In a workshop where welders wield their might, Came a call to Isaac, a welding delight. A rented trailer in a dire connection, The coupling broke, a welder's reflection. Isaac arrived with his helmet agleam, To fix the coupling, a metallurgic dream. He grinned, "Fear not, my dear friend, We'll weld this tale to a proper end!" Sparks flew like fireworks, a welding display, Isaac worked wonders in his own unique way. To the renter, he said with a laugh, "No more worries, just a smooth towing path. Your trailer's ready, now good as new, Thanks to Isaac, the welding virtuoso, too!" With a nod and a spark, he saved the day, The trailer now fixed, ready to roll and sway!
Hey let's keep welding crap on it to make stronger. Those type of latches are really good for their rated towing, The way that ones on their tells me they are a wee bit over what it's rated for. That trailer looks like it had a ring hitch on it.
Ok I'm not the only one that thought it should have a lunette ring on it. They sell multipurpose hitches that can tow either a 2 5/16 ball or a pintle setup. Customer should go that way. Plus I've seen this style of hitch bust open when backed at a tight angle, would not have one on any of my trailers
That trailer definitely came with a pintle ring installed on it. I am willing to bet it had a piece of 1/2" x 6" wide plate with multiple holes welded vertically on the end of the tongue. I worked on a very similar trailer and the V at the end of the tongue was so you could access the nuts that attach the pintle ring.
Definitely with you guys on the Pintle and ring fitting. The part supplied to Isaac doesn't seem to be rated enough for that trailer, given the size of the drawbar members. They appear to be sized for a large commercial trailer towed by a dump truck and carrying a medium excavator and a bobcat. They definitely require pintle and ring sets and decent quality thick chains. Plus breakaway brake system. But that's only from what I see on the roads around Melbourne and what would I know? 😅 Mark from Melbourne Australia 🇦🇺
Agree with everyone too. The trailer looks like it’s made to haul a D8 but it’s modified in some way to haul windows or something like that. My experience with that type of hitch wasn’t good. Had a lots smaller trailer I hauled small load of hay and straw bales and busted it out the side backing it up to the barn. But there are lots pulling huge loads with half ton pickups and janky trailers all over this country and get away with it. I wouldn’t get out the driveway and DOT would be waiting on me to hit the road.
My first impression was to walk off and leave the liability to someone else. But, as always, you pulled off in style. Still, a new hitch on that trailer was like putting lipstick on a pig.
You did a great job cleaning up a mess I’ve been welding for 45 years I’m never surprised anymore at some of the things people cobble together and take it up and down the highway if we only knew the dangers that were on the road we would never leave home I’m glad you were able to clean it up
People always tell me I’m dumb for messing with hitches. I always tell them I’d rather do them because I know my capabilities and my family drives on the same roads at these trailers. I’d rather me do them, and it done right, than some 18year old fresh out of high school. At the end of the day, I’ll go home knowing it was done right.
Same. But I deal with mining and constructiuon equipment and every job is different. Like last week I was doing a lip on a 988 rock bucket, and monday I finish the 785 haul truck bed.
i seen homemade trailers and that was smaller being behind f150s but this is framer spec, for a city street its horrible for a trailer that size, this bologna was together not robot quality
I agree landon and the chopping around of the trailer hitch makes me suspicious. I have had a trailer try to throw me off the road when I miss loaded it and I have also had another trailer without brakes and to heavy a load try and push me into an occupied roundabout! Moral of the story, you don't take risks with trailers, their brakes or how they are loaded! You are dealing with the Laws of Physics and they are not negotiable! Mark from Melbourne Australia 🇦🇺
@markfryer9880 I would bet that trailer has no working brakes.i wouldn't touch that unless I was putting the proper hitch on it. A death trap waiting for a victim.
@marklowe330 but they do have a break away switch installed. Of course the pull cord is evidently not attached to the tow vehicle properly. The pull cords NOT supposed to be attached to the safety chains
That' style coupler is commonly found on horse trailers and not really up to the task of a heavy construction trailer. I kept thinking that there were far better ways to repair it than to duplicate the failed hitch. It all made sense to me when you said that the trailer was borrowed and the customer just wanted you to put it back to where it started. As always, you did a fine repair job but I can't help but wonder about liability issues. Thanks for the video!
Your work was solid, ISAAC. The tongue on that was a mess. Blows your mind why they didn’t leave the pintle set up on. You can only do what the customer wants!👍👍
It does make you wonder what happened that they did a reverse cut back into the web of the beam to create a bird's mouth cut and then weld a rated ball hitch to all of it. Good thing that it is being used to only haul signs. Definitely a construction project site trailer.
@@wromzick9457 I would not be surprised if that bar in the front with the birds mouth is so that the owner can pick it up and move it with other equipment that does not have a hitch and it gives them an easy area to grab.
There was a guy driving down the freeway the other day with a trailer similar to that one. The hitch was ok, but the welds broke on one of the axle spring brackets and the axle came out from under the trailer. It hit four cars before coming to a stop. Come to find out, it was repaired by the owner, and it was apparent he didn't know how to weld. Good thing we have people like you making sure these things are done right and safe for other drivers as well.
