On Wed, 07 Sep 2005 18:42:59 GMT, "Emmo" wrote:

Isn't anyone worried about the hitch? I hope the U-Haul kid used really
strong poprivets to mount the receiver to the sheet metal under the SUV
g...


That was my thought as well. The only thing that gave me hope was
the fact that it was a 2" receiver which is usually mounted properly
now days.

About 1 1/2 months ago I had a similar situation roll into my shop.
A older couple from Arizona where coming through with the smallest
camper I've ever seen in my life behind there car. Somebody had put a
1 1/2" receiver on the back of the camper and they had a bicycle rack
in it. However due to the curve on the camper the bicycle rack had to
be extended about 1' so that it stuck out from the receiver about the
30" mentioned here. The rack was holding up fine. However the receiver
was just welded to a 2"x3" piece of about 16ga wall rectangular tubing
which ran across the back of the camper frame. Of course it pulled and
buckled in till the rack was able to drag the ground.

I had to extend the receiver so that it went to the next cross
member up the frame and reinforce the back cross member to repair it.

This is the second absolutely lousy poorly thought out welding job
to come from Arizona to my shop. The other was when somebody with no
welding skills put a 30' dry box off a bob tail truck onto another
camper frame made from 2"x6"x14ga rectangular tubing. The tongue
pulled out twice before it got here and neither place that repaired it
did as good a job as my dad could do welding it back (and my dad is
NOT a welder by any stretch of the imagination). I ended up making a
new frame from 6" channel with proper 6" channel cross members (the
original had light weight C purlin type cross members which where
broke) and a reinforced tongue before I would let it back on the road.

The original welding on that frame was so lousy that I was able to
take the 3" I beam off that they'd welded down the length (so they
could U-bolt the box to the frame) by grinding one weld. The other
welds where not stuck to anything.

I'm starting to get nervous when I see a Arizona tag. :-)

Wayne Cook
Shamrock, TX
http://members.dslextreme.com/users/waynecook/index.htm