Fabricating Truck Hitch Bed Extender Bar
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- Опубліковано 19 сер 2024
- Fabricating and welding a square tubing trailer hitch extender bar so that I could haul longer sheet of steel, square tubing, 2X4's, plywood, or anything long really.
Behind the Scenes UA-cam Channel: / @oldbarnhomestead
You have a dream shop. A little project like this is a perfect choice. A+
That will come in real handy for those couple of sheets you need to get. Trailers are a pain sometimes. Good video Gary!
Clean work mate. Thanks
Great idea Gary.
thanks sir
Awesomeness
Good job Gary I built a 4ft on for a guy to haul tin about a month ago. Take care and keep up the good work. Don't let them trolls bring u down there is more than one way to do stuff it will not brake.
lol, Thanks Jonathan !
Id put a gusset on the 90* on the rear. Just to keep from flexing with heavy load as well as shifting loaf from hard breaking or accident. Great build love the hold down great idea. Way better than hooking up the trailer.
yea i definitely thought about some gussets for sure. where the thin joins the thick tube needs a fishplate also
I would agree on the gusset.
it wouldn't hurt, but when I look at the flexing on it, there doesn't seem to be alot of stress on the mitre joint, all of the stress looks to be where I joined the thick and thin tube right at the receiver, so really that needs fish plated more than it needs gusseted, but both wouldn't hurt
@@turbocobra I realize this is an old video but I just happened to see it. You might consider Tying the end of the top (loaded) bar to the back of the bed where the tailgate latches with a tie strap or make a thin bar to hook in place. If the load bar is too short make a slide out devise to make the connection. This would take all of the stress off the position where the extension hooks into the hitch.
Jees's ... for a time there I thought you were going to put a towball on that extension.
I would add an inside corner triangle for extra strength and support of the vertical leg.
Just letting you know.. In Texas anything protruding more than x number or feet from your vehicle needs a red flag attached to it. Look it up! Super easy to fix and saves money in the end. DOT pops people for it all the time by me.
Brennan LaHue 6ft
Its actually 4ft and i was just inside of that, but still a good idea to put a permanent flag on it, pain it orange, etc
Better safe than sorry!
Slick attachment.
Better safe than slammed in the ass by some chick putting on her makeup who doesn't see the stick out, only the tail lights. Oh wait, or some guy putting on his makeup.....to be politically correct.
lol, exactly! dont be insensitive to our trans community! I actually got rear ended last week, with nothing but the hitch ball, and it jammed right through his plastic bumper.
the only thing i can see you might want to look at is some kind of visual to allow for people to know that you are over length on the bed maybe some reflective tape or maybe a fourth led brake light nice build!
Nice, I really dig it.
Good idea right there
thanks chris
Nice welds, clean aerospace quality. plasma table is badass.
Nice workshop.
I would have stick weld it !
do you recommend one out of aluminum, so i can use it with my cargo carrier
yea for sure
You know it's bad when you are working from the corner of your workbench.
the struggle is real! normally i would clean up after finishing a project, but figured this would be quick, but yea i was getting annoyed with the lack of space
I was thinking a bevel for 1/4 in thickness. I don't know. I am trying To watch and learn too. That's what I heard.
oh i see what you mean now. Well if you have 1/4" material on a butt joint, like 2 pipes, or 2 piece of plate, then yes you would bevel it. But in my case, those 1/4" end caps I made were in a fillet joint configuration, and really no way to get a bevel on that to make it meaningful. but yes, anytime you have a butt type joint, you need a bevel on thicker material
I think i would make som extandable rails in the truck bed instead of breaking the hitch...
Just my 5 cent opinion
Well if it was just going to be a 2 cent opinion i was going to decline, but a 5 cent opinion, well I cant turn that down! lol thanks
Agreed . Different size square tube sliding inside one another (telescopic like old radio antennas) bolted to the bed would make for clearance for fork lift and still be able to just push in to close gate when not needed. No need to remove. Another view to tackle the same problem
So your planning on breaking the
Hitch on a supper duty, and you think the sheet steel of the bed will hold it...
How much weight do you think the new extension can carry ? Im thinking about doing same thing to mount my dirt bike carrier . I need to run about 30" farther out so i can drop tail gate while bike is mounted on carrier.