People are pulling a heavy trailer that's most likely over loaded and are using the wrong hitch in the first place. Happens all of the time. Good job fixing it up 👍
Issac, this is more the type of repairs I have been sent on.... nice to see the way you approached this,,,,, that feeling a big pit in your stomach when you see what you have been sent to repair was always the worst part of the job.... thanks for sharing, Paul
I'm pretty sure that trailer either had a donut ring that was welded to the front of it or some type of c-channel as I usually see with bolt on attachments and they decided they didn't want that and rigged up what they got at Harbor Freight instead gotta love it
Get ya some swag to sell. I’d buy an IC Weld t-shirt to support. Thanks for sharing what you do. I finally went and got off my lazy and bought an oxy torch setup because of your videos. You inspire. Thanks!
You certainly turned chicken $hit into Chicken salad on this one! In my youth I worked at a brake and muffler shop, the owner also built custom trailers for various government agencies, and we often were called on to fix bad trailers either from said agencies or the public. The goober welded snot rocket fixed that we saw were scary, it was really terrifying to think that these time bombs flying down the highway right beside you at 60mph 😱 Every time a disaster like that came into the shop the boss would bend over backwards to make it right even if he lost money on the job. He just could not live with himself to let a ticking time bomb like that back on the road. I'm glad you got it fixed up, but yeah, that was a mess. Cheers from Tokyo!
"Sketchy". That is one way to describe it. Weird looking and oddball. A very tidy repair that Isaac. Looks like the sort of farm trailer repair I have been asked to repair in the past when a customer has bought a trailer straight from an auction sale!
Brother this is a tough one, liability wise, mobile home frame, it’s definitely a hazard on the road, but like Mad Max said he fixes them because he and his family are on the road as well. I appreciate you guys.
I have learned more about welding in the last year from you than anywhere else watching you gouge out the tongue on this trailer and weld a new tongue plate in was really educational great video
You did a fine job. However the original hitch and its replacement look inappropriate for the capacity of that trailer. They should’ve been a heavier hitch.
Award for puzzle solving, award for having patience excellence, and gouging and welding above and beyond. It's sketchy but you made it look way better and as strong as it can be with what there is to work with. The load on the trailer is nothing compared to what that poor trailer has seen at times!
Those DOT sign trailers are dropped off at the construction site by the sign manufacturer. Then the contractors move them around from location to location as they install the signs. The contractors abuse them, move them about with any piece of equipment they have available, pull them through the mud, turn them over, totally wreck them. Most of them could never pass a DOT inspection, they get a pass. The lights are typically jacked up, no brakes, no nothing. You did good, they are lucky to find you to fix this. They dont care and obviously dont take care of their trailers. This one should have been out of service years ago and cut up for scrap.
That explains a whole lot about how this mess came about. The sign company doesn't want to send a good trailer out with the signs because it will get wrecked, and then when something like this happens and the contractor has to fix it, they have no reason to pay for anything more than "put it back like it was" because it's not their trailer.
Isaac! Now I'm beginning to get impressed twice per episode..... first the amazing skill in gouging, Welding, and fabricating...... but now also with your editing! I really liked the shots looking down the welding rod! Thanks for bringing us along..... that was quite the "special" hitch setup
Another wonderful video Isaac. With the liability involved in fixing that trailer that looks barely road worthy and is clearly overloaded most of its life I'm amazed you took on the job at all. You,sir, clearly know your craft and understand your capability. An inspiration to anyone with a solid work ethic. I would venture a guess that with all that hammer swinging you wished your son was with you on that job😁
I was having my doubts, and watched until the completion. Agree with you that the result was a solid hitch point, and I would be comfortable hauling with that. I mean to say as comfortable as possible, I’m never comfortable or remotely relaxed hauling anything except a garden trailer in my yard.
The difference in your work and mine, I would have ground the pin on the new hitch only to THEN figure out it was a different size allowing me the opportunity to spend a whole day driving all around town looking for a replacement so I spend spend the second day installing it! Great video, almost always learn something for your work.
I know it was a crappy job, but I would rather you do it right than someone else tacking it on. If it did come apart, people could get hurt. I am glad you did it.
You did an outstanding job with what you had to work with! Now, if it were one of my jobs, someone would inevitably exclaim, “How did it possibly take you so long to do that?!!” All you had to do was…..”! And try to guilt me into doing it for half price.
I enjoy watching you work and you were a lot more patient with this one that I would have been. I would have wanted to refabricate the whole thing and in doing so I probably would have pissed the customer off and he would have gone elsewhere. Guess it's a good thing that I'm a farmer and don't weld professionally, just for myself. I've seen a lot of ways of mounting a hitch to the front of a trailer, but this one takes the cake for being the most amount of work as well as a shitty way of doing it at the same time.
That is the most bizarre hitch I have ever seen. Here in the UK it would be illegal and even the new hitch too. The size and weight of that trailer would need to have an all forged steel, braked delta coupling here because the trailer would likely be over 750kgs (3/4ton) which is the limit for unbraked trailers here. A job well done young man. I would walk away from that job if it was on this side of the pond unless it was just an old farm trailer.
In the US, trailers over 3000lbs, but under 30,000lbs, are usually serviced by electric brakes. They are powered by a standardized 7 pin connector to the tow vehicle, with an electric brake controller fitted to the vehicle. We have surge hydraulic brakes but they are less common due to cost and complexity. Anything over 30k is going to be air brakes, and the 30k mark itself will vary depending on application of the trailer. This trailer has clearly been converted from a pintle/lunette style hitch, which is used on medium and heavy duty trucks (commercial-class use primarily.) The weld work is high quality, but this hitch conversion was scabbed together by someone else, was not engineered and isnt safe. It's kind of mind boggling, because flat mount, certified, forged ball hitch couplers rated to 25klbs are like, 140usd.
