When I came back from deployment, one of the first things I bought was a new welder. I had a harbor freight 90amp mig, and I learned on a Northern Tool Arc welder. I now understand why a lincoln 140 costs 550 bucks and the HF is only 90 bucks. I zipper welded the hitch to the frame with my new lincoln 140, followed the settings on the chart for 1/4" and it was perfect. I ran flux core per the book for the thicker plate. Minimal splatter, perfect arc, it was beautiful! Can't imagine how much better a miller would have been!
I wired up the hitch, welded it on, cut the tail pipe back 4", and installed seat sliders, about 2.5 hrs. She is about ready for Hallowharrie 2012! I will towing a popup behind her, that is the reason for welding the hitch on, I just don't trust those little bolts. Even the 2K lb hitch on my fusion used bigger bolts than the VX. No more worries. I got great penetration, perfect.
I had to cut the tailpipe back since I catch it on rocks all the time. Now it is tucked up above the hitch frame, no problems.
I also figured out where my thunk was coming from. THe pin for my SFIFS had wiggled back to the taper. So when I turned at slow speed, the half moon was shifting a little bit. Fixed that too.
