5x8 Chassis Tutorial/Guide/Howto?

[bg]

Julie had a few problems on the way home...she may not feel much like posting about them right now...................

Ruh-roh

[madjack]

Julie had a few problems on the way home...she may not feel much like posting about them right now...................

Ruh-roh

...check your PM's..........................................................

[bg]

I'll expand on the problems once my head clears. I just feel like a bit of an idiot right now.

[oklahomajewel]

HEY No worries, this is supposed to be fun, right?

Got home okay, just minor things. I've "talked" to bg about it, and it's no big deal. Just good to know for the next time!

The build goes on, the sun is starting to come out today and I will try to get the deck and floor started. I'm having a little problem getting my second workshop door open all the way but that will be something to work on today too ! haha ....

Pictures, yeah ... they're coming... check later.

Julie

[bg]

As Ira would say "Shift Happens" And in this case it was literal.

I don't have any pictures from Julie, but by her description and the pictures I have... It all makes sense.



From what I can tell, the welds in the two circled areas failed. Both were a case of insufficent weld and weld heat (joints were 1/8" to 1/4").

So uh, Maybe an extra 15 minutes and she would had a much more peaceful drive home. My fault entirely.

I'm working on the howto as I can, I should have plenty of time when I'm in Baltimore in 2 weeks.

[mikeschn]

BG,
Can I suggest some design improvements?

For example, change the tongue to a 50* tongue, incase the person wants his/her tongue jack centered...

Also consider using a longer piece of tubing if you are running a straight piece down the middle. Weld it to one of the cross members near the axle.

I'm sure there are more suggestions... there is a lot of knowledge on the forum. Anyone else have any design improvement suggestions?

Mike...

[bg]

Big disadvantage to an A-frame coupler is in my experience the jack will drag when pulled by a small car.

[asianflava]

Big disadvantage to an A-frame coupler is in my experience the jack will drag when pulled by a small car.

Even a swing away jack?

[angib]

From what I can tell, the welds in the two circled areas failed.

Were these joints welded both sides (ie, front and back)? Access from the back would be a little tight under the flange of the angle.

Andrew

[bg]

Big disadvantage to an A-frame coupler is in my experience the jack will drag when pulled by a small car.

Even a swing away jack?

Swing aways are fine, this is what I'm talking about.

Were these joints welded both sides (ie, front and back)? Access from the back would be a little tight under the flange of the angle.

Andrew

Should have been that or welded ALOT hotter on the front, on the back the two vertical flanges of the angle used to support the tongue should have been welded along the vertical. Somehow I missed that. I basically gave it to Julie with no real strength on the tongue, But it held fine to my 200+ lb weight. The trailer I posted with the A-frame coupler has had 1000+lbs on the tongue and held fine, other than the jack sinking into the mud.

[asianflava]

Gotcha on the jack.

When I took a welding class (a long time ago) we would have to chuck our project into a vice and bend them to failure with a big pair of channel locks. We would also have to take a hack saw to them to check for penetration. There was no way you could get one past the instructor. It was pass/fail if the metal broke before the weld, you could move on to the next project. If your weld broke, try it again.

This was just gas welding, after a few gas projects welding steel brazing brass we moved on to TIG on aluminum. 2 TIG machines for the whole class meant that you didn't get much torch time though.

[bg]

I'm going to run a few coupons in the morning and see if maybe I had a bad batch of rod or something.

I think it's that I was rushing because I was tired, then my phone rang and I got out of the 'groove' -- literally

[doug hodder]

BG...what prompted the design change from photo posted on 2/22, clamped up and ready to weld to 3/7 frame done... angle flanges are completely different? Doug

[bg]

My vertical/horizontal bandsaw decided to throw a fit and wouldn't operate correctly vertically to let me notch the angles. I could have done it with the angle grinders, but at the same time notching requires ALOT of skill and patience, kinda put it out of the league of what I wanted my guide to cover.

The butt joint should be plenty adequate. I've built a smaller lawn mower trailer like that and it's been fine, and It's probably seen heavier loads than Julie's trailer ever will.

Doing the joints like this was my original intent, but with the saw on the fritz, and having already spent too much, I made do with what I had.

[madjack]

BG...a couple of thoughts...did ya consider putting some sort of gusset where the tongue meets the frame...a single point attachment in that area doesn't seem best to me dur to torsional forces...also, the butt joint in the corners is OK I guess, but a little work with a sawzall/jig saw or some sort of cutting tool for a notch out would have allowed a larger welding surface and if done on the crossmembers it would have allowed for the frame to be flush arcoss the top of the entire frame, negating the need to install spacer for the floor to sit flush...I can't really tell in the pics but how did you attach the axle...did you box the angle that the axle tabs attach to or just sit the angle on its edge sitting atop of the axle brackets...
madjack