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Front hitch project

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  #11  
Old 02-17-2014, 09:00 AM
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So I thought some more about this over the weekend...

Did you put any kind of plate on the other side of the bolts? (behind the frame)

I only ask b/c once you start pulling on something a bit heavy... or if you're pulling your truck out of something, you might start to actually pull the bolt through the frame, as the frame there is meant to "crumple" to an extent, and once it gets to a certain point you might pull the bolt right through the frame.

To prevent this from happening you might want to put a 1/2" steel plate to help distribute the force you'll be putting on the frame a bit.

You're also putting stress on the bolts vertically and 5/8" grade 8's can handle 27100 lbs of proof load.... you've gotta factor in the offset distance of where the bolts are in relation to the load points, which likely won't get too close to the max point.... if it were me, I'd put a 3rd 5/8" bolt directly in the center of it though just to be safe as you never know when one of those bolts on the outsides will fail and take your bumper for a ride... hehehe
 
  #12  
Old 02-19-2014, 10:24 AM
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I already have the built plate on my truck but I never thought about welding a hitch to it, I'm gonna have to do this over the summer. Nice work!
 



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