Trailer tongue - swing vs. removable
- Thread starter andrewm
- Start date
I put a Fulton swing away on mine. It was quite easy, works great and saves 2 feet in my garage. I ran the wire inside and bolted the safety chain inside too because I guess I had nothing better to do...
. I got it at Procter Marine in Simcoe. I can't remember the exact price but it wasn't that expensive and is very well engineered.
. I got it at Procter Marine in Simcoe. I can't remember the exact price but it wasn't that expensive and is very well engineered.
I cut my trailer tongue and did the insert but did not weld it bolted the insert on with 2 bolts , used 2 pins for the tongue to remove it ,had the wire for lights come out in the area of winch and used velcrove straps to fasten the wire to tongue when towing , worked great insert was tight but came out easy .
I did my own insert for next to nothing. I wouldn't do it with a really heavily loaded boat/trailer package though, unless you know the shear strengths of the bolts and/or pins. Don't cheap out on these items for sure. There is a BIG difference in bolt ratings. Mine rattles and clanks a bit going over bumps at slow speeds, but for the price, I don't mind that much. I slid the insert in about 2 feet, and the toungue has about two feet attached as well, for a solid connection, at least in my own opinion. Each 2 foot section has 2 bolts. I wonder what the MTO would say if I was ever pulled over for a trailer inspection?? hmmm
I thought about doing my own too but I would hate to find out the hard way that I miscalculated something or made a poor weld on a bracket. The fulton one has 8 high tensile bolts and special locknuts in each half of the coupling which only grip through the wall of the tube. This way they are like a bearing connection in a steel structure not in shear like a through bolt. It may seem like overkill but who really knows the stresses with all the combined forces involved? It is also an approved device so the MTO can't really give you any grief. Mine has about 15,000 km on it and I cannot see any wear on anything.
If you do make your own, I would avoid bolting all the way through a square tube in applications like this. You cannot properly torque the bolts without squishing the tube and under load, things can come loose. The loose bolts are really nothing but shear pins which can become a problem over time as they wear in the holes.
I love my boat too much to cheap out on something like this given it only cost about $100 as I recall. It sucks watching your own boat pass you on the highway...
If you do make your own, I would avoid bolting all the way through a square tube in applications like this. You cannot properly torque the bolts without squishing the tube and under load, things can come loose. The loose bolts are really nothing but shear pins which can become a problem over time as they wear in the holes.
I love my boat too much to cheap out on something like this given it only cost about $100 as I recall. It sucks watching your own boat pass you on the highway...