Looks like someone took an old mobile home frame and made a kind of trailer? Mobile home frames are trash metal to work with. You have done an amazing job with it.
Awesome work again Issac. I just don't understand how that would pass inspection. I live in California and we were not allowed to modify a hitch to such a degree. mindblowing!
Looks like a 15 ton tag trailer that would have originally had a lunette ring for a pintle hitch. From what I've seen usually the style coupler that's on there now is only rated for a max of 15k or so. But looking at how they're using the trailer now I really doubt it's loaded to the max. Maybe hauling glass, windows, doors or something? Should be fine.
I watch your channel to reinforce the fact that I at least come up to 85% or better of the work a professional like you would do on a job. I really dislike these kinds of jobs and have done too many of them but you gotta pay bills !!!! Looks like an old trailer house frame that the tongue has been severely overloaded on. Obviously should have a pintle hitch on it. Great job but on things like this in your business I would use some 6010 and write BUBBA'S WELDING on that frame lol. Encourages me that we do things similarly. Thanks for the tip about needle scaling instead of grinding 👍
You pulled it off. I have walked into plenty of surprises like this one. I would have plated the front and bolted a plate coupler on. (Maybe) You did an awesome job man.
I would never put my name on something like that. Sometimes the customer needs the professional to make them understand whats wrong. Issac you are awsome and immensely talented. I just gotta say this one had me shaking my head. Thanks for all you share with us!
Pretty much. Though of course it’s easier said than done. At a minimum I’d be documenting in a note to the customer that this is not fit for purpose and what should be installed instead. Anything you reasonably can do to limit your liability.
@@ZaphodHarkonnen The problem is that really doesn't remove liability. The problem is everyone here sees that the hitch broke due to over loading, and it will happen again. And if someone gets hurt it will be Issac"s fault. He lost his honor in this when he made a repair that shows little care for public safety.
Isaac isn't a certified engineer, he's a welder and did the job that the customer asked for. And his welds are not what will fail and cause a potential accident. The customer owns any possible liability. If your employer handed you drawings and told you to build that item as per spec and you do, then later on that item fails because of an engineering mistake or lack of engineering that you had no responsibility for, and leads to injury or death, would you be held liable? No because you aren't an engineer and therefore not responsible to review the engineering for correctness. If I have an engine built to my specs and it has extremely high emissions output and I put it in a vehicle and go for an emissions test and it fails then does the engine builder hold the responsibility or do I? If a fast food worker cooks a burger for you and there is something wrong with the meat that the employee has no control over and it harms you, is that burger flipper responsible?
Issac, you are a true artisan with that carbon arc!! Just enough and not too much. Perfection!! Only some of the folks watching this will grasp the intricate application of that method, and the wild expertise it takes to be as good as you are. Great Job!! No Bullet Holes.....HAHAHA!
We use a oxy torch to heat a line on the outside of say your bracket, then let it cool. This will cause your metal to shrink slightly & open up your inside spacing ever so slightly. Works on everything from 1/4 in on up to huge plate steel bucket brackets. Same principle as bodywork but I heat a small width in a line. The last person I seen doing it on a TH-cam video was snowball machining or something like that where he is fixing a head for a type of tellahandeler. We heat the cast up to around 350--500. Eastwood has a nice simple little water cooled torch & cooler setup you mint really like. After welding I like to post heat & use an air hammer to relieve stresses, sometimes even a needle scaler, then cover for a long slow cooldown. Im supprised so many guys toss out broken cast items vs repair. The dril, tap & pinning method with overlapping jigs is way strong. When porting heads or doing a block repair, as a precaution I seal the cast-iron with a ceramic sealer loc-tite ect. Goodsons sells a ton of cool tools & chemicals like a crack testing kit to their Fastcut 3D valve cutting equipment. Enjoy your common sence approach & outlook on builds! Would love to pick your brain on long travel air suspensions like Farfromstock sells. 😅
Thank you for the pointer. I have done something similar in the past. Heated and cooled a section of sq tube to create a gentle curve. thanks for the reminder.
In the military we called that FIELD EXPEDIENT ..... anything to get it back in service ...some real backyard engineering , Nice job on the fix Issac Ide say alot better than it was.
It never works out when u borrow anything makes u responsible for the damage and the repair ( awesome job and turned out , peice of art , truly master craft.
You need to cross the street and treat yourself to a Dairy Queen Blizzard after repairing that train wreck of a hitch !!! Great videos !!! Keep up the good work. I have learned a lot from your techniques !!!
Looks like a horrible way to convert a pintle trailer to a ball hitch but great job on working with what they gave you. They make a ball hitch that will bolt onto the face plate of a pintle trailer. Call them flat mount ball hitches. I actually have that same hitch on a 12k equipment trailer. I like that style hitch, but actually considering cutting it off to put on a face plate that would accept pintle ring, or ball hitch.
My guess, it had a flat plate with an adjustable bolt on pintle hitch and someone wanted to convert it to a ball and just cobbled it up. You did a fine job fixing it.
Man, you'rr brave! I would hate the liability in even touching that mess! At least with your ability, your work can be trusted. Cant say much about the rest of they cluster of a trailer!.
