base plate for toad is bent

Effy wrote:

wildmanbaker wrote:

Effy wrote:

wildmanbaker wrote:
First, look ands see if there is any damage to the base plate. Is everything still straight and square? If it is slightly out of shape, can you align the holes that were drilled into the frame, by hand? .

Are you asking if you can bend and align the bent baseplate by hand?
I highly doubt you can bend a baseplate by hand and if you could how reliable is it to tow your car?

OP, just get a new one. Simpler, easier, and safer - for everyone.

Yes. The OP may not have money to burn. We as a nation, are to quick to scrap things, and buy new, without trying to fix them. Metal is malleable, to some extent. Do you think that the base plate did not change shape when it was welded together?

Oh jeez, for real? Spend all that money on an RV, a toad, bars, brakes etc. And you want to get cheap on replacing bent base plates? Base plate gets bent for a reason that the OP is really unsure of, and you want to attempt to make a case for bending it back - by hand mind you - and re-using it? I've worked with metal quite a bit and what happens when metal bends is that it decreases it's structural integrity. When it was welded during manufacturing I am sure it was in a jig and spot welded together at various points before laying the beads, for the very reason of maintaining shape. And a weld done properly will increase the structural integrity as opposed to bending back and forth. To make a comparison of the two is silly. How do you know that whatever caused it bend didn't crack it also? For less than $400 you can get a brand new set. Small price to pay and the install should be pretty simple as it's already set up. No way I would trust bending it back. The current has been compromised. But to each his own. If it makes you feel better, recycle the old one so nothing is wasted.

I'd have to see this thing and most likely do some mods for reinforcement, if I deemed it repairable. In many cases, buying new, just gets you the same thing as you had before, no more, no less. Even with buying new, I'd probably be giving it a good looksee for making it and/or something else in the system, a bit stronger. Been there and done that with many things over the course of time, so............