A while ago they started experimenting with ford engine transplants with Cummins. An abortion that live was named Fummins. They found out that with a gooseneck hitch application, they better buy a flatbed or build heavy gooseneck hitches as the factory fords beds were nearly torn in half. Great hitch
Your welds are good enough that you could have welded horizontal plate to the angle. And used one tube that tied into the angle. Anyway, I don't mean to be arm chair quarter backing. Your design obviously works better than well.
Thanks! The reason that i didn't weld everything was for liability reasons. Also, I imagine that a bolted coupling might have a little more give than a welded one, which is good for a pickup truck.
man buddy that over engineered goose plate is probably 10 times more solid than my whole truck. the plate alone would have more than done the job. great job though compared to what i did its more than solid and. for sure wont break. if i recal my plate was either a 1/4 inch or 3/8 inch plate with a double lap single bolted on each side( i was still not at bed height so added another 2.5 wide plate where the ball mounted to compensate. and after 6 years nothing wrong with it.
+danielfred16 Yup, i've seen a factory-made 25,000LB GN hitch composed of a piece of 1/4" (maybe 3/8") plate and a ball welded on. After i saw that, i knew i could make my own, and many times better! I basically wanted SOLID, SUPER safe and ZERO liability for a homemade hitch that could potentially be pulling a lot of weight. even for the over-building, it only cost about $200.
I hope you centered that ball slightly ahead of the axle. If not with a full load, you may be in for a scary ride. I have a B & W hitch with an 8 foot box and it is NOT centered over the axle. It is ahead of it. Oh I also own a Kenworth and the 5th wheel is not centered over the tandem. Again slightly ahead to get the right axle loading. Been driving 18 wheels for over 30 years, so I might know something about this.
If the rear axle is directly loaded with standard springs, they will squat or depress directly down and the front axle will not load in the same manner changing the caster and will affect the steering. On an air-ride truck as the Kenworth is, there is a self leveling valve in the suspension that keeps the frame at a standard height not changing the caster with varying loads. Also on a two axle truck as the load dynamics change in stopping, turning and accelerating if the axles are unevenly loaded this changes the reactions of the chassis of the truck making it different with each load weight. Anytime one changes something on a car or truck, that person should always think of the safety of everyone sharing the road with them. Not every day we drive on clean dry pavement and if it rains or is loose gravel or night and something goes wrong, it could become a scary ride. Especially if we hurt someone else because of something we did.
that is all true, but a loaded bumper-pull trailer will squat the rear end and do nothing (if not un-compress) to the front end, but the truck and trailer handle fine. perhaps pickup trucks and semi trucks are different in this regard?
Yea. Maybe I am cutting hairs, just too many miles on the highway with flatdeck, lowboy and reefer. I still like your work. hellofa lot better that most of the people that call themselves experts. Keep sharing.
"one giant washer" - smart - i always learn something watching. hmmm, re: shock bar [9:20] shouldn't it be 90° above lower mount? - oh, continued watching i see you addressed this... "...most solid part about the entire frame..." - so, another part will fail before this does, ifff...nice looking feature addition!... ...yet, that said, i'm sure i am the only viewer not sure how it works! after bed placed...
+robert schulz That's about where it is. i used a plumb bob to determine the proper position relative to the axle. i was aiming for 2" ahead of axle, but i ended up with about 1.
9 years later... Thanks for the ideas.
B and W make a awesome hitch i installed one my my truck in about 3H by myself was well worth the 450.00 as my hitch now sits flush with my box.
Nice work. Building something similar for my truck this week and got some good ideas from your video.
thanks! glad you liked it.
I think you did a fine job , Your engineering is solid , Id pull anything with that hitch set up too and not worry . Good job
A while ago they started experimenting with ford engine transplants with Cummins. An abortion that live was named Fummins.
They found out that with a gooseneck hitch application, they better buy a flatbed or build heavy gooseneck hitches as the factory fords beds were nearly torn in half.
Great hitch
good work. but holly crap i think the rusted out frame will give up b4 the over engineered goose plate.
Ross Allen haha! that's the idea! i don't want a home built hitch as a liability so i over-did it.
you did a good job on that I like it
Thanks!
Your welds are good enough that you could have welded horizontal plate to the angle. And used one tube that tied into the angle. Anyway, I don't mean to be arm chair quarter backing. Your design obviously works better than well.