I am so happy to see professionals like you willing to do what the customer asks for and get the job done. I couldn't agree more that this is skecthy and scary, but like you said if you don't weld it someone else would and likely not as good as you did. So many people would have walked away, or charged the customer for a "stop charge" and walked away. Nice work as always I really enjoy your videos and watching you work!! You are a talented welder!!!!
Great job with what you had to work with as you have shown time and again. Also KUDOS to the ones that borrowed the trailer and when it broke, fixed it to return in the same or I think in this case better condition then what they received it. Those are the kind of people I like dealing with.
Morning Isaac, I work with Scissorlifts and Cherry pickers I'm glad I'm not the only one who gets told one thing, then turn up on site to see some trashed up machine that's 20 years old, been sitting for years and then they decide to use it and expect you to connect a new battery and it will run like brand new. Regards Richard 🇬🇧
Several years ago I did a trailer hitch for the USN Navy Heavy Dive team, The same unit that Carl Brashers the black diver from the movie "Men of Honor" one Sunday night. One of the sailors told me that a "good welder could weld anything from the crack of dawn to a broken heart". Complements of the USN.
I find myself fixing a fleet of trailers from time to time. Each time I reweld a hitch..I inspect the entire trailer end to end and find more problems, cracks end to end...that trailer looks like it needs a ring for a pintle hitch.
There's a saying we have in the UK... You can't polish a turd LOL. That bodged owner added hitch looks too small for that trailer weight so they added that solid bar to reinforce the neck after hacking it onto the existing frame with a V cut to make space for that lever arm. That needle scaler is an unsung hero tool :o) very useful for weld stress relief as well as cleanup. Your removal of that pin was a master class in how to remove broken studs\pins. I've learned a lot watching your videos. Taught myself TIG 10 years ago as a hobby and have made my own garage metal benches, shelf racking, brackets etc most of which will outlive me compared to my ex-job designing IT systems which end up obsolete within 10 years at the most.
@@ICWeld I now live up north on Teesside (North East England) where they used to make raw steel that built the world. Lots of steel artwork sculptures on walking trails and such. The area is now becoming home to green industries such as wind turbine manufacturing and just recently announced plans for small nuclear reactors (SMRs).
Horrible but better than before. I hate to have to things wrong again rather than just do it right, really like your attitude on that. I'm confident that your welds will not be the weak point, when it inevitably fails again.
I don't think there is anyway I would have trusted that hitch before you repaired it. I wouldn't have pulled that trailer. I really like your information on the welding and steps in your videos
In a workshop where welders wield their might,
Came a call to Isaac, a welding delight.
A rented trailer in a dire connection,
The coupling broke, a welder's reflection.
Isaac arrived with his helmet agleam,
To fix the coupling, a metallurgic dream.
He grinned, "Fear not, my dear friend,
We'll weld this tale to a proper end!"
Sparks flew like fireworks, a welding display,
Isaac worked wonders in his own unique way.
To the renter, he said with a laugh,
"No more worries, just a smooth towing path.
Your trailer's ready, now good as new,
Thanks to Isaac, the welding virtuoso, too!"
With a nod and a spark, he saved the day,
The trailer now fixed, ready to roll and sway!
The Way of the Welder!
lol its all in a days work though for him
I’d be afraid to touch that thing the liability of that repair would scare me away. You’re a braver man than me.
Thank you Sir for this video.
Hey let's keep welding crap on it to make stronger. Those type of latches are really good for their rated towing, The way that ones on their tells me they are a wee bit over what it's rated for. That trailer looks like it had a ring hitch on it.
yep , needs a ring hitch with a much higher wt rating
Ok I'm not the only one that thought it should have a lunette ring on it. They sell multipurpose hitches that can tow either a 2 5/16 ball or a pintle setup. Customer should go that way. Plus I've seen this style of hitch bust open when backed at a tight angle, would not have one on any of my trailers
That trailer definitely came with a pintle ring installed on it. I am willing to bet it had a piece of 1/2" x 6" wide plate with multiple holes welded vertically on the end of the tongue. I worked on a very similar trailer and the V at the end of the tongue was so you could access the nuts that attach the pintle ring.
Definitely with you guys on the Pintle and ring fitting. The part supplied to Isaac doesn't seem to be rated enough for that trailer, given the size of the drawbar members. They appear to be sized for a large commercial trailer towed by a dump truck and carrying a medium excavator and a bobcat. They definitely require pintle and ring sets and decent quality thick chains. Plus breakaway brake system.
But that's only from what I see on the roads around Melbourne and what would I know? 😅
Mark from Melbourne Australia 🇦🇺
Agree with everyone too. The trailer looks like it’s made to haul a D8 but it’s modified in some way to haul windows or something like that. My experience with that type of hitch wasn’t good. Had a lots smaller trailer I hauled small load of hay and straw bales and busted it out the side backing it up to the barn. But there are lots pulling huge loads with half ton pickups and janky trailers all over this country and get away with it. I wouldn’t get out the driveway and DOT would be waiting on me to hit the road.
My first impression was to walk off and leave the liability to someone else. But, as always, you pulled off in style. Still, a new hitch on that trailer was like putting lipstick on a pig.
that comment made my day - welcome to monday !
I kept thinking just leave that mess and go across the street to Whataburger😉
Good work though.
