'Lil advice before i cut...

[Kris W]

Here's a few pictures of my outboard motor mount, it recently occurred to me that I want to get a trailer, or rather build a trailer out of an old Argo / max etc. tub that's too far gone to rescue. Here is my dilemma, someone built this motor mount for my grandfather yrs ago, the old man said the guy was an engineer & he over did it . It looks like I should be able to cut off these extra supports that go from the underside of the mount to the trailer hitch and not have it be a problem. I was worried about torque from the outboard motor, only because my bracket sticks out further (about 5" from the"bumper") than the ones sold from Argo that I see on everyone else's machine. You guys have brackets mounted fairly close to the body. Would there be enough torque on say a six horse outboard to bend that steel plate bracket? The steel plate is 3/8 of an inch thick. It looks a lot beefier than most of the brackets I've seen however I'm afraid to cut these supports off because once they're gone I don't have a welder to put them back on LOL The reason I need them cut off is because right now I can't use my trailer hitch. They block the ball from being used and if I ever want to tow a trailer I need them gone. The ball has been on for 20 years and I can't get it off. I tried heating it but the amount of heat I had to put to the nut on the ball heated up the tongue as well and as you know it's bolted onto the plastic tub... So I stopped... What do you guys think? I'm pretty sure it will be OK but I'm looking for others to chime in. Thanks
image.jpgimage.jpgimage.jpgimage.jpg

[Rabbit929]

It looks like those braces on the hitch are prolly the only thing holding any weight. I wouldn't worry about the power of outboard, I'd look more into the weight and twisting it will do to your plastic. That's a pretty tough plate but what it's bolted to likes to flex.

If it were mine, I would cut them off, have a welder weld some plates onto a large bolt to drop in the hitch, then drill some holes into the brace so you can bolt them back on when you install your outboard.
That way you could cut em and leave about 2 inches on the bottom of your plate, and bolt the bracket back on when you wanna use it. If hate to remove them completely for ever and ever because they may be removing a lot of twisting force from your hull.

I would try making the brackets or maybe the whole setup a 4 bolt hookup and leave it attached to the outboard.

[curtisbyrne]

id say he over did it,looks like you can put a 55 motor on there lol. do the braces interfeer with the trailer hitch at all?

[Canadian_Zuk]

It looks over engineered but not very well thought out. I'd leave those legs on there, otherwise all the bouncing weight of the outboard motor will be applied to your body. I wouldn't be surprised if that mount tore out just driving down the trail if those legs were removed and your motor was tilted up. The one I made for my Argo was made out of 2" square tube and it just plugged into the receiver hitch, nothing attached to the body at all, easily removed and secured right to the frame.

[Kris W]

id say he over did it,looks like you can put a 55 motor on there lol. do the braces interfeer with the trailer hitch at all?

Ya they do, The braces make the ball completely unusable. thats why i wanted to cut them off.

"Canadian Zuk"
(Quote) "I'd leave those legs on there, otherwise all the bouncing weight of the outboard motor will be applied to your body. I wouldn't be surprised if that mount tore out just driving down the trail if those legs were removed and your motor was tilted up."(quote)

That was another fear of mine as well Steve, I have an idea of how to leave them on and still tow a trailer with it, but I need to get the ball off first. I'm going to use a piece of 2"x2" tube steel to make an extension basically , i'll use a heavy duty bolt with washers to hold it in place through the whole that the ball is currently in and then move the ball to the end of The extension. 2" x 2" tube steel fits perfect between the braces. But I'm having a bitch of a time getting the ball off .. I am awaiting my father-in-law to drop off a big pipe wrench and hopefully that will do the trick.

Kinda like this: image.jpg

[Kris W]

Update, this worked !

Ok so after about a week of wrenching, a ton of cursing & a few knuckles being "unsheathed of flesh" i got the tow-ball off and attached an extension that i cut down to fit. If you don't remember or didnt see it , You can see what it looked like before at the top of this thread in my original post.

IMG_3512.jpgIMG_3511.jpg

[Canadian_Zuk]

good job.

[ARGOJIM]

Looks good, I might flip it - should it hit the ground.

[Kris W]

Thanks, i was going to flip it but I was afraid that it would interfere with the outboard motor when its on. I don't have the motor here to try it, it's at the old mans house...