wrote:
carl mciver wrote:

"Bruce B" wrote in message
...
| I was installing a receiver hitch and the bolt holes didn't quite

line

| up. The retailer advised me to check the alignment of the brackets

that

| bolt on to the frame and the passenger side bracket was bent in a
| little. So with some effort I managed to bend it back mostly

straight

| and get the hitch installed. My question is would this minor

bending

| weaken the metal or the welded joints? It's a Draw-Tite hitch and I
| think it's 1/4" plate steel brackets. How much can you bend

something

| like that without negatively affecting the structural properties?
|
| TIA

That concerns me that you, with effort, could bend a hitch frame.
However, whether or not that's a bad thing depends on how much of

what you

bent, or preloaded, is in the critical load path.


He said he said he "managed to bend it back mostly straight".
He didn't mention the use of heat, so I would guess there was no loss
of any heat treatment related strength in the metal itself. It depends
on the bracket and its design, stresses, etc.
In reply to the OP, theoretically the metal has been taken past its
elastic limit when bent, and again when straightened... there is a
theoretical weakening, but I'd guess it is unlikely to be of any
practical consequence. As to the welds; they're usually (should be)
stronger than the parent metal, so you should have even less chance of
weakening the weld area.

Thanks for the answers. No heat was used to bend it. This is what the
hitch looks like:
http://www.etrailer.com/productdetai... from=2003&h=e

The piece on the right that bolts to the vehicle was basically toed in
(probably less than an inch). I straightened it by bolting the passenger
side of the hitch to the driver's side of the vehicle so the hitch stuck
out to the side and then pulled it from the other end until I felt like
it moved. With that much leverage it wasn't too hard to bend but I did
have to put my weight into it. It was still a little difficult to bolt
up but I got it done. Later I started worrying about what stress this
might have caused to the metal and if it could have weakened it enough
to cause it to fail under load. I don't believe that it did but I wanted
to run it by the experts. I'm not sure but I think the piece that was
bent is 1/4" plate mild steel, which I think could take some minor
bending without issue???