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LML Duramax Silverado Build Thread....C-MAX [Part 2-EGR delete and more]

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KensAuto:
I finished the articulating hitch and by all reasoning I think it is a monster. But enough of you had misgivings that I thought I'd buy a Reese 10K plug-in Pintle and weld up a swiveling Lunette and try that as well.
The beauty of the reciever hitch on both the truck and the trailer allows me to use any connecting device I wish.
I had it in there for fit and interference testing.
All I'd say, is that Reese has the thing sticking too far out the back. If I keep it, I'll shove it in a few inches and redrill the hole...should make it stronger as well.

KensAuto:
Well we pushed the project another couple feet down field today.
I ran into an issue with the articulating hitch...It's darned hard to get fitted into either reciever. THere is some percise formation flying required to get alignment, so I thought I'd develop the pintle concept more.

You boneheads might recall that I purchased that Reese 10,000 lb capacity pintle that slides in the reciever. Well, I liked about a third of that idea.
I liked ease of installation and the pintle thing and the fact that it is black!
I did not like:
1. that it was only rated at 10,000 lbs, same same as my trailer
2. Made in China
3. Doesn't swivel
4. Made in China

With that in mind I went off pintle shopping and came up with a whole cat's arm full of towing stuff just begging for some cuttin' weldin' and modifin'

Here's what I started with this morning:


The Reese pintle has Gator build written all over it, so that's where it is headed

The new pintle is a bolt on thing that is rated at 15 tons or 30,000 pounds or 28,996 royal pounds (Just kidding, there is no such thing, but with our current education system, I could say just about anything and few would notice!

Also cast right into the side of the thing were three of my favorite letters:
U S A, as in made in the USA. Now that made this thing a keeper right off the git-go!

KensAuto:
You guys may not like the blurry pictures, but I don't care, I do. You see they sync up with my normal near vision (That is to say you could nearly call it vision!)

The pintle mount manufacturers were kind enough to supply me a flange along with a mount, but they had it all welded and forged together. My new friend, Mr. HyperTherm changed all that PDQ
With some cuttin' and generatin' of that smoke that is inside of everything, I had this, the swivel piece part:



Never mind the fly swatter, err, brass hammer, it was just there for me to wonder about.

This is about how it will all fit together:

That inner piece took nearly all of what my 30 ton press could deliver to seat that section reducer and strengthener into the 2" X .250 wall outer tube. Total thickness of the base is right at 1/2" wall!

KensAuto:
The idea this time is to make the pintle a revolver. I used the same 1" diameter, 8" long grade 8 bolts to provide the swivel mechanism. The multi washers are the slip surfaces and serve to hold everything square and store motorcycle chain lube.
Once I bolted the two parts together, even with substantial guten-tight torque, it all still swiveled...Cool, because if it didn't that would be un-cool!

Then for extra measure I sank a 5/8" drill through both square tubes and about a 1/8" into the bolt itself, then plug welded it all together. No sir, that bolt will not be coming out very easily

So here's what it ended up looking like on the miller welder assembly bench




Those are 1/2" grade 8 bolts and 466 washers used to space the backside of the pintle far away enough from the bolt head. I have about one peperoni slice thickness to work with there!





Swivels up a bunch! Gave me vertigo just posting it up!

the bottom of the pintle saddle sits at 24"

Measuring the junette on the trailer, when the trailer is dead level, it also sits at 24"

Ya know, sometimes you're just livin right!!!

KensAuto:
Next, we're off to the trailer again to get that Lunette ring welded on. It is rated for 9,000 tongue weight and a trailer weight of 42,000lbs, so it should be up to the task at hand.

Off with the old (Not so old) and on with the new:

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