moosehead
New Member
Just installed Fulton Swing Away Tongue Bracket from ETrailer, 3"x4" size is rated for 7,000 lbs. Strong, functional, clean install. Highly recommended.
A few tips with photos below:
1) Make sure you have enough room between winch stand and coupler - I had 9 1/2 inches which is plenty (insert joke here).
2) Use safety goggles and gloves as hot metal shavings fly, especially when drilling holes in steel. Don't get lazy here, metal splinters are nasty.
3) Use a metal blade for the Sawzall to cut the trailer - I bought 5 and only went through 2. Not a hard cut. Make sure to clear electrical wires and hydraulic brake line where applicable.
4) Drilling 16 holes was tedious and requires drilling a series of gradually larger holes to keep on center, ending with a 1/2" bit. I used cobalt metal bits and it went fine. The kit comes with a punch to start the first hole. The only PITA was drilling up from the bottom of the trailer for the aft bottom holes (might be easier to literally flip the trailer on it's side or upside down).
5) The only other specialized tool needed is a Torx 55 for mounting bolts. My kit only went up to T50, the T55 is large.
Mounted up cleanly and is plenty strong, both bracket itself and the mounting hardware.
Overall install took about 2 1/2 hours excluding hardware runs, adding conduit to the wire/brake lines at the hinge, and bleeding the hydraulic brake line. It saved me 27" with the swing away leaving plenty room to fit into the garage vs. leave her hibernating outdoors in very harsh winter conditions.
Though I haven't yet towed the boat with the bracket installed, I'm going to go ahead and give a big thumbsup, will report back next week after use.
A few tips with photos below:
1) Make sure you have enough room between winch stand and coupler - I had 9 1/2 inches which is plenty (insert joke here).
2) Use safety goggles and gloves as hot metal shavings fly, especially when drilling holes in steel. Don't get lazy here, metal splinters are nasty.
3) Use a metal blade for the Sawzall to cut the trailer - I bought 5 and only went through 2. Not a hard cut. Make sure to clear electrical wires and hydraulic brake line where applicable.
4) Drilling 16 holes was tedious and requires drilling a series of gradually larger holes to keep on center, ending with a 1/2" bit. I used cobalt metal bits and it went fine. The kit comes with a punch to start the first hole. The only PITA was drilling up from the bottom of the trailer for the aft bottom holes (might be easier to literally flip the trailer on it's side or upside down).
5) The only other specialized tool needed is a Torx 55 for mounting bolts. My kit only went up to T50, the T55 is large.
Mounted up cleanly and is plenty strong, both bracket itself and the mounting hardware.
Overall install took about 2 1/2 hours excluding hardware runs, adding conduit to the wire/brake lines at the hinge, and bleeding the hydraulic brake line. It saved me 27" with the swing away leaving plenty room to fit into the garage vs. leave her hibernating outdoors in very harsh winter conditions.
Though I haven't yet towed the boat with the bracket installed, I'm going to go ahead and give a big thumbsup, will report back next week after use.
Attachments
Last edited by a moderator:
