Looking for some opinions or ideas here. The truck is an L9000 dump, I pull an tandem axle air tag trailer that weighs up to 50,000lb with the excavator on, including pretty substantial tongue weight; about 15,000lb. When I got the truck, it had a swiveling pintle that is rated for 30,000lb as near as I can tell. I am trying to upgrade the pintle to a fixed setup that is rated for 45 ton. The trouble I have is that the holes from the old unit obviously don't line up with the new, and there really isn't room to move the new unit to a different place. I am a bit uncomfortable having to many holes to close together, but I really don't want to take the body off and completely rebuild the tail of the truck. The plate on the truck that the hitch bolts to is 1" plate. The white dots are the location of the holes for the new hitch. The old hitch was held on with 1/2" bolts. The new hitch has 3/4" bolts. If I moved the new down a bit, the top holes would overlap the upper holes on the old, except about 1/4". The only way I have to cut an overlapping hole like that would be to cut with a torch, which isn't terribly precise. Not sure if that is acceptable with 25 ton floating around . . . ? What was in there: What I am planning to put in:
1" plate, that's heavy. IMO drill it first then plug weld the old mounting holes shut and grind flush. That way your not trying to drill a hardened area after welding. At 1" thick I seriously doubt it's going to have a failure from cracking, most are built from 5/8" material.
Would a mag drill with an annular cutter work for drilling the overlap holes?
I am not familiar with mag drills or annular cutters. A quick google search just informed me they are pretty pricey. They would probably work better. Almost anything works better than hand drilling 3/4" holes through 1" plate with a Millwaukee magnum hole shooter ...
Would an annular cutter bit work on a electric hand drill? A 3/4" spiral drill bit through heavy plate like that is pretty brutal, but I don't see a hole saw working either.
See if you can find one to borrow. It's like having a drill press that you can mount to any steel surface. Annular cutters are far superior to twist drills.
No, they have a special shank that won't work in a 3 jaw chuck
I drilled these 1-3/8" holes in 1-1/4" steel bar in about 10 seconds each.
God, I hate trucks LOL
I too have a Hougen mag drill and use it often when doing things in the shop. Far superior to hand drilling and very precise holes. Kinda like mounting Peterbilt air bag mounts where you drill through the bottom of the frame rail upward..... Most mag drills use a 3/4" "Weldon" shank to drive the annular cutter. There are adapter chucks available to operate normal twist drills but their use is limited and none I've seen are very accurate.
I hate them SOB's too.
You must belong to the Mennonite clan were they have trucks for work but use horse and buggy to get around. Sometime your in town stop at a shop were they work on cars,pickups,vans and suvs and see just how much harder they are to work on then you will find trucks are not so bad.
Same church that Vetech63 belongs to?
Precisely my gripe.
That maybe 1" plate but it isnt very wide it would need alot of bracing. Is the new hitch one that uses a pancake for cushion?
Every Sunday and Wednesday evening prayer service. Every time I drive one of my Mack trucks, I think once again: "One Azzhole Looking at Another".
There is a cross brace on the inside, about midway between the lower bolt holes and the bottom of the plate. There might be one in the upper part as well, I am not sure.
Usually is, or should be. Seen and replaced several that were either bowed in, or out from the stresses imparted without the bracing. 1" plate is common around the oil fields of southern IL but lighter up north for some reason.
My truck had a 1/2 plate witch may have worked ok on a c70 but they didnt brace it. I stayed up the night before i went to buy it building a tow bar for my pickup. When i got there the plate witch was 18" long was bent out at a almost 45 but it was steal secure on the truck . I built a new one out of 3/4. The bad thing is were i want the pintle hitch it needs to be close to the reciver hitch to be low enough for what i want.
Drill it to 1/2" then finish with a 5/8" and 3/4" Car Reamer. Keep sprayed with lots of cutting oil.
When i get things figured out i will mount a heavier pintle hitch right now i just use it for my car trailer .I dont like the tail lights real good but they work.
I know most of us here are aginst stuff like this but he could take it some were and have it done.
Yeah, probably not ^^ I am looking around maybe I can find one of those magnetic drill used, otherwise I will probably do what Truck Shop said and get car reamers and do it that way. I have a bunch of 3/8 plate laying around, I might follow TS's advice and drill, then weld up the old holes and then make a big washer of sorts to put on the backside.
I just read through the thread twice to see if I missed it, but I didn't see rental mentioned on the mag drills. I've seen these available to rent before at the usual scumbags. They truly save you so much time, it might be worth looking into.
