Might be especially if you don't use it. It's up to the owner. It's their rog and Choice.

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While I agree BL, i'd likely have to saw zaw the existing bolts off and no guarantee I'll get it back on. I already have the backup cam drilled into the receiver which I don't want to unscrew and put back in. I know it's not the perfect solution. It's a band aid for an eye sore. If I ever get approved for Disability (story for another time) I'd probably get a new receiver.

Believe it or not 95% of the time those bolts will come out. Sometimes you have to use pipe wrenches and even cut the heads off the bolts to get the hitch out. Then I have welded into the stud and use pipe wrench to remove. The heat really helps.

I understand your patch and situation. So try what I suggested and hopefully it will work for your needs.

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What page on your build Brillo?

It's in my signature. You can see all that I done to the 3rd gens over the years.

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yes you can repaint while on the rig, no big deal...just prep work
filling the holes...well depends on some factors....like are you just trying to make it look pretty or be structural.
lastly....and since you are in rust belt...is this just to make big obvious rust holes dissapear cause your gonna sell ?
reason I ask....is ...your in the rust belt...if your trailer hitch is rusting out...id be looking real hard at the vehicle frame....if I was keeping and spray foam and fiberglass patch is not gonna do a thing for the main frame

if I was keeping...and living where you are...I would be in contact with brillo_76

I also find it interesting that you guys say that living in NJ and another in Penn is too far away. that distance is a stone throw for me.

To answer your questions 3B:
Yes, I'm trying to make it look pretty without replacing the receiver or taking it off.

I'm not selling my rig, so I'm only hiding/covering the rust for my own satisfaction.

I recently had the frame inspected after Toyota lied to me telling me it has unfixable frame rot (which is another way of them saying we don't want to work on your 20 year old truck). The local welder/fabricator told me I have surface rust, but nothing in his opinion that's terrible.

I'm not exactly sure where Brillo lives, but if it's western PA, he's likely 4 hours from me, not a stone throw.

I am an hour northeast of Pittsburgh. So I am probably 8 to 10 hours or so away from you.


Your method of band aid should work ..

Being it's just fiberglass I gave it a few coats of glass cloth. Make it a little thicker as it will make it stiffer.

Hope my thoughts helped you.

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Thanks again Brillo, one last question if you don't mind. All the videos I see, instructions on the box etc...say to wrap the Fiber cloth, in our case since I don't really see a way to "wrap" it. Did you just place it on flat and try to make it as smooth as you could? Like a makeshift squeegee?

When you say a few coats (bare with me please Ive never used it before). Are you referring to a few layers of the fiber cloth on top of each other, or one coat, let it dry and do that multiple times?

You got it.. I actually use old tooth brushes as my squeegee as you have to get
the cloth soaked with the resin.

You do one coat or cloth layer at a time. Let that dry. Then start over again with a 2nd coat etc.

How I do it is wet down the area with the resin. Wearing throw away rubber gloves. Place the cloth on the resin and use a tooth brush to carefully push the resin into the cloth to soak the cloth. Let that area completely dry and do another layer or 2.

After that, I put fiberglass body filler over it all and sand it down to get it like it was.

You can see how i did the rear door (hatch) on my build thread.

You can skip the fiberglass body filler if you want. The main thing is to get that rust hole sealed shut with a few coats of resin and fiberglass cloth.

I'm not sure the ratio of drilled holes vs. a layer of fiberglass is for me... but I think I'd clearly rather drill two holes than even one layer of fiberglass. Not to mention wire wheeling, cleaning, painting etc.

This needs 8 bolts removed, two new holes drilled and a bit of rust converter sprayed in a few places. Then plenty of oil to keep it from rusting further...

-Charlie

I can understand your point but the OP can do what he wants its his truck. :-)

If they want to coat a piece of steel with fiberglass its their call. I can understand why he is doing this as its a rust belt chassis.

He realizes his hitch is useless for towing and that is all that matters for safety purposes.

He isn't going to replace the hitch right now nor go through the work of taking it off. Its Ok. :-)

Precisely. I have no intentions on making it a functional receiver. I already have my backup cam drilled into the receiver as well. I have no desire to take it all apart. This is purely cosmetic for me. I'm completely aware it won't last and will eventually rust again, which I'll tackle again when that time comes.

On a side note, why do receiver hitches even have drain holes?

The reason they have hole is to let the water and moisture out. Lots of people have boats. The driver side hole is to let water out as the chances of all the welds are perfect without a few pinholes is extremely unlikely. Thus why there is one drain hole in that particular style of hitch in that location.

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