Great idea! I could have used this on my trip up to discount steel in Saginaw yesterday! The fusion 360 program looks really good. Will it let you print out a template? I have a handheld plasma cutter, but not a table like you have
Oh yes you can print templates, or blue prints, drawings to scale, material lists, etc
Hey I love the video. How much do you think it would cost to get one made? Also do you think it can support 140 1/2 in 12ft rebar.
8ft bed truck comes in handy for everything. If it's not 8ft bed what's the point
Well said
I know you use your TIG welder the most around your shop, but how do you determine when it is appropriate to use a MIG welder instead? I am considering a TIG in the future and know the quality of the visual effects of the TIG weld is better, but what about strength and applications? Thanks Gary. Good videa anytime it brings up questions that need to be answered.
good question, I mainly just tig weld everything I can to get practice, and some things, like stainless or aluminum just have a cleaner nicer looking weld. As far as strength, well, dual shield flux or or stick welding with arc force are what most structural guys use. There was alot of discussion on that very topic in the comments of this video. ua-cam.com/video/VjKzFDqZgwA/v-deo.html
If you just need to "get shit done" MIG and/or Stick is fine. MIG is the equivalent to using a caulking gun for metal. It's easy, and doesn't take much skill to get projects completed.
TIG on the other hand is like patting your head and rubbing your belly. You literally are standing on one foot, the other is on the pedal, trying to feather the power, and the other two hands need to be in synch with each other. Definitely takes skill AND tons of practice.
TIG is perfect for precision welding of thin or small or critical parts. It's much slower, but can produce a more aesthetically pleasing "visual weld". However, just because a weld "looks great" doesn't mean that it's a good, solid weld. Lots to learn about metallurgy, gas compositions/purging/coverage, penetration, amperage and technique.
Are you wanting to weld aerospace or motorsports grade parts and exotic metals? Titanium, Aluminum*, Stainless*, Cromoly, Inconel etc? Then TIG is the way to go.
Mild steel of the hot or cold rolled variety can be easily welded with MIG, and aren't as tricky. Both Aluminum and Stainless can be MIG'd with great success, provided the proper gas mixture, and aluminum needing be be "pushed" from a Spool Gun. In fact, most industrially made things out of aluminum are made with a MIG spool gun. Go check out an aluminum boat or trailer. Those are 99% of the time MIG'd. (SV Seeker has MIG'd his entire aluminum pilot house and small run-about boat)
Thanks for the input, EM. I guess I am going to stick pretty much with MIG for the kind of fabrication that I do.
Thank you Gary
dont let him talk you out of it, if you really want to learn to tig weld, I would recommend the AHP alpha tig machine. Its around $800, and has plenty of options/features to do anything you could want. Huge community of people that are owners that support each other on facebook. However, I know of a couple of guys that have bought tig welders because of my videos, and they have yet to really do much with it, because of alot fo what EM mentioned above. It takes alot of practice and seat time, steady hands, precise movements with your hands, while also feathering the power with one foot. But it's alot of fun, and for some things on thin sheetmetal you have so much control to bridge gaps, fill holes, etc. But be prepared to practice alot. So when you see me tig welding a project like this when really i should be mig welding it, its mainly just to stay in practice so when I do get jobs that require tig, my skills are as good as they can be
How much is a water jet cutter?
Nice build Gary, Have you noticed much of an increase in price on metal since the tariffs ??
Yes, I made a video showing what I pay and how much its gone up a few weeks ago
what welder are you using
I’d definitely add some gussets and just curious why did you choose to tig this instead of mig?
I tig weld everything I can for practice, so that when i get to something that requires tig welding my skills are better.
I was thinking a grove had To be cut. Stick or Mig.
Ferdinand apple, orange, walnut???
lol, wait, what?
Are you buying aluminum to build a jet boat ?!?
lol, no it's for 2 signs for a company in hollywood that provides services to the movie industry, a jet boat would be more fun, and i could get you to come mig weld it up with that fancy pulse mig machine you got
Ramsey Customs - turbocobra oh yeah !!! I am game.
Be careful plasma cutting aluminum with the water table on the cnc ...
making long beds useless