Hitch Plate Fabrication for Class A quad axle dump truck

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Hello,        Can anyone here point me in the direction of repudable sources of information, DOT etc. for the fabrication and installation of the large plates on the back of full size dump trucks for mounting pintle hitches?I have found some SAE info, wondering if there is an industry standard some where out there. E-mails to the truck manufacturer have not been returned.The ones I've seen adhere to the same basic design and they were all welded to the frame. I am qualified to execute this portion of it. I'd just like to have a reference for such a procedure/practice i.e. "is welding this plate, to the end of the frame rails acceptable, and if so, what engineering body is showing us how"Yup
Reply:A couple thoughts: Upfitters, companies that put on accessories to bare truck cab/chassis, usually are the ones commercially that install such equipment. You may look in to upfitters that put the type of dump bed you have on the type of truck you have and see if they can point you in a direction. Generally speaking, the equipment manufacturer will certify the equipment for particular ratings.If your truck is, say, a 40k gvwr truck with an available payload of 22k with 19k of that on the rear axle that 19k, for simple math here, can take both the load in the dump plus the tongue weight of the trailer. If your trailer tongue is 7k (thinking a large dual tandem here with a dozer, for example) that means, again simple math here, your down to 12k available payload. More specific to the question is the 7k tongue - can the hitch (and all its' attached to) support it? Commercial vehicle regs and insurance may differ a bit from non-commercial, however with non-commercial I'm pretty sure you can not have a trailer hitch or dawbar in use that doesn't have manufacturer ratings. If you get in to an accident because a home made pintle plate to 2" drawbar adapter shank broke your insurance is probably going to drop you like a hot potato. I do know on commercial vehicles repairs have to be done by properly certified mechanics etc. So in your DOT service records there is supposed to be a verifiable trail of maintenance and certifications. If your company was to get audited that might be a big consideration. I would imagine the same would go if you got in to an accident - someone somewhere would want to look at the maintenance/repair/upgrade history.If you have sufficient certifications for mechanical and welding that might put you ahead of the game, but fabricating something yourself doesn't carry "manufacturers ratings". As to how the DOT looks at that on the commercial end of the spectrum - I have no idea. That is where talking to an upfitter might be beneficial. To add to the complexity - every state is different in how they do registrations for trucks/trailers, and what requirements they have for trucks/trailers. There are ways to build vehicles and trailers with them getting registered and licensed - so it can be done. Trailer hitches, though, are a whole other matter, at least on the non-commercial end.