heat treating a homebrew hitch D ring insert?

I used 2x2 hot rolled solid stock cut & drilled it to match the d ring and fits perfectly in the hitch. My only concern is if it is "too soft" of steel. Should this be heat treated, I really dont know. I'm just airing to the side of caution here. Maybe cold forged steel would have been a better choice?

2x2 solid? g'damn. itll be fine

That will absolutely be fine. That solid steel will have a tensile strength that far exceeds any tow strap you will be able to lift. With out the holes you would need around 240,000 lbs to break it. Even if your holes are 1" dia you are still left with 120,000lbs of breaking strength. Keep in mind that the hitch or receiver tube that this is going in is far weaker than the solid piece you are using.

You likely wouldn't be able to heat treat that piece of steel anyway. The carbon content would be too low to get any change in mechanical properties.

hope this helps,

Jeeps
'00 4.0 5sp built for rocks
'01 4.0 5sp built for smaller rocks

Ahh ok... I didnt know the carbon content played a roll.

I'll get a photo here, but my concern is about the d ring end. 15/16 hole

That thing looks pretty strong to me. I have the one made by warn and it's cast. Yours would be stronger than that i'd think.

Looking at the material you have left and figuring your breaking strength knowing that is made of steel, that piece is plenty strong. If you ever have a chance, take a look at ARB bullbars and the piece of sheetmetal they want you to hook a d-ring to. They spot welded a washer on one side of the sheetmetal to thicken up the piece. I think it comes out to 1/4" thick between the two pieces.

Jeeps

Ok... I feel safe with it if thats the case. Thank you sir.

I only wheel with friends... so for anything to get damaged or god forbid if anyone were to get hurt I'd be pretty tweaked. I felt it was worth a shot at making this. Its a pretty simple thing. Free is pretty nice too.

I just remembered also - on the M715 Jeep Truck, the oem D rings are attached on what is basically a pipe through 3/16 sheet metal.

Glad to help, I wish more people would look into their tow points a little bit more like you did. From the stuff I see welded or fabbed up on the trails, I really can't believe what some people consider as a safe tow point.

I am a welding inspector so the people welding up tow points with their 110volt MIG welders freaks me out.


Jeeps

2x2 solid is not the weak point. Now its the lynch pin, D-ring, and strap. Good job.

Got the hitch on last night, all ready to go... I'll test er out here soon.

the_weirdo said:

2x2 solid is not the weak point. Now its the lynch pin, D-ring, and strap. Good job.

Click to expand...

Like the man said the other stuff is the weak link.

Just for info to those who may read this thread in the future......

As for heat treating, unless you know the exact alloy and have the tools and expertise, heat treating is dangerous. You can get it too hard and it becomes brittle and can shatter, or you get localized areas of hardness which can cause a failure.

In my training as a machinist, we did a lot of heat treating and it is an art. In a case like this, it would most likely be heat treated, then annealed, and the process repeated one or more times with different temps, quenchs, and annealing cycles.

I always get nervous when I hear of people using a torch to free a pitman arm or TRE joints. You can seriously change the strength of the metal, leading to a failure.