Welding on hitch

[Marlin]

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.

[eblank]

Nice! I just upgraded too. I had a cheapo welder, but just picked up a Millermatic 200. A body shop went under so found a great deal on it. I got spoiled with millers where I used to work. working on running 220 out to my garage so I can start messing around with it. Cant wait

[pbkid]

Very nice Chris. I hope you dont have any issues with passing emissions now. When i cut my exhaust back like you're talking about, I could no longer pass emissions.
per Colorado law- the exhaust must exit the vehicle behind the rear tires.

I even tried to put a dump on it, and they said it was no go for registration, it must exit the vehicle. Kinda a bummer, but i just found a county that would register it without emissions

[Marlin]

Very nice Chris. I hope you dont have any issues with passing emissions now. When i cut my exhaust back like you're talking about, I could no longer pass emissions.
per Colorado law- the exhaust must exit the vehicle behind the rear tires.

I even tried to put a dump on it, and they said it was no go for registration, it must exit the vehicle. Kinda a bummer, but i just found a county that would register it without emissions

Who cares? I am registered in South Carolina, they could care less. Yippee for the South!

[vt_maverick]

And yippee for the military being exempt from having to locally register vehicles. Not that it matters, I've lived in Chesapeake, Norfolk, Hampton, and Newport News and NONE of them require emissions checks. You don't have to live there long to realize it's because half the population would be car-less overnight!

[Marlin]

And yippee for the military being exempt from having to locally register vehicles. Not that it matters, I've lived in Chesapeake, Norfolk, Hampton, and Newport News and NONE of them require emissions checks. You don't have to live there long to realize it's because half the population would be car-less overnight!

True, I choose SC, I pay <20 bucks a year for tags. Custom tags only cost a 1 time 30 dollars or so for the plates, no additional fees ever!