replacing tongue

russelln114 said:

Hello guys. I would like to replace the tongue on my boat trailer. The boat i'm hauling is a 12ft aluninum boat. The boat doesn't weigh that much. I can push the boat and trailer through the yard with ease. I'd say mabye 200lbs. Anyway the old tongue is wielded on. I would like to know if i can just bolt the new one on instead of wielding it on. Any sugestions?

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LippCJ7 said:

Grinder is the only way, grind the entire weld down to the base metal and then start hammering upward on the old coupler with a mid sized sledge, don't be shy about it, it's steel anything you do to steel can be fixed, if the coupler doesn't start to separate then grind it some more and repeat as necessary until you get the old coupler off. try not to remove too much metal from the tongue but you shouldn't have to simply start grinding away at the weld at the coupler until its gone. Better to remove the steel of the old coupler then the tongue. Also get a flap disc for your grinder so you can get a nice shiny surface to repaint before installing your new coupler. Your looking at about 2 hours work total. Where are you by the way?

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LippCJ7 said:

wait let me back up how many bolts are there for your coupler to tongue joint if there are only two then you will have to use grade 8 in order to meet your load if there are 4 which is more standard then grade 5 will be fine, the difference is Grade 5 has a 85 ksi shear capacity where as Grade 8 has 120 ksi so you can see where this could be an issue as 90stingray said

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LippCJ7 said:

no the shoulder should not come out the other end, only threads, but you can use a washer on one or both ends without issue plus a lock washer on the threaded end as well, this should cover your shoulder adequately. As for Grade I think in your application Grade 5 would be more then adequate, don't let people scare you with the grade 8 bolt theory, grade 8's have a purpose and you simply don't meet it add to that the fact that grade 8 bolts don't bend at all they simply break, Grade 5 should be fine. don't forget to be careful not to overtighten the bolts, you do not want to pinch your tongue at all.

Wish you were closer I needed something to do tomorrow anyway

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LippCJ7 said:

Grinder is the only way, grind the entire weld down to the base metal and then start hammering upward on the old coupler with a mid sized sledge, don't be shy about it, it's steel anything you do to steel can be fixed, if the coupler doesn't start to separate then grind it some more and repeat as necessary until you get the old coupler off. try not to remove too much metal from the tongue but you shouldn't have to simply start grinding away at the weld at the coupler until its gone. Better to remove the steel of the old coupler then the tongue. Also get a flap disc for your grinder so you can get a nice shiny surface to repaint before installing your new coupler. Your looking at about 2 hours work total. Where are you by the way?

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LippCJ7 said:

Good deal, did you learn anything?

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