Thanks! The reason that i didn't weld everything was for liability reasons. Also, I imagine that a bolted coupling might have a little more give than a welded one, which is good for a pickup truck.
man buddy that over engineered goose plate is probably 10 times more solid than my whole truck. the plate alone would have more than done the job. great job though compared to what i did its more than solid and. for sure wont break. if i recal my plate was either a 1/4 inch or 3/8 inch plate with a double lap single bolted on each side( i was still not at bed height so added another 2.5 wide plate where the ball mounted to compensate. and after 6 years nothing wrong with it.
+danielfred16 Yup, i've seen a factory-made 25,000LB GN hitch composed of a piece of 1/4" (maybe 3/8") plate and a ball welded on. After i saw that, i knew i could make my own, and many times better! I basically wanted SOLID, SUPER safe and ZERO liability for a homemade hitch that could potentially be pulling a lot of weight. even for the over-building, it only cost about $200.
nice work, looks fine.
bruh great video
I hope you centered that ball slightly ahead of the axle.
If not with a full load, you may be in for a scary ride.
I have a B & W hitch with an 8 foot box and it is NOT centered over the axle. It is ahead of it.
Oh I also own a Kenworth and the 5th wheel is not centered over the tandem. Again slightly ahead to get the right axle loading.
Been driving 18 wheels for over 30 years, so I might know something about this.
I thought i mentioned it in the video - it is slightly ahead of axle. if it isn't, why does it make for a scary ride?
If the rear axle is directly loaded with standard springs, they will squat or depress directly down and the front axle will not load in the same manner changing the caster and will affect the steering. On an air-ride truck as the Kenworth is, there is a self leveling valve in the suspension that keeps the frame at a standard height not changing the caster with varying loads. Also on a two axle truck as the load dynamics change in stopping, turning and accelerating if the axles are unevenly loaded this changes the reactions of the chassis of the truck making it different with each load weight.
Anytime one changes something on a car or truck, that person should always think of the safety of everyone sharing the road with them. Not every day we drive on clean dry pavement and if it rains or is loose gravel or night and something goes wrong, it could become a scary ride. Especially if we hurt someone else because of something we did.
that is all true, but a loaded bumper-pull trailer will squat the rear end and do nothing (if not un-compress) to the front end, but the truck and trailer handle fine. perhaps pickup trucks and semi trucks are different in this regard?
Yea. Maybe I am cutting hairs, just too many miles on the highway with flatdeck, lowboy and reefer.
I still like your work.
hellofa lot better that most of the people that call themselves experts.
Keep sharing.
Thanks!
"one giant washer" - smart - i always learn something watching. hmmm, re: shock bar [9:20] shouldn't it be 90° above lower mount? - oh, continued watching i see you addressed this...
"...most solid part about the entire frame..." - so, another part will fail before this does, ifff...nice looking feature addition!...
...yet, that said, i'm sure i am the only viewer not sure how it works! after bed placed...
just realized plate corners could have been radiused to allow longer length for sliding/swinging into c-channel
overkill is entirely under ratded
Later they tried to round ford fenders like dodge and the afterbirth was called Fugly.
is that plate welded flat to the arch stock or after-market?
rust repair
the hitch will make one hell of a crossmember, you could have left out the factory one
the crossmember i added back in was also the shock mount. it was a lot easier than making new mounts.
The Fabricator Has No Clue of what the Purpose of Using SAE FLAT Washers on Grade 8 Fasteners.
Could this be done for a 04 f-150 ?
Don't see why not. Also don't see why you'd want a gooseneck hitch on an F150!
No bed?
No, just cut an access hole through the bed for the hitch ball.
How much did this cost you?
about $200.
so your not going toput your boxon the truck
+donald laisure (73SuperGlide62) nope, the factory box fits fine. i just cut out an access hole in the bed.
You only weigh 140 I'm in seventh grade and me and my buddies work out we I weigh 230 and my buddy weighs 257
believe it or not, people have different body types! "you even lift, bro?" nope...
You want to see over kill, wait for my build lol. Nice work and waiting to pick up my used Cab - Chassis 3500hd. Stealing ideas from every channel.
great! I'm glad you like my build. thanks for watching and stealing!
You mounted the ball too far to the rear. The proper location is 1 inch forward of the center of the axle.
+robert schulz That's about where it is. i used a plumb bob to determine the proper position relative to the axle. i was aiming for 2" ahead of axle, but i ended up with about 1.
It looked farther back on the video
frame looks horrible
Maybe smack your lips together more next time. Bad habits that drive anyone crazy