Play In Swing-Arm..

[Seafever]

There is some play in this swing-arm..where the bolt goes through the hinge.
If I move the front part of the tongue up and down it is getting a little bit sloppy.

The other side takes a pin so not much can do there.

If I tighten the bolt up lots then the tongue may not swing freely.

Got any ideas?

 

[Gear'n'beer!]

Sea fever most likely you have some wear on the hinge and bolt. Can you tell if there are bushings in there at all? If there are you can likely buy or have a machine shop make you some, if not you can have a new fitted bolt made. If you do have a new fitted bolt made you might want to have a new pin machined also. Put some good quality marine grease on it when you reassemble. If you were in Victoria I would help you out.

Good luck,
GnB

 

[Cuba Libre]

IMO the swing tongue is a POS.. I HAD one on my Rogue trailer and the constant play eventually weakened the pin so that it failed. Very dangerous. I took the trailer to a welding shop and had them totally remove it and put in a solid tongue. Problem solved.

iFish has a pretty good discussion here... http://www.ifish.net/board/showthread.php?t=864050

 

[KV1]

That tongue comes with a rubber grommet that goes between two castings. It wears out fast so replace it with some heavy duty rubber strips between the castings. Problem solved. Depending on your application and how it was installed those are rated for some pretty large weights and properly installed should outlast the trailer. Installed IAW manufacturers instructions is key those bolts are loaded in shear and it's pretty unlikely they will break there. If they do you have done due diligence as far as ICBC will be concerned.

 

[gungadin]

From your picture, it appears that you need safety chains. Not just from the swing arm section, the chains must extend and be secured to the ridgid section of the reach, as well as the swing arm section. If the swing arm were to separate at the joint, no chains would be there to prevent your trailer from remaing attached to the tow vehicle. As it appears you do not have brakes on your trailer ( I see no brake lines in your picture) the results could be catastrophic and possibly not covered by insurance.

 

[Corey_lax]

Not all trailers have brakes....

 

[SpringVelocity]

I wouldn't worry about myself. Part of normal wear. If look closely thats pretty heavy duty there you have a strong fasteners held in tension with additional 8 torx fasteners as well. Thing is over designed, and most likely nothing to worry about. Most likely wont move anyway once you apply tongue weight to it.

 

[gungadin]

So true, many trailers do not have or require a braking system. However those that do also require a break away provision that would apply the trailer brakes in the event of a disconnect from the tow vehicle. This additional measure would not operate if the safety chains are not connected to the reach.