building my front hitch
#1
building my front hitch
The other day i somehow ended up with a free winch, (yeah i know i'm pretty lucky ), and i was going to make a receiver for it for a front hitch (but that's later)
I picked up a good reese hitch from a buddy for $20.... now the question is do you guys prefer of welding or bolting the hitch on?? I'm just worried if i use some grade 8 bolts they might brake if someone toes me out of somewhere or if i use the winch.
I'll post pics as it comes along (if it ever gets a little warmer out instead of the teens and twenties haha)
thanks guys
I picked up a good reese hitch from a buddy for $20.... now the question is do you guys prefer of welding or bolting the hitch on?? I'm just worried if i use some grade 8 bolts they might brake if someone toes me out of somewhere or if i use the winch.
I'll post pics as it comes along (if it ever gets a little warmer out instead of the teens and twenties haha)
thanks guys
#2
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I welded mine on my old 01, but I always prefer bolt on. Easier to mod, remove, change, etc.
That said, my Warn came with 4 grade 5 bolts to mount the winch itself. I've heard that it is so the bolts bend before breaking (5 vs 8), but that's just internet speculation from others.
If you use some 1/2" grade 8 bolts, I would not worry about breaking them, you could hang your truck from one.
Edit: depending on how you weld it vs bolt can make a huge difference on how strong it is, so you would really have to be more specific. Either way your best bet is to put the weld or bolt in a tensile not shear position.
That said, my Warn came with 4 grade 5 bolts to mount the winch itself. I've heard that it is so the bolts bend before breaking (5 vs 8), but that's just internet speculation from others.
If you use some 1/2" grade 8 bolts, I would not worry about breaking them, you could hang your truck from one.
Edit: depending on how you weld it vs bolt can make a huge difference on how strong it is, so you would really have to be more specific. Either way your best bet is to put the weld or bolt in a tensile not shear position.
Last edited by buckgnarly; 12-11-2010 at 09:12 AM.
#3
#4
Yeah my best bet is to take off the bumper and to see what my best bet is bolting vs. welding. The only problem is that its down pouring here today.
I do have a nice mig welder at work and all the other necessary cutting and grinding tools and i also do some good welding. So I'll take it off at work tomorrow and go from there
I do have a nice mig welder at work and all the other necessary cutting and grinding tools and i also do some good welding. So I'll take it off at work tomorrow and go from there
#8
Thank you for the open invitation to *****.
Hidden Hitch placed ONTOP of frame then welded. Placed ontop to compensate for the bodylift. If I could do it again, I would. It sits too high and I had to trim the valence, otherwise w/o a trim, the bumper would be pushed up allll the way and way too tight of a gap. Next time, I would modify a rear hitch to fit and have it sticking out the hole perfectly.
Hidden Hitch placed ONTOP of frame then welded. Placed ontop to compensate for the bodylift. If I could do it again, I would. It sits too high and I had to trim the valence, otherwise w/o a trim, the bumper would be pushed up allll the way and way too tight of a gap. Next time, I would modify a rear hitch to fit and have it sticking out the hole perfectly.
#10
#13
#15
The sheer strength of a half inch SAE Grade 8 bolt is 14,730 lbs. You will have 4 of them holding the hitch to the frame, this means that you would have to have a dynamic load of well over 58,920 lbs in order to sheer those bolts (Keep in mind the friction of the hitch against the frame). Your hitch pin will snap well before this point.
#17
The sheer strength of a half inch SAE Grade 8 bolt is 14,730 lbs. You will have 4 of them holding the hitch to the frame, this means that you would have to have a dynamic load of well over 58,920 lbs in order to sheer those bolts (Keep in mind the friction of the hitch against the frame). Your hitch pin will snap well before this point.
#18
The sheer strength of a half inch SAE Grade 8 bolt is 14,730 lbs. You will have 4 of them holding the hitch to the frame, this means that you would have to have a dynamic load of well over 58,920 lbs in order to sheer those bolts (Keep in mind the friction of the hitch against the frame). Your hitch pin will snap well before this point.
#19
Roughly you're making this...
From these...
So it fits here...
(or 3" up on a BL'd truck). TEST FIT TEST FIT TEST FIT the bumper before fully welding the stuff together!!! There's both the Y and Z axis to worry about so remember that.
The sheer strength of a half inch SAE Grade 8 bolt is 14,730 lbs. You will have 4 of them holding the hitch to the frame, this means that you would have to have a dynamic load of well over 58,920 lbs in order to sheer those bolts (Keep in mind the friction of the hitch against the frame). Your hitch pin will snap well before this point.
If I could also do it again, I would've made the hitch stick out of the bumper farther. The pin is so flippin' far back it's a pain and I can't insert a normal ball hitch because of it and putting my plate insert in is a ***** and a half to slide the pin in.
Last edited by Fx4wannabe01; 12-19-2010 at 09:26 PM.
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