So development since last I posted here. Went to a friends yard sale and asked him if he had any spare metal since he’s leaving state. Ending up getting a 1/2 plate from him. Been working after work at night for a couple hours here and there and hopefully should be all bolted back together tomorrow.
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.for...e5d637b5f.jpeg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.for...e22749ef0.jpeg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.for...0a3378031.jpeg

Looks good, pilot. Id run with it.
While the beds off, fab some deflection plates for the cab breathers so they dont leak water. I remember Y2 explaining doing something similar..

Thanks! First time doing something like this but think it turned out pretty well and looks like it will hold quite a bit of weight just comparing it to others. What kind of deflectors are those? I have yet to hear about then

I almost wonder if those vents on mine are clogged. Sometimes when I stop and shut the truck off. It almost sounds like a dull pop but I have yet to figure out what it is. I thought maybe my tool box hitting the back seat. Took it out and still made the noise every once in a while. I’m guessing the cab gets pressurized or vacuums and gets released a couple seconds after I stop or shut off the engine.

He made them. Cant see how a small piece of bend thin walled sluminum rivoted or screwed to whatever, wouldnt be suffice..

Looks like somebody went to some trouble before you to make that a hitch platform. Seems to fit a pickup truck frame a little too perfect! Are you going to weld it or use holes and bolts? I think I guessed wrong before...it is probably 9/16's hardware to bolt the hitch to the plate looking at the weight rating and the fact that there are only 4 mounting points. My Curt receiver hitch used 9/16's bolts for the 4 main fastening points on the underside of the frame and it is only rated at 20k. I would go double 1/2" bolts at each corner to mount it to the frame if using hardware. (Grade 8 obviously.)

Alaska_pilot35, there has to be a good story behind the reversed side plates (asymmetrically oriented). Was the original design intent different, until another measurement was taken, and you saved it by flipping one of the side plates around?

I made the mount completely from scratch. I meant to have both diamond plates facing the outside of the frame. But after I welded the one side on.....measurements didn’t work. So I flipped the other one around and to make the same thickness on both sides I just laid those other diamond plate pieces down to give it more height. Should have gotten it up further because it sits 1/4 below the bed. Haven’t installed the gooseneck part yet as I ran out of time tonight but mounted the bed back on the truck so I can at least have a truck this weekend for my wife’s birthday and father in laws new grill for Father’s Day. Looking forward to mounting it all up though and it being finished.

I think i bought all 5/8 hardware but it could have been 9/16s. I’ll have to check tomorrow. I put 2 bolts in towards the ends as the frame has that bend in it right there also next to the tires. My friends only has 2 in it and think his is rated to 26,000. Not sure if I’ll ever have anything over 18,000 but you never know.

I think minimum you would want either a single 9/16" or 5/8's bolt at each corner of the platform, bolted to the side of the frame rails. 5/8" is a big ass drill and bit though. Probably overkill. I used a 19/32's bit for the holes on the 9/16's hardware and it still used a 1/2" shank like a typical VSR drill will accept. Definitely use a calibrated torque wrench on all those bolts as you don't want to under or overshoot by too much the twist you put on critical connection points like that. This chart doesn't have 9/16"s on it but my receiver hitch kit suggested 150 ft/lb on those, which were grade 8, coarse thread and yellow zinc plated. That whole setup looks overkill though for anything you would realistically put behind a SRW pickup, but that is okay.

Bolt Torque Chart

I figured as much, and thought it would be good if you talked about that uh oh moment, and how you saved it, because burning a continuous bead is a lot of arc time invested to start over. And the hole was already cut in the plate. So several tips are self evident in one photo for any future reader so inclined to make their own hitch platform. Measuring twice, maybe not cutting the hole at all until the side plates are welded, and how to persevere through an error and rescue the project through some quick creative thinking.

One thing is for certain, your attaching the hitch plate assembly to the vertical web of the frame, by virtue of the treadplate side plates you attached that sister the frame web, is a heck of a lot better than the old ways of drilling holes directly through the top plate into horizontal upper flange of the truck frame. That would severely weaken the truck frame, whereas your shear bolt method of attachment to the vertical web of the frame is stress neutral by comparison.

Well I should add that I did measure probably 4 times the flat plate to make sure it was the correct size before I cut it out. I then welded on one side and went to measure to put the other side on and things didn’t measure right. After looking at it for a while it was about 1/2” off. I realized the 1/2” plate had warped some and there was no easy way of fixing that so I had to turn around that other side in order for everything to fit correctly.

I looked at my hardware today and I did get 5/8 bolts. It took forever to drill them out the other night but used some water and soap mixture and it helped a lot.

Also the hole is kind of off center because the ball piece isn’t exactly the same on either side of the ball. So I had to kind of off center it to get the ball in the middle

If it is off by just a little I doubt it would be enough to cause trouble. I think where you went wrong is that you might have been trying to center the gooseneck ball on the platform rather than dead center between the frame rails. There is about an extra inch of overhang on the 1/2" plate on the passenger side it looks like, and that would throw it off by about that much. And also the ball itself when upright is not perfectly left-right centered on it's assembly either. (I looks like it is cheating to the passenger side an inch or so.)

Instead of guessing I would just put the ball assembly into it's holes on the platform and throw a measuring tape across the frame and see where the center of the ball is landing.

I don't get the feeling that Alaskapilot was "guessing". This kind of work can be deceptively difficult to do. Hence the value of debriefing.

I was guessing by trying to picture it in my mind but that can be difficult. Sometimes it is just easier to mock it all up together and see where you are at, preferably before any holes are drilled or anything is welded but live and learn. If it is off center by an inch or so I do not think it will even be noticeable or matter. It should still pull straight as long as the trailer axles are not out of alignment. The whole trailer would just be cheated over either slightly passenger or driver side which would be very difficult to notice in the mirrors since you don't get the same view from those anyway (The viewing angle is different). Maybe with a laser pointer or one of those big truck laser alignment machines it would be detectable. I agree however, these types of projects usually are tricky.