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Author Topic:   Making a swing or removable trailer tongue

Mark Gallagher posted 11-10-2002 07:45 PM ET (US)
I'm moving next Spring and plan to keep my boat in the garage over the winter months.
I need to make my trailer tongue removable.
Any tips? Who sells the parts. It is a load rite galvanized 2400 # capacity for 17 Dauntless and it has drum brakes.
Thanks, Mark
csj posted 11-11-2002 08:02 PM ET (US)
MARK, A FRIEND OF MINE BOUGHT A 16 VENTURE FROM CHESAPEAKE WHALER TOWN IN GLEN BURNIE MARYLAND, WITH THE PROMISE IT WOULD FIT IN THE GARAGE. HENCE THEY MADE A SWING TONGUE TRAILER. CHECK WITH SCOTT AT WHALER TOWN 410-636-3222 OR DAVE'S TRAILER'S IN GLEN BURNIE. IF YOU HAVE NO LUCK EMAIL ME DIRECTLY AND I'LL TAKE PICTURES OF MY FRIENDS FOR YOU
triblet posted 11-11-2002 09:28 PM ET (US)
csj: on the Interenet, it's considered rude
to shout (use ALL CAPS). And it's Ventura,
not Venture.
Mark: I had a local hitch shop make my
tongue removeable. They cut the tongue 2"
in front of the winch stand, made an insert
out of the next size smaller square stock,
bolted it to the old front part of the
tongue, and it attaches to old back part
with two of the big pins that hold a
hitch receiver on.
They welded some shims (fender washers) to
the new piece so it as a slip fit instead
of a loose fit.
I then had the new portion hot dip
galvanized.
And check with LoadRite. Boat trailers are
erector sets. If anybody has parts ready
to go it will be LoadRite.
Chuck
triblet posted 11-11-2002 09:29 PM ET (US)
And a side effect is that by using a
different set of holes in the new part, I
can extend the tongue 18", which is really
helpful for keeping my truck dry on one
crumby ramp.
Chuck
ShrimpBurrito posted 11-12-2002 12:20 AM ET (US)
Has anyone seen a swing or removable tongue on a trailer with I-beam construction?
EddieS posted 11-12-2002 12:30 AM ET (US)
I used a similar design as the EZloader swing tongue. They have a picture of it on their website. I used 4 triangular shaped pieces of 3/8 plate with a 3/4 bolt on one side and a 3/4 pin on the other. The tongue pivots on the 3/4 bolt and hinges out of the way. I used (4) 1/2 bolts on each side of the tongue and sandwiched the plates to the tongue, spacers were needed on one side to get the plates to mesh. Total cost was about 30.00 and 4 hours of labor. The only difficult part of bolting it to the tongue was aligning the holes. You have to clamp the hole assembly and drill a pilot hole, then you can finish drilling the holes out on the press.
Ed
Jerry Townsend posted 11-12-2002 11:13 AM ET (US)
One precaution with a 'swing' or 'removable' tongue on your trailer - inspect! your bolts and hinge pin at least each year and replace as necessary - because there will be wear. Wear will occur anywhere there is relative movement between two surfaces, however wear will be reduced by having a tight fit and restricting that relative movement.
ShrimpBurrito - having done a lot of welding, adapting a swing or removeable tongue to a trailer with I-beam construction is a bit more time consuming as the receptacle and the insert have to be built from scratch - but that doesn't present any major problems. ---- Jerry/Idaho
scarlson posted 11-16-2002 09:02 AM ET (US)
Mark,
Did a quick and dirty under $100 fix to get my Mountauk/Shorelander into the garage. went to a local steel shop bought 6' of box channel and bought an extra tomge wheel. Floor jacked the boat onto jack stands and pulled the entire tongue, whinch ans spare tire assembly out (note on my trailer front bow roller is on tongue so I chocked under keel) drilled two holes in box channel to match orig tongue added spare tongue wheel and voila now have room for Mountauk and 60 CJ5 in two car garage. boat for summer Jeep for winter kind of a year round toy room.
larimore posted 11-16-2002 02:26 PM ET (US)
I've had both types-
Had a machine shop cut one off, then weld a box inside the cut-off tongue and added a pin. Worked well. I now have a swing-tongue from "www.FloatOn.com" trailer. Works well too. Cost $176. Perhaps FloatOn will tell you who makes them. If you have trailer brakes, then you need the swing tongue, else the slip-in is fine.
super7 posted 11-19-2002 08:32 AM ET (US)
Looking at a new trailer for my v22 revenge and the manufacturer/dealer gave me the web site for one of the suppiers that they use and they have a swinging/removeable tongue for up to classIV trailer hitchs might be worth a look to compare to the others from above. Don't know how to do the link thing so.. www.tiedown.com. Sorry, I don't know anything more about them, but the guys that will be building my trailer seem to like the companies products.
Tony
triblet posted 11-19-2002 12:23 PM ET (US)
Tiedown engineering is one of the major
suppliers to the trailer biz. Some of their
stuff is available off the shelf at West. I've
used a few of their bits, and they seemed pretty
well made (heavy galvanizing, etc).
http://www.tiedown.com
Another supplier is something like Shoreline
(not Shorland'r, who makes pretty good complete
trailers).