Your correct rental outfits do have them--except the one in this town hasn't stepped out of 1920. Their Mag Drill was originally used on a Alco Locomotive built in 1920, three men and Atomic Ant to move it.
Car Reamer below--I've used Car Reamers for years. Especially working in tight areas to small for a Mag. I've done countless frame jobs only using reamers. The one below-all holes were finished in three hours with three people drilling starting with 1/4 drill then 3/8, 1/2, and 5/8" reamers. Mags are nice.
I ordered a set of those reamers today. I have never used those before, but I know exactly what a 3/4" drill bit is going to do, and the reamer looks promising. Aside from keeping them well lubed, any particular pointers for working with them?
Keep pressure on them and have the tool spinning as you start the reaming. Plenty of coolant via spray bottle or flood cooling is best to keep them sharp.
Make sure it's real tight in the chuck-normally three flat type. Second keep a steady mid range power and straight on. Do not force or push to hard, reamers remove a vast amount of material with slight steady pressure. On the large reamers I stop blow the shavings out of the flutes and reoil on thick material. Don't turn backward or reverse, it dulls reamers. If you have a helper they can keep the reamer sprayed while cutting. A sharp reamer will go through faster than you think. Keep enough pressure so the drill motor is working but not light pressure to cause chatter. After the first one you will get the hang of it.
I think i have that same outfit a milwaukee mag drill with a 3/4 chuck.
We rented one from United Rentals when we changed out the pintle on our L9000. IIRC it was less than $200 total with all the fees. Made drilling new holes much easier.
I never could round up a mag drill, tried everybody I knew and the rental outfits. I did it Truck Shop's way with reamers. It's about as great of a job as changing super singles with spoons, but it's done .... Lol. Interesting side note, the new hitch is a Beyer's 45 ton fixed, it did not come with mounting hardware. I ordered grade 8 fine thread flange bolts and nuts from McMaster Carr. The lower right flange nut does not clear the release lever. I used a standard bolt and washer and had to grind it a bit to make it fit. Not sure what Beyer's had I'm mind there .... View attachment KIMG0114.JPG View attachment KIMG0109.JPG View attachment KIMG0111.JPG
What was the problem?
Y'all can dick around with reaming a hole out in steps, let me get my cutting torch and cut to the chase, then hand me reamer of the size you need or a drill bit to finish it out.
It just isn't that hard, just have to have the knack. Been using them for years.
https://www.arosswelding.com/shop/circleburner
Nothing, it actually went very well. The reamers are a whole lot better/easier than using drill bits. It's just right up there with doing tires and grinding welds for being rather mind numbing. There is a bit of a learning curve with the reamers, but I really like them.
Yeah drilling holes is pretty boring. The reamers can grab but not near what a 1" drill will do.
I have one of those, I made it out of scraps, bought the torch at a yard sale for 20.
You can rent either a mag drill or an annular cuter for about $75/day. Pretty cheap in my book. I personally would go with the annular cutter.
I'm guessing the original was 25 ton.
Yes, that was the one, as near as I can tell. I am right at about 50k with the 315c on the trailer, but the vertical load is the real trouble: I am over twice that on the tongue.
I has this one on everything. We tow Interstate 40DLA trailers with a 314C, 314D, 314E, D4H, 943LGP, or 953C on it. Paid $210 for it last November.
I've installed two of those myself on end dump trucks through a 1" plate braced angular to the internal frame stubs. No idea what is pulled but always thought it had to be heavy to warrant such a hook.
I put this one on. It allows 16,000lb vertical load.
Those are great too but for an end dump that works off center the rotating type offer advantages. Been a couple of trailers through the shop we had to cut old tongues from to replace from being twisted.
Ok if not used constantly, don't like trailer drawbar eye banging around. Prefer a air hitch.
I hauled pulpwood with a pup trailer for many years, like about 35, and since then have used a dump truck to occasionally pull a 3 axle 25 ton equipment trailer. I would never haul unless I had the air pintle. It has a type 24 air chamber for the pressure. I have used Holland pintle's mostly, there are others too. FWD
Copies of Premier.
My last two trucks came with 50 ton hitches. Overkill, but never have to worry. First was air, I liked it. Second is swivel. I like it better for off road use. Can't hear it banging around as there really isn't a lot of slop.
Sign me up as a dummy, I thought any thing with air had to have an air pintle per DOT. Weyerhaeuser Snoqualmie in about '77 went through and changed out all pintles to air.