Building a 5th wheel trailer to haul my tractor.

[kg7il]

You mean you would trust me?
If so, bring it on up, I'm about 15-minutes north west of Tacoma Washington.

Nice work. And howdy Neighbor . ..

 

[zing]

I've built a couple gooseneck adapters for flatbed trailers in the past. One for me, other for a buddy. They are a lot easier than one would think.

Clever design! I don't know what the state inspections are like for trailers where you live, but did they give you any grief when you brought it in for inspection or did you take the gooseneck off and inspect it as originally built? Not questioning the quality becaused it looks like you did a brilliant job with the build, I was just wondering because regulations are not always designed for people who think outside of the box.

 

[dieselcrawler]

Shield Arc: great idea... I too will file that idea away for future use. I currently have a 20' deckover equip trailer that I use often, but have been wanting a gooseneck. This would allow me to keep my existing trailer and use it both ways. My trailer needs new decking and some paint which I have been putting off doing but with the possibility of a gooseneck adaptor it renews my enthusiasm for fixing it up.

 

[CJONE]

I have converted a couple of pintle hitch trailers to gooseneck when I was welding for the oilfields. Used at least the same beams for the gooseneck part as was used for the frame and braced it. 1 trailer was going to be moved on location with a dozer so that one got overbuilt! Nice job Shield Arc, you got me thinking about a removeable adapter for my new trailer. CJ

 

[Dr Dave]

I've built a couple gooseneck adapters for flatbed trailers in the past. One for me, other for a buddy. They are a lot easier than one would think.

Very nice work Shield Arc, I have not seen an adapter like this before.

Dave

 

[dclynch]

Just about got it warapped up. I need to paint and put the desk on and wire it, will post pictures once completed. I will let you all know what the state says as I will have it inspected.

 

[Shield Arc]

Thanks everybody for the compliments!
No DOT inspection here, yet! When I bought the trailer, and changed the name on the title, they did not want to see the trailer. Every year when I need new tags, just go the court house, and pay the $30.00. So far no one has wanted to see the trailer.

Now you're out there a country mile for doing this, if you are in an accident, and they can prove something went wrong with the build and you caused the accident. You may not believe this, but I've built way more complicated items in my past, where people's lives depend on my welds everyday. So my confidence level is pretty high. Use your best judgment, if you're not ready for a project like this, please don't do it!

 

[CJONE]

Thanks everybody for the compliments!
No DOT inspection here, yet! When I bought the trailer, and changed the name on the title, they did not want to see the trailer. Every year when I need new tags, just go the court house, and pay the $30.00. So far no one has wanted to see the trailer.

Now you're out there a country mile for doing this, if you are in an accident, and they can prove something went wrong with the build and you caused the accident. You may not believe this, but I've built way more complicated items in my past, where people's lives depend on my welds everyday. So my confidence level is pretty high. Use your best judgment, if you're not ready for a project like this, please don't do it!

I agree, somethings should be left to the pros. I've built alot of different things for lifting, spreader bars for cranes, boom sections for cranes, new mounting bases for truck cranes but the thing that spooked me the most was man baskets. We still tested them to way beyond capacity but it is still unnerving to me.

 

[dieselcrawler]

Good point on the liability aspect. Most people never think of it... it is always on my mind.

My wife's cousin is a certified welder, whom I consult on many projects, and have spoken to him about this one as well. It's nice to get a 'nice job' comment from him on my welding skills from time to time, he seems to think I do well. Under his supervision and with my tendency to over-build, we should be safe.

 

[Shield Arc]

Welding skills are one thing, joint prep is another. Few things to think about. Clean the weld zone to bare metal, make sure the metal is over 50-degrees before welding, wrap all your corners when welding. Make sure all craters are full. Never attempt something like this with an under powered welder.

 

[bubbacuse77]

I will add one more, "Nice Work". I bet that Plasma table is a huge time saver. Please tell me what you mean by wrapping corners and filling craters. I am just learning the finer points of fabrication and am always looking to learn.

Cheers
BUBBA

 

[Shield Arc]

Wrapping the corners is when you take the weld all the way around a corner. Another good habit to get into is to try and never leave the crater on a corner or edge, try to leave it in the center of the weld, grind the crater down a little, then run the next weld into the crater. What I do when finishing a weld to fill the crater is to back up about a 1/4- to 3/8 of an inch. Also close up the arc length, this will help cool the puddle as well so it will fill easier.

 

[CJONE]

And please, if you have 3/8" of base metal be sure to have at least that amount of filler [weld] meterial. I don't know how many times I have had to fix someones weld's because of poor joint prep. 1/2" plate steel with 3/8" of a inch of weld on top of it, little to no penetration and no v grind to fill. then confused why it failed. Used to build drive shafts, was on vacation so somebody built one then ground the crown off, you can imagine the rest. CJ

 

[Shield Arc]

Other good habits, grind the starts and stops of each weld. I like to grind a little ramp to them.
Here is a picture of the stop in the center of the weld. You can't always do this, but it does help if can.

 

[dieselcrawler]

'Wrap all your corners'

Please explane...

Workin on farm equipment over the years as shown the diffrence in weld quality between old rusty vs clean materials. Well worth takin the time to prep.

 

[dieselcrawler]

Nevermind... you already explaned... I missed it while posting!

 

[Shield Arc]

Here is what I mean by filling the crater / stop. Now these pictures are some playing around by me with spray transfer, so the welds are very hot! In this case I had to back up, but also turn the Mig gun back towards the weld. As you can see in the bad crater, it blew the metal right out!

 

[bubbacuse77]

Thanks for the pointers. I am starting to learn the finer points now that I have been fabricating for a couple years.