Hitch Welding Prep

Tonight after work, I prepared my skid and hitch for welding. It is important to grind away any paint or rust from the surfaces which will be joined. Exposing bare metal helps to keep the welds cleaner and stronger by eliminating potential contaminates from the bond. Now I can't wait to burn this puppy home! I decided to take this opportunity to do a full pass on the hitch and clean it all up. It had developed a lot of surface rust under the Jeep in Chicago. They use too much damn salt on the roads there! As for the skid - I simply wire wheeled the edges where I cut to expose enough bare metal to lay a bead.

And here you see the two parts ready for their glorious union in a few days! I may ask my pal Carl to help me pre-bend the skidplate so it doesn't flare away from the hitch quite so much.. ..we'll see. On the other hand, a few tack welds might suck it up flush, although I worry there will be a constant strain on the metal. Probably no big deal, it isn't exactly structural.