@@kevinmccarthy9780, no Whataburgers here , I miss Whataburger.
You did a great job cleaning up a mess I’ve been welding for 45 years I’m never surprised anymore at some of the things people cobble together and take it up and down the highway if we only knew the dangers that were on the road we would never leave home I’m glad you were able to clean it up
Totally agree. Ive seen some interesting things myself.
Never seen a cobbled up mess like that before
"No, no, that's not factory."
See, that's why Isaac is the professional! I never would have guessed that wasn't factory welding. 🤣
People always tell me I’m dumb for messing with hitches. I always tell them I’d rather do them because I know my capabilities and my family drives on the same roads at these trailers. I’d rather me do them, and it done right, than some 18year old fresh out of high school. At the end of the day, I’ll go home knowing it was done right.
Same. But I deal with mining and constructiuon equipment and every job is different. Like last week I was doing a lip on a 988 rock bucket, and monday I finish the 785 haul truck bed.
i seen homemade trailers and that was smaller being behind f150s but this is framer spec, for a city street its horrible for a trailer that size, this bologna was together not robot quality
The hitch looks small compared to the mighty trailer. In the UK we have 50mm ball type but not quite like this one.
I was asked to help put a drop hitch together. I declined but later found out he had a friend do the work with his cheap Amazon welder.
@@rbhe357 that’s exactly why I accept doing the work! I’d hate for my family to be on the road with work like that!
Looks like it was a pintle hitch trailer that they cut the front off of and put that cobbled up mess on instead
@landonsmith1621..yeah I think you are correct...looks like a mess for sure...b
I agree landon and the chopping around of the trailer hitch makes me suspicious.
I have had a trailer try to throw me off the road when I miss loaded it and I have also had another trailer without brakes and to heavy a load try and push me into an occupied roundabout! Moral of the story, you don't take risks with trailers, their brakes or how they are loaded! You are dealing with the Laws of Physics and they are not negotiable!
Mark from Melbourne Australia 🇦🇺
@markfryer9880 I would bet that trailer has no working brakes.i wouldn't touch that unless I was putting the proper hitch on it. A death trap waiting for a victim.
@marklowe330 but they do have a break away switch installed. Of course the pull cord is evidently not attached to the tow vehicle properly. The pull cords NOT supposed to be attached to the safety chains
@@marklowe330 yes and now all the liability is on Mister Issac. I hope he takes our advice and puts a Pintle Lunette on it.
That' style coupler is commonly found on horse trailers and not really up to the task of a heavy construction trailer. I kept thinking that there were far better ways to repair it than to duplicate the failed hitch. It all made sense to me when you said that the trailer was borrowed and the customer just wanted you to put it back to where it started. As always, you did a fine repair job but I can't help but wonder about liability issues. Thanks for the video!
Agreed there, that trailer is obviously towing stuff it was never intended to haul.
Your work was solid, ISAAC. The tongue on that was a mess. Blows your mind why they didn’t leave the pintle set up on.
You can only do what the customer wants!👍👍
It does make you wonder what happened that they did a reverse cut back into the web of the beam to create a bird's mouth cut and then weld a rated ball hitch to all of it. Good thing that it is being used to only haul signs. Definitely a construction project site trailer.
@@wromzick9457 I would not be surprised if that bar in the front with the birds mouth is so that the owner can pick it up and move it with other equipment that does not have a hitch and it gives them an easy area to grab.
There was a guy driving down the freeway the other day with a trailer similar to that one. The hitch was ok, but the welds broke on one of the axle spring brackets and the axle came out from under the trailer. It hit four cars before coming to a stop. Come to find out, it was repaired by the owner, and it was apparent he didn't know how to weld. Good thing we have people like you making sure these things are done right and safe for other drivers as well.
People are pulling a heavy trailer that's most likely over loaded and are using the wrong hitch in the first place. Happens all of the time.
Good job fixing it up 👍
Issac, this is more the type of repairs I have been sent on....
nice to see the way you approached this,,,,,
that feeling a big pit in your stomach when you see what you
have been sent to repair was always the worst part of the job....
thanks for sharing, Paul
You are like a surgeon with that arc gouger. 👏👏👏 well done
I'm glad you have film of what you started with, just in case.
Yes it’s called CYA
I’m new to welding. I learn an amazing amount of techniques with each of your videos. Thanks.
I'm pretty sure that trailer either had a donut ring that was welded to the front of it or some type of c-channel as I usually see with bolt on attachments and they decided they didn't want that and rigged up what they got at Harbor Freight instead gotta love it
Well done Isaac, you made a fine job of polishing that turd!!
Get ya some swag to sell. I’d buy an IC Weld t-shirt to support. Thanks for sharing what you do. I finally went and got off my lazy and bought an oxy torch setup because of your videos. You inspire. Thanks!
You certainly turned chicken $hit into Chicken salad on this one!
In my youth I worked at a brake and muffler shop, the owner also built custom trailers for various government agencies, and we often were called on to fix bad trailers either from said agencies or the public. The goober welded snot rocket fixed that we saw were scary, it was really terrifying to think that these time bombs flying down the highway right beside you at 60mph 😱
Every time a disaster like that came into the shop the boss would bend over backwards to make it right even if he lost money on the job. He just could not live with himself to let a ticking time bomb like that back on the road.
I'm glad you got it fixed up, but yeah, that was a mess.
