# Has anyone installed the Fulton swing tongue ?



## Andy Taylor (Jun 22, 2012)

I am going to install this on my boat and I have a couple questions. I'm installing the swing coupler with my own piece of 2" X 3" tubing. Where did you run your wiring? Did you run it thru coupler and tongue, or keep it on the outside? If I do use the swing feature(probably seldom) do I need to worry about the wiring inside getting damaged or frayed? Will mu 3/8" drive drill be good enough, or will I need a 1/2" drive drill? Tubing is 1/8" thick. Thanks.


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## nlester (Jun 22, 2012)

3 weeks ago. I park my boat in my garage and I have used it 6 or 7 times. I am happy with the results. The only negative so far is the weight it adds to the tongue.
A 3/8 ” drill worked fine for me. I used the included center punch to mark all the holes and used a progression of drill bit sizes, ending with a new ½” bit. I did not remove my boat from the trailer, so I drilled a small pilot hole in the bottom holes and then drilled all the remaining holes from the top of the tongue.
My wiring was in my tongue and I cut it when I cut the tongue. I used a flat file to remove all burrs from the cuts. I rewired my trailer, going inside the tongue. I used a piece of corrugate tubing at the hinge from Radio Shack. It is 3/8” by 3 ft. I ran the tube about 18” on each side of the hinge. It looks like it is going to work fine. It can be put on the wiring after it is assembled because it has a slit in the side. It can even be added after the job is complete. 
I used permanent thread lock compound on all my screws and bolts. I did not know there was such a thing until I went to Auto Zone. I installed both the back bolts in each piece before I installed the front bolts. I put the hinge together after I got it fastened to both halves of the tongue. I used a punch to flatten the threads on the hinge bolt after I got it assembled to make it harder to remove at the ramp.
The hardest thing to do was installed the rubber spacers that go between the two pieces, I used oil and a pair of channel locks to squeeze the spacers in the hole. clean up your space around the tongue before you install the spacers so you can find them if the fly out while you are trying to squeeze them in place. 
It was easy and just took time. You probably need to either use a jack stand or make a stand to hold up the front of the boat when the hinge is folded back.
Good instructions online at etrailer.com
PM me if you have any questions but it is pretty straight forward as long as you put the back bolts in before you install the front bolts, I did a dry run with without the tread compund first but did not tighten the bolts.
I did it to cut out 4 inches of damaged tongue.


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## Andy Taylor (Jun 22, 2012)

Thanks for all the advice. By the "back bolts", do you mean the bolts holding the coupler on the rear side of tongue?


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## nlester (Jun 22, 2012)

Install the hardest bolts to install first. These are the bolts that require you to reach deep inside the trailer tongue to install the nuts. 
Save the bolts up front, next to the opening until last because it is easy to screw the nuts on the bolts next to the opening. If you install the bolts next to the opening first, you will not be able to reach the bolts behind them with the wrench or your fingers because the opening will be obstructive. 
If you try a dry run first, you quickly see it is the only way to do it.
Tighten the bolts deepest into the tongue before you install the ones closet to the opening. If the holes get slightly out of alinement, run the drill through the holes again. 
Assembly time was important to me because I was using the permanent thread sealer.


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## Andy Taylor (Jun 23, 2012)

That makes sense. 

UPDATE: I think I have a problem. I was just reading the installation instructions online, and it says my trailer tongue material must be at least .188 thick(3/16" thick). There's no way mine is that thick, it's 1/8" thick at the most. I guess I'll have to wait until Monday to call Fulton about this. DAMN !! Any thoughts?

If I sleeve it(on outside) with 3/16" steel tubing, how much overlap is considered minimum on each side of my tongue cut? My first choice is to sleeve it in the front of tongue, but the overlap would only be 13" on each side. Is that enough overlap, or do I need to go to option 2? Thanks.


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## nlester (Jun 23, 2012)

I found my instructions for the fold-away coupling. They are good for all sizes from 2" x 3" to 3" x 5". Bolt on or welded. Mine say material thickness should be between .188" and .120". I interpet that to be from slightly to be from slightly over 3/16" to just under 1/8". You should be okay. The objective is to not have the trailer tongue so thick that it will not fit in the coupling and not so loose that it is sloppy inside of the fitting. If yours is like mine, the wall is about 1/8" thick and it fits in the coupling without a lot of play. I think the thickness of the tubing has to do with how well the tongue fits the coupling and not strength.View attachment SCN_0007.pdf


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## Andy Taylor (Jun 24, 2012)

Thanks nlester. I mis-read that info. It seems odd though that they would list the larger dimension first: "between .188 and .120". I wonder if it's supposed to read between .188 and .220. I will find out on Monday. I know my tongue is less than .125, but I don't know what the gauge is. The tubing I bought is .125 and the tongue is noticeably thinner. I bet it's less than .120. I'll have to call Karavan also, and maybe they can tell me the gauge of my tongue.


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## nlester (Jun 24, 2012)

Better safe than sorry.


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## Andy Taylor (Jun 24, 2012)

I measured my tongue today and it's a smidgen over 1/16". That is not a typo, 1/16" thick. So that must be .070. 1/16" thick would be .063. I will be calling Fulton tomorrow.

UPDATE: I just talked to Fulton, and there's no way I can use their swing hitch with my thin tongue. Now it's back to sleeving it or replacing the whole tongue.


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## nlester (Jun 26, 2012)

Nothing seems simple. Good luck.


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