Moved trailer jack (so tailgate doesn't hit it)

[Sodo]

Awhile back I removed an old worn out trailer jack and replaced it with this new 8,000 lb jack. I put it in the same place as the old one was. I didn't think about it at the time ----- but quickly discovered that my tailgate would impact the jack if not very careful to set it down on a rag.

Had enough after a couple years of this silliness and decided to move the jack rearward.

Here's the tailgate resting on the jack, on a glove. I am very tired of doing this. I suppose tailgates are longer than they used to be.

Cut out the jack with a thin cutoff wheel.

Filled the wound.

Welded with 120v MIG. I used 1/8" thickness settings to avoid popping the house 15A breaker. Breaker didn't pop. That top plate is 3/16", the patches are 1/8".

All evils erased....hidden from the amateur weld inspectors! :laughing:

Re-mounted jack rearward. Welded the "root" uphill, then covered over going downhill. Added a little corner gusset.

Now tailgate clears.

Wonder of wonders. I can now simply open the tailgate to get chains out etc.

 

[BukitCase]

Looks good - dunno if it's just viewing angle, but I'm thinkin' you'll only crank the jack up/down ONCE with it hitched up and the tailgate down ...Steve

 

[Big Barn]

I'm kind of surprised you didn't put a cutout in the tailgate so you could do some more tiggin'.

Terry

 

[CDennyRun]

Looks good! Don't forget to put the tailgate back up before moving it:shocked:

Our horse trailer jack just clears my tailgate. My mother in laws horse trailer doesn't... sometimes I almost forget.

Chris

 

[CDennyRun]

I'm kind of surprised you didn't put a cutout in the tailgate so you could do some more tiggin'.

Terry

The other option is to "Bob" the bed, but leave the frame stock length. Six of that, half a dozen of the other.

Chris

 

[Mysfyt]

Nice looking welds! You get along well with your 120v mig.

 

[Shield Arc]

I know I'm the last person on earth you will ever take welding advice from.
That downhill vertical Mig welding on anything structural is going to bite you in the a $ $ one of these days!

 

[TractorGuy]

First thing I did when I got my car trailer was to remove the tongue jack and replace it with a clamp on swivel jack.

Much nicer having it stowed flat.

 

[Sodo]

I know I'm the last person on earth you will ever take welding advice from.
That downhill vertical Mig welding on anything structural is going to bite you in the a $ $ one of these days!

SA I do take advice from you and am very thankful for it. Many that I use every day and I'm a better welder for it. But luckily I have the experience to be able to pick and choose what's useful.

I tend to disagree with your advice when you post "half advice" - leaving a big hole in what newbie members could have learned from the example. They don't know enough yet to recognize that the advice is incomplete, and that they shouldn't YET commit it to memory. I understand you're not paid for complete advice, but ( I think) you should understand your newbie members will think it's "complete", and in that case, is partially "wrong".

Unfortunately I somehow feel responsibility to tractor members when I see this, and that's when we've butted keyboards (in the past). And then you duck out by posting a pic of a 2" thick weld on a bridge and everyone goes ga-ga for a moment and the original teachable moment is lost. Or some other diversion. This is precisely when the experienced welder on-board should STAY focused (IMHO). The newbies who were following the example, and wanted to understand and learn ---- get the shaft.

I'd like to see (considering this is a tractor sub-forum) that discussion remains geared toward how the tractor owner might use the welding information. But that's just me, I like to see members learn stuff. I like to see their projects, and their progression and their successes. More projects = more practice = more learning = more projects. I don't like to see members get the message that they will never get anywhere if they don't have pro experience, that's hogwash. Or that welding good enough..... is never good enough. But of course you fellas can do the forum however you want!

First thing I did when I got my car trailer was to remove the tongue jack and replace it with a clamp on swivel jack. Much nicer having it stowed flat.

I probably should have cut that truck-receiver upside-down winch mount off and rebuilt it more sensibly, and considered a swivel jack. But not sure I'd want a swivel jack on this trailer....I don't like the movement (when loading eqpt). I do like swivel jacks on OTHER trailers. Too many other jobs on the to do list - I need to pick and choose the quicker job at times.

 

[fidowanttobe]

First thing I did when I got my car trailer was to remove the tongue jack and replace it with a clamp on swivel jack.

Much nicer having it stowed flat.

Ditto. However I bought the weld on one with the round pipe. Now I can pull the pin and stow it. Plans are to buy more of the weld on pipes so I can move it to the back to use as anti-tip downriggers. Of course then I need 2 jacks for the car trailer. My brother has 2 jacks like this on his pickup box trailer so that it won't tip up when loading and it is unhooked.