critique my weight box design

dodgemaniac

dodgemaniac

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okay so like the title says. i am about to build myself a weight rack/wight box for my new puller. i have read through every thread i could find on others just looking for some opinions on the design i came up with

I believe i want as much weight as far front as possible. this will be a 2.6 truck. For right now it will just be the frame but i want to build it so i can enclose it and make it a box in the future.

the following picture is my first design idea. bare with me on the terrible pictures. the blue in the picture will be 2" square tubing that goes into 2 receiver hitch's that mount on where the factory tow hooks would be. the yellow cross bar will be something smaller and just there for another brace. the green upright post's will also be 2" square tubing and about 12" apart front to back. Also to note the bottom frame is 4ft. wide and the front is at 60" from the center of the front axle. the silver cross pieces will be angle iron thats shaped for the wights to fit on. the weight i have to use are my neighbors 100lb. john deer weights.

my idea with this is mounting the weights sideways so i have as much as possible out front but would having the part it hangs on like that put that weight further back?
screen-capture-9.png


the next design is basically the same but with the weight mounting on a cross brace across the front and then hanging the other direction
screen-capture-10.png


any opinions are welcome i just want to do this right the first time. thanks
 
Don't use so many color's, It looks Gay!!



j/k



I have nothing useful to add, just bored.....Sorry
 
I like the first design better but I would make it so you load the weights on the outside of the bracket not inside. I think it would make it a lot easier to load the weights.
 
If you want to send me some dimensions, I can model up your rack for you and also do analysis on how much weight it will hold mininizing the amount of steel in it. Anyone with Solidworks on this site can do it, there is a lot of us.

I spent about 5 minutes to do this. An hour would make a really nice model and give you cut lists for all the pieces.
 

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4x4dually said:
If you want to send me some dimensions, I can model up your rack for you and also do analysis on how much weight it will hold mininizing the amount of steel in it. Anyone with Solidworks on this site can do it, there is a lot of us.

I spent about 5 minutes to do this. An hour would make a really nice model and give you cut lists for all the pieces.
Click to expand...

that would be awesome if you wanted to do that. what i have as far as steel right now is 18ft of square tubing but i have access to other smaller stuff and angle pieces. the bars running from the front of the truck to the back are 3ft3in. long and go into the receiver ends. the bracket will be 4ft across the front.the uprights will be either 15 or 20in hight. the angle pieces the weights will be between 10 and 12in.

thanks for all you help guys
 
Just my .02 but like 97crewcab said i would hang them on the outside. I have a few friends that built theirs so they hang on the inside and its a pain in the @$$ to load em. Your on the right track with hanging em sideways to! That much more weight farther forward.
 
How much weight do you figure you are going to be able to hang. If you wanted to hang ALOT of weight, I would run the weights on the outside of your structure you have pictured, then I would run a bar across the front tying the two sides and then hang weights on that bar (on the inside between the bar and the grill) I have seen this done and some have been able to hang 1500lbs plus!

Ryan
 
Whatever you do build it high enough to drive on the trailer so you don't have to unload them!
 
Mines simple and has held 1500 no probs. Its more like your second design. Welded permanantly to the frame too so its not going any where. Two lengths of 2" angle in the shape of a T coming off the frame to a length of 2.5" angle running across it.
 
Loading and unloading weights gets old if its a pain to put them on and off.
 
thanks for all your comments guys. i have to do a removable one as i drive the truck everyday and not everywhere i pull allows hanging weights. i am hoping that since i am going to stack everything on top of the main frame i will have enough height for loading on the trailer. tonight i had 800lbs additional in the bed so probably not more then 1000lbs. i think i may go with my first design and see how it goes.
 
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