Cheers from Tokyo!
"Sketchy". That is one way to describe it. Weird looking and oddball. A very tidy repair that Isaac. Looks like the sort of farm trailer repair I have been asked to repair in the past when a customer has bought a trailer straight from an auction sale!
And to believe that someone somewhere was proud of that 😖
I'd at least trust it now. Solid work Isaac!!
You definitely made that repair the best it could be with the available resources. Good job!
Brother this is a tough one, liability wise, mobile home frame, it’s definitely a hazard on the road, but like Mad Max said he fixes them because he and his family are on the road as well. I appreciate you guys.
I saw whataburger in the background across the street…… time for a reward for a job well done!
I have learned more about welding in the last year from you than anywhere else watching you gouge out the tongue on this trailer and weld a new tongue plate in was really educational great video
What a conglomeration, you did the best you could Issac. Well done.
You did a fine job. However the original hitch and its replacement look inappropriate for the capacity of that trailer. They should’ve been a heavier hitch.
Nice repair, you did what the customer wanted. Solid repair
Award for puzzle solving, award for having patience excellence, and gouging and welding above and beyond. It's sketchy but you made it look way better and as strong as it can be with what there is to work with. The load on the trailer is nothing compared to what that poor trailer has seen at times!
😂😂😂 facts
First time I've ever seen a silk purse made from a pigs ear! Congrats.
Those DOT sign trailers are dropped off at the construction site by the sign manufacturer. Then the contractors move them around from location to location as they install the signs. The contractors abuse them, move them about with any piece of equipment they have available, pull them through the mud, turn them over, totally wreck them. Most of them could never pass a DOT inspection, they get a pass. The lights are typically jacked up, no brakes, no nothing. You did good, they are lucky to find you to fix this. They dont care and obviously dont take care of their trailers. This one should have been out of service years ago and cut up for scrap.
That explains a whole lot about how this mess came about. The sign company doesn't want to send a good trailer out with the signs because it will get wrecked, and then when something like this happens and the contractor has to fix it, they have no reason to pay for anything more than "put it back like it was" because it's not their trailer.
That was a mess.....but awesome repair! Thanks for taking us along for for some arc gouging/stick action!
That’s normal for Issac, he gets some ugly looking things, I wouldn’t touch with a 10 foot pole.
Dr. Frankenstein is most pleased with the work you performed on his trailer. I would say A+ on the repair.
You are an incredibly skilled welder and deserve recognition from Texas, much like artists and poets.
Isaac! Now I'm beginning to get impressed twice per episode..... first the amazing skill in gouging, Welding, and fabricating...... but now also with your editing! I really liked the shots looking down the welding rod! Thanks for bringing us along..... that was quite the "special" hitch setup
Another wonderful video Isaac. With the liability involved in fixing that trailer that looks barely road worthy and is clearly overloaded most of its life I'm amazed you took on the job at all. You,sir, clearly know your craft and understand your capability. An inspiration to anyone with a solid work ethic. I would venture a guess that with all that hammer swinging you wished your son was with you on that job😁
Your work was amazing about the whole job. The removal of the old hitch was a good teaching tool for those of us who haven’t done that kind of work.
I was having my doubts, and watched until the completion.
Agree with you that the result was a solid hitch point, and I would be comfortable hauling with that. I mean to say as comfortable as possible, I’m never comfortable or remotely relaxed hauling anything except a garden trailer in my yard.
Im so glad you decided to do the whole replacement. that rig is scetchy enough as it was it need that bad.
wow.....that was a very interesting set up. i guess they figured more is better. really enjoy your videos isaac.
The difference in your work and mine, I would have ground the pin on the new hitch only to THEN figure out it was a different size allowing me the opportunity to spend a whole day driving all around town looking for a replacement so I spend spend the second day installing it! Great video, almost always learn something for your work.
I know it was a crappy job, but I would rather you do it right than someone else tacking it on. If it did come apart, people could get hurt. I am glad you did it.
That was a pretty terrifying hitch setup.
That's right Moe!
I’m not sure that safety chain will safety.
You did an outstanding job with what you had to work with! Now, if it were one of my jobs, someone would inevitably exclaim, “How did it possibly take you so long to do that?!!” All you had to do was…..”! And try to guilt me into doing it for half price.
You worked your magic again. Great Job!
I enjoy watching you work and you were a lot more patient with this one that I would have been. I would have wanted to refabricate the whole thing and in doing so I probably would have pissed the customer off and he would have gone elsewhere. Guess it's a good thing that I'm a farmer and don't weld professionally, just for myself. I've seen a lot of ways of mounting a hitch to the front of a trailer, but this one takes the cake for being the most amount of work as well as a shitty way of doing it at the same time.
Regardless of the situation, that trailer should not be on a public hi-way. Scary!
That is the most bizarre hitch I have ever seen. Here in the UK it would be illegal and even the new hitch too. The size and weight of that trailer would need to have an all forged steel, braked delta coupling here because the trailer would likely be over 750kgs (3/4ton) which is the limit for unbraked trailers here. A job well done young man. I would walk away from that job if it was on this side of the pond unless it was just an old farm trailer.
In the US, trailers over 3000lbs, but under 30,000lbs, are usually serviced by electric brakes. They are powered by a standardized 7 pin connector to the tow vehicle, with an electric brake controller fitted to the vehicle. We have surge hydraulic brakes but they are less common due to cost and complexity. Anything over 30k is going to be air brakes, and the 30k mark itself will vary depending on application of the trailer.
