Fold away hitch

[Dgsafe]

Hi, building my new shop to house the new campion 622 but I want to have a fold away hitch to give myself even more room.
The trailer is a ez loader with a 3x5 beam
Has anyone had any experience with using them, good or bad
Anyone local around Nanoose Bay that you can recommend to properly install them
Thanks

 

[Rain City]

Hi, building my new shop to house the new campion 622 but I want to have a fold away hitch to give myself even more room.
The trailer is a ez loader with a 3x5 beam
Has anyone had any experience with using them, good or bad
Anyone local around Nanoose Bay that you can recommend to properly install them
Thanks

My first boat came with one. After the first trip on the highway I bolted it together. They really seem to cause a lot more bouncing and scary noises. Maybe I just had a cheap one.

 

[casper5280]

I personally would never have one on anything bigger then a small tinny. The bolts break or bend and someone on here I believe even had theirs break. I would rather have some type of receiver hitch type tongue that slid in and out.

 

[Rockfish]

I know of an old guy who could not fit his boat and trailer in his garage, so he cut out a small opening in the bottom of the steel garage door for the hitch section to stick through. You could set it up kind of like a doggy door for a smaller dog and make a steel hinged swing up mini door that closes down over the small opening when the trailer is not in the garage or perhaps even a swing down cover box. If yours will already fit in the garage, and you just want more space, obviously this won't help.

With all the stories of things going wrong while towing a boat, I am thinking it may be best to leave it original from a safety, warranty, retained value and insurance perspective and just eat the extra space requirement. A commercial built trailer is expensive and likely an engineer designed it to meet government mandated standards. Cue the lawyers if something goes wrong while towing it that has liability attached to the situation, and you have modified the trailer in a critical way with your own design. I guess if you could find a factory built one with a swing or removal option, that would mitigate some concern. If it is a commercial swing hitch that is added I assume the manufactures must have done a lot of testing for safety and size, weight of boat etc. so I guess there is also that.

That said, I do know a guy who has one of the swing type on the trailer for is 17 foot Malibu, and he has never mentioned having any issues with it. However, his boat is a bit of a garage queen and does not get towed much at all and then for relatively short distances. I don't know if he had the trailer modified or if the swing option is factory.

 

[Rayvon]

I would think your boat is too big/heavy to have a fold away,besides building the shop 4 Ft. bigger couldn't cost that much,could it?
Better idea ^^^^

 

[RevyG]

Fulton foldaway hitch, check yours

Just a heads up people that have this type of hitch. Mine was 2 months old and snapped, apparently the "new" ones are welded, not cast aluminum. Lucky I didn't lose my boat over the bank.

www.sportfishingbc.com

read my thread. Easy loader makes a new style that is actually part of the tongue. Way better, I have had no problems at all with this style. Stay away from the cut and bolt on option.

 

[walleyes]

Hi, building my new shop to house the new campion 622 but I want to have a fold away hitch to give myself even more room.
The trailer is a ez loader with a 3x5 beam
Has anyone had any experience with using them, good or bad
Anyone local around Nanoose Bay that you can recommend to properly install them
Thanks

Anything can be built for what a person wants but can someone do it right for you is the question. Have you tried to talk with ez loader to see if they offer a fold away for the rating of that trailer and boat. I’ve got a 16.5’ Lund Fury XL at home that has a fold away, much lighter boat than yours yes but that folding mechanism is every bit as strong as the main beam its self. There is definitely some junk out there but that doesn’t mean its all junk. Do some research, talk to some trailer manufacturers before making your decision.

 

[Dgsafe]

After further investigation, I tend to agree with what you guys have posted, the shop is maxed out for what I can build and will allow me to put the boat inside , I just have to tilt the motors to give more distance to walk by,too many toys lol, not a big issue.
thanks for the advice , much appreciated

 

[grey-cie]

I’ve been using one for almost 4 years no problem. Just carry an extra bolt and check it occasionally. I usually grease the bolt every 3 months . Mine is on a 22’ Seasport very heavy.

 

[Marko]

I have one which was factory installed on a new Highliner 4700# trailer. Its my understanding that 5000# is max for a swing away tongue. Its sags a little when towing, but big boat locked up in the garage is a nice upside.
i will keep a closer eye on it now re some of the failures noted above, but for sure would order again.

 

[Bryan Allen]

Dont walk away from a swing hitch RUN and dont look back. After having a Fulton hitch bend and break pins, and excessing play and wear , I will never have a swing hitch again. If you need more info, check out the Ifish board from Oregon

 

[grey-cie]

I just went and took mine all apart to check. Nothing wrong with mine. I’d suggest the people having problems are not installing them correctly or they have wrong tongue weigh. 4 years pulling #8000

 

[RevyG]

Good work checking yours. Mine was brand new, installed on brand boat and trailer package. EZ Loader sent out a memo to dealers to check. New system is a one piece welded not bolted on
So thanks for your suggestion but you are wrong
Glad yours is good. My new system seems way stronger and solid steel not cast.
if nothing else, since it was a new system to me, it is part of my pretrip and checked during the trip from now on.

 

[grey-cie]

Good work checking yours. Mine was brand new, installed on brand boat and trailer package. EZ Loader sent out a memo to dealers to check. New system is a one piece welded not bolted on
So thanks for your suggestion but you are wrong
Glad yours is good. My new system seems way stronger and solid steel not cast.
if nothing else, since it was a new system to me, it is part of my pretrip and checked during the trip from now on.

RevyG just followed your link on your hitch. Yes your case is much different I would think a casting error on fulton that would fail very fast. My reply was for all those cases of worn bolts and elongated holes which in my opinion is lack of maintenance or a poor install.

 

[donnie d]

I’ve been using one for almost 4 years no problem. Just carry an extra bolt and check it occasionally. I usually grease the bolt every 3 months . Mine is on a 22’ Seasport very heavy.

I need to replace the fixed bolt on mine and would not mind having a replacement pin in the truck. Where did you get these parts? I’m terrified of mine failing…

 

[Rockfish]

I used to tow my little Suzuki Jeep on the highway and into the deep woods on hunting trips. I had the tow system professionally installed, and I believe it was installed with higher-end bolts which are more costly and designed to be failure resistant in high stress and critical safety applications. They have coding on the top of the head which indicates what they are. I have heard that the bolts on some applications such as the ones that hold jet motors on aircraft, or on certain extreme speed race/sporty cars are incredibly expensive, but you likely get what you pay for. Other than knowing they exist, my knowledge base is rather thin. Trained mechanics would know a lot more about it. I once read that the critical bolts on some commercial aircraft are so expensive that they have to watch for fake black market bolts that are marked as the real thing but are lower quality. A long-winded way of saying, don't buy cheap bolts or parts for a critical safety application like this when you are replacing/installing them.

 

[grey-cie]

I need to replace the fixed bolt on mine and would not mind having a replacement pin in the truck. Where did you get these parts? I’m terrified of mine failing…

I took mine down to FastenerForce one on lower Hillside. They were able to match it up perfectly .