Chuck

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Author	Topic: Making a swing or removable trailer tongue
Mark Gallagher	posted 11-10-2002 07:45 PM ET (US) I'm moving next Spring and plan to keep my boat in the garage over the winter months. I need to make my trailer tongue removable. Any tips? Who sells the parts. It is a load rite galvanized 2400 # capacity for 17 Dauntless and it has drum brakes. Thanks, Mark
csj	posted 11-11-2002 08:02 PM ET (US) MARK, A FRIEND OF MINE BOUGHT A 16 VENTURE FROM CHESAPEAKE WHALER TOWN IN GLEN BURNIE MARYLAND, WITH THE PROMISE IT WOULD FIT IN THE GARAGE. HENCE THEY MADE A SWING TONGUE TRAILER. CHECK WITH SCOTT AT WHALER TOWN 410-636-3222 OR DAVE'S TRAILER'S IN GLEN BURNIE. IF YOU HAVE NO LUCK EMAIL ME DIRECTLY AND I'LL TAKE PICTURES OF MY FRIENDS FOR YOU
triblet	posted 11-11-2002 09:28 PM ET (US) csj: on the Interenet, it's considered rude to shout (use ALL CAPS). And it's Ventura, not Venture. Mark: I had a local hitch shop make my tongue removeable. They cut the tongue 2" in front of the winch stand, made an insert out of the next size smaller square stock, bolted it to the old front part of the tongue, and it attaches to old back part with two of the big pins that hold a hitch receiver on. They welded some shims (fender washers) to the new piece so it as a slip fit instead of a loose fit. I then had the new portion hot dip galvanized. And check with LoadRite. Boat trailers are erector sets. If anybody has parts ready to go it will be LoadRite. Chuck
triblet	posted 11-11-2002 09:29 PM ET (US) And a side effect is that by using a different set of holes in the new part, I can extend the tongue 18", which is really helpful for keeping my truck dry on one crumby ramp. Chuck
ShrimpBurrito	posted 11-12-2002 12:20 AM ET (US) Has anyone seen a swing or removable tongue on a trailer with I-beam construction?
EddieS	posted 11-12-2002 12:30 AM ET (US) I used a similar design as the EZloader swing tongue. They have a picture of it on their website. I used 4 triangular shaped pieces of 3/8 plate with a 3/4 bolt on one side and a 3/4 pin on the other. The tongue pivots on the 3/4 bolt and hinges out of the way. I used (4) 1/2 bolts on each side of the tongue and sandwiched the plates to the tongue, spacers were needed on one side to get the plates to mesh. Total cost was about 30.00 and 4 hours of labor. The only difficult part of bolting it to the tongue was aligning the holes. You have to clamp the hole assembly and drill a pilot hole, then you can finish drilling the holes out on the press. Ed
Jerry Townsend	posted 11-12-2002 11:13 AM ET (US) One precaution with a 'swing' or 'removable' tongue on your trailer - inspect! your bolts and hinge pin at least each year and replace as necessary - because there will be wear. Wear will occur anywhere there is relative movement between two surfaces, however wear will be reduced by having a tight fit and restricting that relative movement. ShrimpBurrito - having done a lot of welding, adapting a swing or removeable tongue to a trailer with I-beam construction is a bit more time consuming as the receptacle and the insert have to be built from scratch - but that doesn't present any major problems. ---- Jerry/Idaho
scarlson	posted 11-16-2002 09:02 AM ET (US) Mark, Did a quick and dirty under $100 fix to get my Mountauk/Shorelander into the garage. went to a local steel shop bought 6' of box channel and bought an extra tomge wheel. Floor jacked the boat onto jack stands and pulled the entire tongue, whinch ans spare tire assembly out (note on my trailer front bow roller is on tongue so I chocked under keel) drilled two holes in box channel to match orig tongue added spare tongue wheel and voila now have room for Mountauk and 60 CJ5 in two car garage. boat for summer Jeep for winter kind of a year round toy room.
larimore	posted 11-16-2002 02:26 PM ET (US) I've had both types- Had a machine shop cut one off, then weld a box inside the cut-off tongue and added a pin. Worked well. I now have a swing-tongue from "www.FloatOn.com" trailer. Works well too. Cost $176. Perhaps FloatOn will tell you who makes them. If you have trailer brakes, then you need the swing tongue, else the slip-in is fine.
super7	posted 11-19-2002 08:32 AM ET (US) Looking at a new trailer for my v22 revenge and the manufacturer/dealer gave me the web site for one of the suppiers that they use and they have a swinging/removeable tongue for up to classIV trailer hitchs might be worth a look to compare to the others from above. Don't know how to do the link thing so.. www.tiedown.com. Sorry, I don't know anything more about them, but the guys that will be building my trailer seem to like the companies products. Tony
triblet	posted 11-19-2002 12:23 PM ET (US) Tiedown engineering is one of the major suppliers to the trailer biz. Some of their stuff is available off the shelf at West. I've used a few of their bits, and they seemed pretty well made (heavy galvanizing, etc). http://www.tiedown.com Another supplier is something like Shoreline (not Shorland'r, who makes pretty good complete trailers). Chuck