- Thread starter Bornfree
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Munkul
Jack of some trades, Master of none
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as above - poorer design than welding problems alone. The welding might actually have been OK to be fair, hard to judge from those photos. But it's certainly the area of highest stress, and those welds had way too much work to do.
pedrobedro
Man at Matalan
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A litre of water weighs about 1kg so 15 tonnes pushing on that little plate doesn't come as any surprise that it bent and broke the welds. Who would have expected any different outcome ?
It looks like leaving the eye in place has controlled the damage and prevented separation of tractor and trailer to save the day.
Barking Mat
Cuddler of hedgehogs.
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Gussets may be a good idea.
Yes it probably didn't need them but I thought I would add a couple of 20mm plate ones.
Some of the details are hard to see but I assume the trailer is made from a truck frame and the eye offset was added after it was found that the tow point was too high. The thick plate and the struts are old, but were added after the original conversion.
What I can't understand is, why was the extension added?
I get that the tow point had to be lowered, but why extended? Why not just reinforce the lower plate and relocate the eye? At least that way, some lateral rigidity would be retained and you wouldn't need an airfield to turn.
Knowing where the trailer wheels are relative to the tank would help as would the placement of the tow bar on the tractor.
Jack
What I can't understand is, why was the extension added?
I get that the tow point had to be lowered, but why extended? Why not just reinforce the lower plate and relocate the eye? At least that way, some lateral rigidity would be retained and you wouldn't need an airfield to turn.
Knowing where the trailer wheels are relative to the tank would help as would the placement of the tow bar on the tractor.
Jack
I guess the drawbar extension was done to pull tri-axle trailers as the king pin is a long way back. Whoever did the extension did a good job but unfortunately the original welding of those struts to the thick plate was poor, it had been mig welded with no prep so only about 6mm of weld joining 20mm struts to 25mm plate.
Those are some of the details that I don't have. With full knowledge, all would probably be clear.
Still, as you point out, if you're going to weld it, do it properly.
Jack
