Swing Tongue free play

[Tim McNamara]

Just purchased a PGV16WT on a standard 2009 Tracker trailer. The swing tongue has a full 1-inch vertical movement at the coupler with the swing pinned in place. When hitched and you hit a bump this free play results in an annoying noise and jolt. It seems that this type of shock loading could lead to pin/bolt damage or failure. Is this amount of vertical free play typical? If not, are there any replacement bushings, bolts or pins?

 

[Donald Prater]

I don't have any play in mine at all. This is not normal.

 

[ND Bass]

I have very, very little play in my swing away tongue.

 

[G8rmac]

Sounds like something is bent or the pin was lost and replaced with one that is too small. No play or movement in mine and the pin is a tight fit.

 

[john horn]

I had some play when I purchased and I tightened up the hing bolt. Also check if they lubed it. It has a grease fitting and grease will fill the small void.

 

[Mike Clayton]

Thanks for the post Mcfish, checked mine and it has 3/4" movement so I think I will tighten the nut just a little, its got plenty of grease....

 

[TOMMY RICH]

If you don't need the swing away like I don't...

Put a bolt and nut in there...can't remember what size it was.

Mine was sagging with the pin so I removed it

 

[Tim McNamara]

Thanks for the feedback. Swing tongue fitting was lubed and tightened the pivot bolt more but the vertical free play is still 1-inch at the coupler. Also looked closely at the pin which is a close fit into the trailer piece but is a very,very loose fit in the swing piece. Looseness appears to be present in both pivot bolt and pin. What goes here? Any thoughts?

 

[Marty Klein]

Are you talking horizontal [left to right] or vertical [up and down]? If up and down, then your pivot bolt is too long. If left to right, then it could be that the holes in either the tongue and/or the trailer are too big for the bolt. Can't be much more than that.

 

[Mike Clayton]

My Pin bolt fits snug and takes a pull to get it out but still have up and down movement, pivot bolt is stock bolt.....I would think there should be some vertical movement...

 

[Marty Klein]

One inch in any direction seems to be too much and the constant banging on the bolt and or trailer parts can't be good. My tongue only has enough free play to allow it to swing, no up and down and no front to back movement of any kind.

 

[TOMMY RICH]

To be honest...when I first saw mine when I bought the boat looked pretty cheezy to me.:blink:

 

[Mike Clayton]

Just put a socket on my pivot bolt and it tightened right up so mine was loose but now no up and down movement and would agree with Marty there probably shouldn't be any....

 

[Tim McNamara]

Tried more torque on the hinge bolt - no change, still about 1-inch vertical (up/down) free play at coupler.



Disassembled the swing tongue. Found plenty of grease in hinge bolt bore on the swing part, likewise on the locking pin side. Both the locking pin and the hinge bolt are straight and show no significant wear. Both are very snug fits in their respective trailer mounting holes; no slop there.

However, both the hinge bolt and the pin are very, very sloppy fits in their bores on the swing part. Examined the bores on the swing tongue and found both to be oblong in the fore/aft direction by near 1/16th inch!!!

There is my problem. How did this occur on a low usage 2009 trailer? What now, any thoughts anybody?

 

[THOMMO59]

Mine is brand new and has that much play, all greased and tight etc. Then with the brake coupler moving up and down as well, there's alot of slack. First time I've owned a swing away drawbar and thought it was very sloppy but I none to compare so then I thought this is normal.

 

[Tim McNamara]

thommo59,

Sounds like Tracker Trailstar have a quality control problem if some swing tongue units have little or no vertical free play and others, even new ones like yours, have lots. On mine, a fairly modest bump in the road results in a loud noise and a noticeable jolt.

My concern is that this large ammount of vertical free play (about 1-inch at the coupler) and the resulting shock loading could break a locking pin or hinge bolt and lead to damage or worse yet a vehicle accident.

 

[THOMMO59]

I'll pull mine apart on the weekend and see if it is oval as well like yours but to repair it would be a pain in the butt! Have you got brakes on yours? I have the Tie Down model 66 Brake coupler and that in itself has lots of play.

 

[Mike Clayton]

Mcfish/Thommo....Just as info on mine....awhile back I changed mine from a right swing to left side swing and I probably did not tighten as much as I should have....I think my bolt socket size is a 15/16 and fits tight...no play on the pin or bolt side....that being said mine is tight but have to back track on my previous post, it still has some up and down but not as much as before.....