This trailer has clearly been converted from a pintle/lunette style hitch, which is used on medium and heavy duty trucks (commercial-class use primarily.) The weld work is high quality, but this hitch conversion was scabbed together by someone else, was not engineered and isnt safe. It's kind of mind boggling, because flat mount, certified, forged ball hitch couplers rated to 25klbs are like, 140usd.
That piece that you welded looks better than the rest of the trailer.
You did a great job!
I really like your approach on these jobs no two are the same experence an knowledge pays off keep on trucking
Looks like someone took an old mobile home frame and made a kind of trailer? Mobile home frames are trash metal to work with. You have done an amazing job with it.
Love watching your videos. You’re the “metal magician “ !
I do my own welding repairs and build a few metal projects
Thanks for the tips !
Level the trailer, level the hitch- send it. You made something nice out of crap that was given to you..Great job once again.
Awesome work again Issac. I just don't understand how that would pass inspection. I live in California and we were not allowed to modify a hitch to such a degree. mindblowing!
Looks like a 15 ton tag trailer that would have originally had a lunette ring for a pintle hitch. From what I've seen usually the style coupler that's on there now is only rated for a max of 15k or so. But looking at how they're using the trailer now I really doubt it's loaded to the max. Maybe hauling glass, windows, doors or something? Should be fine.
I watch your channel to reinforce the fact that I at least come up to 85% or better of the work a professional like you would do on a job. I really dislike these kinds of jobs and have done too many of them but you gotta pay bills !!!!
Looks like an old trailer house frame that the tongue has been severely overloaded on. Obviously should have a pintle hitch on it.
Great job but on things like this in your business I would use some 6010 and write BUBBA'S WELDING on that frame lol.
Encourages me that we do things similarly. Thanks for the tip about needle scaling instead of grinding 👍
You pulled it off. I have walked into plenty of surprises like this one. I would have plated the front and bolted a plate coupler on. (Maybe) You did an awesome job man.
That hitch was pretty sketchy. You made it better. As big as that frame is, it seems like it should have had a pintle ring on it.
I would never put my name on something like that. Sometimes the customer needs the professional to make them understand whats wrong. Issac you are awsome and immensely talented. I just gotta say this one had me shaking my head. Thanks for all you share with us!
Pretty much. Though of course it’s easier said than done. At a minimum I’d be documenting in a note to the customer that this is not fit for purpose and what should be installed instead. Anything you reasonably can do to limit your liability.
I agree, this is the first time I am a little disappointed in a repair he has done.
Yeah it's not the repair in itself, he's a craftsman. Issue is the liability in agreeing to do the repair.
@@ZaphodHarkonnen The problem is that really doesn't remove liability. The problem is everyone here sees that the hitch broke due to over loading, and it will happen again. And if someone gets hurt it will be Issac"s fault. He lost his honor in this when he made a repair that shows little care for public safety.
Isaac isn't a certified engineer, he's a welder and did the job that the customer asked for. And his welds are not what will fail and cause a potential accident. The customer owns any possible liability.
If your employer handed you drawings and told you to build that item as per spec and you do, then later on that item fails because of an engineering mistake or lack of engineering that you had no responsibility for, and leads to injury or death, would you be held liable? No because you aren't an engineer and therefore not responsible to review the engineering for correctness.
If I have an engine built to my specs and it has extremely high emissions output and I put it in a vehicle and go for an emissions test and it fails then does the engine builder hold the responsibility or do I?
If a fast food worker cooks a burger for you and there is something wrong with the meat that the employee has no control over and it harms you, is that burger flipper responsible?
I've never seen one like that. You made it look a hell of a lot better. Looks good and functional. That's all you can ask for. 👍👍
Issac, you are a true artisan with that carbon arc!! Just enough and not too much. Perfection!! Only some of the folks watching this will grasp the intricate application of that method, and the wild expertise it takes to be as good as you are. Great Job!! No Bullet Holes.....HAHAHA!
We use a oxy torch to heat a line on the outside of say your bracket, then let it cool. This will cause your metal to shrink slightly & open up your inside spacing ever so slightly. Works on everything from 1/4 in on up to huge plate steel bucket brackets. Same principle as bodywork but I heat a small width in a line. The last person I seen doing it on a TH-cam video was snowball machining or something like that where he is fixing a head for a type of tellahandeler. We heat the cast up to around 350--500. Eastwood has a nice simple little water cooled torch & cooler setup you mint really like. After welding I like to post heat & use an air hammer to relieve stresses, sometimes even a needle scaler, then cover for a long slow cooldown. Im supprised so many guys toss out broken cast items vs repair. The dril, tap & pinning method with overlapping jigs is way strong. When porting heads or doing a block repair, as a precaution I seal the cast-iron with a ceramic sealer loc-tite ect. Goodsons sells a ton of cool tools & chemicals like a crack testing kit to their Fastcut 3D valve cutting equipment. Enjoy your common sence approach & outlook on builds! Would love to pick your brain on long travel air suspensions like Farfromstock sells. 😅
Thank you for the pointer. I have done something similar in the past. Heated and cooled a section of sq tube to create a gentle curve. thanks for the reminder.
Solid repair, Isaac! A little unconventional setup, but you put it back together well, so it will serve them well for years to come.
