Weekend trip cancelled. Rusted hitch. How to fix?

[Bryan L.]

Originally Posted by msinger919

Sorry to go off topic, but is that a Puch Maxi in your avatar pic? I'm a bit of a moped enthusiast, a horder if you ask my wife! Do you take it camping?

-Mike

Sure is, a Maxi N. at one time I had 34 mopeds in my garage. I've slimmed down considerably to get the Scamp in the garage! I still read Moped Army daily but don't post hardly at all. I go by brystheguy. That E50 rebuild article in the wiki - that's my lasting contribution to Moped Army! A lot has changed since that article was written. I have taken my moped with me before. I have a rack I can put on the back of the trailer but I've always just put it in the van instead.

[Jared J]

scamp is reasonable on prices. It might be just as easy to get one from them. yes, weld it on the bottom of that plate, it's fine. I would drill a few holes in the top of your new coupler, and rosette weld it to the plate of the old one, if it was me. I would also get a piece of square tubing the width of the coupler, and weld the square tubing on behind it, to hold the sides of the coupler together, since it's basically on the wrong side of the tongue.

I go overboard, but my shtuff doesn't break, either.

[Bryan L.]

I just called Scamp and they don't sell the smaller coupler. Mine is only about six inches wide at the rear and all the ones I see online are about a foot across. He recommended that I weld a bigger new one on to the top like the newer ones have. However, mine has that large sloping section on the front, and there will be no welding on to that, that's for sure.

I'll have to see if I can dig up any pictures of the more modern arrangement. I'm actually more interested in what it looks like underneath than on top though. (starts laborious search)

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by Bryan L.

I just called Scamp and they don't sell the smaller coupler. Mine is only about six inches wide at the rear and all the ones I see online are about a foot across. He recommended that I weld a bigger new one on to the top like the newer ones have. However, mine has that large sloping section on the front, and there will be no welding on to that, that's for sure.

I seem to recall that Norm? mentioned he had Scamp change the coupler to a 2" on the same vintage trailer (same sloping tongue) ..... perhaps if you PM him he could post a photo of how they actually did it.

[Francesca Knowles]

Originally Posted by Bryan L.

I just called Scamp and they don't sell the smaller coupler. Mine is only about six inches wide at the rear and all the ones I see online are about a foot across. He recommended that I weld a bigger new one on to the top like the newer ones have. However, mine has that large sloping section on the front, and there will be no welding on to that, that's for sure.

It's unclear to me why this won't work if Scamp recommended it- are you sure that it's not possible?

Maybe they know of/can point you to a coupler that would fit that sloping configuration you've got...

Francesca

[Bryan L.]

Fransecesca, I'm thinking that the frame that they are welding to the new coupler extends pretty far forward in to the new coupler plate. I'm not sure how much frame rail you need inside the new coupler to ensure strength. my concern is that if I cut the frame rail back to where the sloped angle starts that I won't have enough length or "meat" left on the frame rail to overlap the coupler plate and provide a good weld. Make any sense?

I will try and contact Norm and see if I can get some pictures. Thanks for the advice.

[Jared J]

In that case, I say cut a square hole in the front, slide a piece of square tubing in to the first frame crossmember, and burn it in. Then you can just bolt a new coupler to it.

[Francesca Knowles]

Originally Posted by Bryan L.

Fransecesca, I'm thinking that the frame that they are welding to the new coupler extends pretty far forward in to the new coupler plate. I'm not sure how much frame rail you need inside the new coupler to ensure strength. my concern is that if I cut the frame rail back to where the sloped angle starts that I won't have enough length or "meat" left on the frame rail to overlap the coupler plate and provide a good weld. Make any sense?

I will try and contact Norm and see if I can get some pictures. Thanks for the advice.

Yeah, it makes sense...but I'm hoping that when you talk to Scamp again they're gonna tell you they've got some custom no-cut-on-the-tongue coupler that will weld right on!

I get all nervous when folks have to start carving away at existing weight-bearing stuff. Just ask my welding fool of a husband if you don't believe me.

Keep us posted!

Francesca

[Bryan L.]

I don't want to leave this thread hanging as there's nothing worse than an unresolved thread! I finally got some welding gas for my welder so decided I would dig in on this. I was going to cut off the end of both frame rails and butt-weld some new sections on with reinforcement and then weld the new coupler on top. The new coupler is a standard 50 degree coupler and, guess what, the frame rails don't come together at a 50 degree angle. That means I would have a super weak weld and it just wouldn't be safe. At this point, I decided to just weld the new one just like the old one came off. I figured it lasted for over twenty years with the old arrangement so I might as well go with it.




