between the lower tube and verticle is in tension and failed. Why? Cyclic loading/fatigue and/or overloading.If that would have come into my shop, I would have ground out the joint, rewelded and strapped the bottom with some 1/4"x 2" flatbar, and stitch welded it. The flat bar would have extended forward onto the gusset, and back 6" underneath the trailer. It would have looked as though it belonged there,the tilt option would have been preserved, and I would have shamelessy charged for the full hour.IMHO

 

[scotc]

There you go!!!

Then you can weld a hitch into the trunk of his Ford Focus. Talk about the ultimate hide-a-hitch!

 

[Anonymous-0]

Embarrasingly poor problem solving and execution! Sorry Lance you get a D- on this one and it may get you thrown out of class before the semester is over. The high stress area was originally where the toungue square tube met the verticle riser to the hitch. Now the high stress area is everywhere. I think you had better get an expert like your teacher to review the problem and come up with a decent solution before you release it to the customer. People's lives are on the line here. This is not the same type of task as building a fence unroller.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Give him a break! It's not like it's semi trailer that has to carry 25 ton+ loads across the country.

The only thing embarrassing is someone trying to play teacher that can't spell to save their life. Especially embarrassing when there are spell check and/or dictionaries online.

 

[trucker 40]

Lanse your welds look alright.I went back and read some of the other post too.You would have been better off to leave that "fish plate" crap off of it.Plus your "fix"as you call it looks kind of weird.Before he comes after it you ought to take that fish plate off,plug the Holes in the square tubing with your MIG welder and grind down smooth.Mainly for your reputation.
You will make mistakes.This just shows that you dont have a lot of experience fixing stuff.That takes years to get.Diamond plate is a poor choice for a fish plate,but as somebody said the trailer is a piece of junk anyway.In my opinion you made the weak hitch weaker yet by putting those bolt holes in it,and all the diamond plate will do is hold it together a little while after it breaks again.
Actually,the criticism that you got was right for the most part.Maybe some were a little harsh,but thats how you learn.You dont want to cut a fish plate without using a straight edge and for sure dont want to use diamond plate.The gusset you put on there would actually need to be connected to something stronger than that angle iron.
If the hitch wasnt strong enough maybe you should have made one out of stronger stuff instead of clabbering a bunch of crap up on it like that.
For your reputation and the safety of the public,if something isnt strong enough to start with,dont drill a bunch of holes in it and expect it to fix it.
Maybe you should ask your teacher when you look at a project what might be a way of fixing something like that.Your welds do look good though.I would use a MIG on something like that if it was me.