Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeinNH67
That's probably what most look like wherever salt is used on the roads. I washed a lot of sand and rust flake out of that area of my truck then oiled the inside of the frame and will keep oiling it to try and limit the rust. I do have one extra thought for you, make a template out of cardboard that fits in there and mark the holes (once the old nuts are removed) onto the cardboard. Have your metal fab guy make those and weld some nuts on top of the holes so it will be easy to put back together. You'll just have to line up the new plates.
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I did in fact use a template although it was made of 1/4in plywood instead of cardboard. I had already been fussing around with a small piece of plywood trying to nail down a maximum size for the plate that would still fit. It was naturally the best way to get the bolt placement. Because I already had the custom-made spacer plates, I used a combination of the plywood template and the holes in the spacer to get the holes in the perfect place on the plate.
With that all taken care of I had big hopes that bolting it in would help to smoosh down the loose edge seen in the picture, but alas, no luck. I cranked on a 1/2 in socket until it woudn't go and the plate still won't sit flat. At this point I walked away from the job and enjoyed several, fresh homebrewed beers to mark my birthday.
Unless anyone has a better idea, my plan at this point is to put the hitch back on and attach it with all the hardware. While the plate isn't sitting flat, the bolts are tightening down and holding. Then I'm going to have the one section that's giving me so much hassle, welded onto the frame. With that compromised steel near the hitch mounting point, and the plate not seating well, I can't really think of another way to get this done and feel confident pulling my camper.