That is truly an oddball. I’m sure this configuration exists nowhere else in the universe. I could be wrong.
In the military we called that FIELD EXPEDIENT ..... anything to get it back in service ...some real backyard engineering , Nice job on the fix Issac Ide say alot better than it was.
Yup............"hasty field expedient".
Your welds are works of art, always great to see you lay down one!
A mess but not a mess anymore after Isaac's done with it!
It never works out when u borrow anything makes u responsible for the damage and the repair ( awesome job and turned out , peice of art , truly master craft.
Great work in getting it back on the road. Very grateful for people like you who can get people out of a jam.
You need to cross the street and treat yourself to a Dairy Queen Blizzard after repairing that train wreck of a hitch !!!
Great videos !!! Keep up the good work. I have learned a lot from your techniques !!!
I think it came out exceptional. Nice work.
Looks like a horrible way to convert a pintle trailer to a ball hitch but great job on working with what they gave you. They make a ball hitch that will bolt onto the face plate of a pintle trailer. Call them flat mount ball hitches. I actually have that same hitch on a 12k equipment trailer. I like that style hitch, but actually considering cutting it off to put on a face plate that would accept pintle ring, or ball hitch.
My guess, it had a flat plate with an adjustable bolt on pintle hitch and someone wanted to convert it to a ball and just cobbled it up. You did a fine job fixing it.
Always enjoy watching you work Isaac. What a boogered up cluster that thing is. You did the best you could with what you had to work with.
The welding prince likely gets more calls than the king! A mighty fine result.
Man, you'rr brave! I would hate the liability in even touching that mess! At least with your ability, your work can be trusted. Cant say much about the rest of they cluster of a trailer!.
I am so happy to see professionals like you willing to do what the customer asks for and get the job done. I couldn't agree more that this is skecthy and scary, but like you said if you don't weld it someone else would and likely not as good as you did. So many people would have walked away, or charged the customer for a "stop charge" and walked away. Nice work as always I really enjoy your videos and watching you work!! You are a talented welder!!!!
Great job with what you had to work with as you have shown time and again.
Also KUDOS to the ones that borrowed the trailer and when it broke, fixed it to return in the same or I think in this case better condition then what they received it. Those are the kind of people I like dealing with.
"Kind of a mess". is a perfect description. Say no more.
You"re a brave man for taking that one on. But I'm glad you did and made the video. Nice fix!
Morning Isaac, I work with Scissorlifts and Cherry pickers
I'm glad I'm not the only one who gets told one thing, then turn up on site to see some trashed up machine that's 20 years old, been sitting for years and then they decide to use it and expect you to connect a new battery and it will run like brand new.
Regards Richard 🇬🇧
Several years ago I did a trailer hitch for the USN Navy Heavy Dive team, The same unit that Carl Brashers the black diver from the movie "Men of Honor" one Sunday night. One of the sailors told me that a "good welder could weld anything from the crack of dawn to a broken heart". Complements of the USN.
Bro you do such a good job and you take pride in your work it’s amazing to watch!
Looks 100X better than it used too and is probably a lot safer now.
Best to watch what ur doing sir Isaac learnin a lot from out here in the Philippines countryside Thanks for sharing
Better to phone DOT and get it removed from the road. The shit people think is road worthy.
Great video as always Sir.
Not surprised at all at how well this turned out.
I find myself fixing a fleet of trailers from time to time. Each time I reweld a hitch..I inspect the entire trailer end to end and find more problems, cracks end to end...that trailer looks like it needs a ring for a pintle hitch.
Nice job for a sketchy job, nice for the owner to have it done by a qualified guy tp get the reliability confidence back. Enjoyed, cheers Isaac!
I’m not a welder, so I learn new things every video. Thanks!
looks like a heavy trailer for hauling road signs. your job looks great !
Another fine job Isaac you rebuild it and done away with an accident going to happen really enjoy your videos
There's a saying we have in the UK... You can't polish a turd LOL. That bodged owner added hitch looks too small for that trailer weight so they added that solid bar to reinforce the neck after hacking it onto the existing frame with a V cut to make space for that lever arm. That needle scaler is an unsung hero tool :o) very useful for weld stress relief as well as cleanup. Your removal of that pin was a master class in how to remove broken studs\pins. I've learned a lot watching your videos. Taught myself TIG 10 years ago as a hobby and have made my own garage metal benches, shelf racking, brackets etc most of which will outlive me compared to my ex-job designing IT systems which end up obsolete within 10 years at the most.
what part of the UK are you at?
@@ICWeld I now live up north on Teesside (North East England) where they used to make raw steel that built the world. Lots of steel artwork sculptures on walking trails and such. The area is now becoming home to green industries such as wind turbine manufacturing and just recently announced plans for small nuclear reactors (SMRs).
Horrible but better than before.
I hate to have to things wrong again rather than just do it right, really like your attitude on that.
I'm confident that your welds will not be the weak point, when it inevitably fails again.
Love your channel. Definitely not in love with this particular job. At least your welds always look nice, even in that thin spot
What a mess they left you ! Thanks for sharing !
A brilliant gentleman love watching his videos thank you very much 🇬🇧🇺🇲♥️👁️👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
I don't think there is anyway I would have trusted that hitch before you repaired it. I wouldn't have pulled that trailer. I really like your information on the welding and steps in your videos