I cut out a bit of the sloping top piece so I would be able to weld the new coupler on the inside also. I left most of it there so that it would hold the two frame rails in the spot that they were and there wouldn't be any shifting or flexing.



This is what the bottom looked like after I finally got the top of that that old coupler plate off.



I'm going to strengthen this coupler plate up by inserting a reinforcement piece so that the side walls won't flex as much since they will not be welded to the frame rails as usual. I think I will add another piece also. I'm not sure yet. The original had nothing so I guess this is better?



My first welding job with gas for my Mig welder. Up to this point, I've always used flux-core wire. What a difference the gas makes as far as making cleaner welds. It's definitely not perfect but no one will ever see those welds!

[Bryan L.]

I decided to call it a night but just to see how it will go on, I snapped a couple of pictures.





I think I need to buy a few more clamps before I can weld on the coupler to the actual frame. The ones I have don't quite work for what I need. Also, a man can never have too many clamps.

I've also though about running a large bolt through the rear of the coupler and up through the new sloping piece that I will weld on after I get the coupler on. I figure any way I can take some of the stress off of the welds the better. There's going to be a lot of force wanting to pull apart the weld at the rear of the coupler so I was hoping to alleviate some of that stress.

[Eddie Longest]

You can spread the rear load by blocking in the rear of the coupler like you did with the front cross piece. This will prevent flexing at the frame welds since the stength of the coupler is at the radus of the bend You can find some couplers that aren't as tapered in the back like yours to give a little more support with blocking. Or add a piece of angle iron to the frame pointing down at the back of the coupler and cut, heat and bend it to match the contour of the coupler and weld.
Eddie

[Carol H]

Looks like you have it sorted out! Well done but it would be nice if someone here who has had Scamp do the coupler change over could post some photos as to how they went about doing it. Wondering what they do differently and why.

[Kenny Strong]

It looks so shiny and new, one of those special projects done by someone that can do a professional job. thanks for all the informative pics.

[Francesca Knowles]

Thanks for keeping us updated-

Are you at all concerned about the effect of the angle at which the coupler appears to sit?

It's hard to tell from the pics, but it looks as if the trailer tongue will have to come up quite a bit for the coupler to go on the ball "level"...

Francesca

[Bryan L.]

Francesca, I am not sure why it looks so weird in that picture. It's a perfectly straight hitch so I call camera angle shenanigans!

I went ahead and welded the coupler on tonight. I'll pull it out of the garage this weekend and see what happens. This could get very exciting in a hurry! I feel pretty good about the welds being able to handle what the road can throw at it. Only time will tell.



I still need to weld on that flat top plate and paint it all.




I went ahead and welded in two more supports to keep the sidewalls from flexing since they won't be welded to the frame rails as intended. The old one didn't seem to have too much of a problem with that issue and it was thinner than the new hitch. Better safe than sorry though.

[Bryan L.]

Originally Posted by Carol H

Looks like you have it sorted out! Well done but it would be nice if someone here who has had Scamp do the coupler change over could post some photos as to how they went about doing it. Wondering what they do differently and why.

Carol,

I would also LOVE to see what Scamp does to fix this, especially if the frame rails don't come together at a nice standard angle like most couplers are intended for.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by Bryan L.

I feel pretty good about the welds being able to handle what the road can throw at it.

Compare this to Scamp's stock installation of the coupler on a Scamp 19', which has much higher tongue weight: this appears much more sound to me, even with the angle mismatch. Personally, I wouldn't be concerned at all. Annoyed at Scamp, yes, but not concerned.

Good job, Bryan

[FRED SMAILES]

Bryon, at the very least,,,,,OVERKILL!!.
I doubt you or the next 3 generations
Will have a problem with that.
And it looks good too!
Fred

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by Bryan L.

Carol,

I would also LOVE to see what Scamp does to fix this, especially if the frame rails don't come together at a nice standard angle like most couplers are intended for.

I know Norm (Honda03842) mentioned in the past year he had his Scamp change his out to a 2" coupler at Scamp while he was having them do some other changes done by them but it hasn't made is mod list of yet on his Preparing a 1991 Scamp... hopefully he will stop at home long enough one of these days, to give us an update on this years improvements soon.

[Roger Kimble]

I have weilded quite a bit, used to make my own semis trucks, your doing a nice job!