Retrofit swing hitch

Jxr3875 · 05-20-2020, 08:08 PM

Hello all,
Prospective owner here, looking at 3124 and wanted to know if anyone had luck retrofitting a swing hitch and also where you had it done and what did it cost?
Thanks,
Jeff

**Bill** · 05-21-2020, 09:21 AM

In the many years I have been on the Forum, I think we have had one or two retrofits discussed, so it can be done. However the posts were made a long time ago, and the owners may no longer be on the Forum. You may have to use the Search tool to find their posts.

Bill

**Larryjb** · 05-21-2020, 10:02 AM

Just a little hint, when using the search tool, you may have to change the "Any Date" "And Newer" under Find Posts From to "Any Date" "and Older". I didn't know about that when I first jointed the forum.

This sparked a question though. Apparently some swing away hitches from the factory developed cracks at the welds. This leads me to question how safe swing away hitches are. I assume that, given the receiver is welded or bolted to the frame of the vehicle, and the tongue is welded to the frame of the trailer, it should make no difference in safety. But if I had a welding shop make this modification, I'd make sure they know their welding.

Shane826 · 05-21-2020, 11:42 AM

I made a detachable A-Frame on my 3326. Rick Stockton (Facebook page) has an impressive add-on swing hitch, too.

Jxr3875 · 05-21-2020, 04:38 PM

Thanks Shane, would you mind sharing details?

**rickst29** · 05-22-2020, 10:12 AM

It may have started as a factory hitch: In 2006, only the hitch side "swinging" portion had a crossbar in the factory version. But it may have been entirely built from scratch - the "factory-like" crossbar used 5/16" steel L-bars, while the factory original might have only been only 1/4".

The biggest difference (from the factory Swing Hitch in 2006) is the addition of a crossbar on the TM side. When the hitch is swung closed, it fits very tightly inside the C-like hitch-side crossbar (which is the factory equivalent, built by welding two L-bars together). And, the hitch pin reinforcement on the street side (the side which swings away in my case) was built by bending a stick-up tab of that "inner crossbar" over the TM portion, rather than merely welding an entirely separate small plate. (One side was the bending side, the other sides were welded). This inner crossbar is made of 1/4" steel. Other add-on clamps for the two hitch pins were made of 5/16.

The first photo shows the inner crossbar (TM side), with just a bit of the hitch-side crossbar shown on the left. (This is a "mostly swung-out" photo). If you look closely, you see that the outer hitch-side crossbar has had the portion of weld which sticks out ground down to be level, so that the two crossbars have tight contact when it is swung into travel position and clamped by the hitch pins.

In the second photo, I show the detail of that 'bended-then-welded' street side hitch pin reinforcement. The 3 other reinforcements (lower one on street side, both on the curb side) are made of 5/16 metal, but independent flat and L-shaped pieces.

Finally, my swing hitch has safety chains on both Street side and curb side, linking hitch and TM portions together for additional safety. The hitch side has a ring with threaded lock, the chain has one link fully welded to the A-frame arms on the TM side. The chains are stronger/bigger than my "1K" swing hitch chains.

It all deserves a fresh paint job, it's developed a bit of rust over the years.

FlyboyTR · 05-31-2020, 03:26 PM

My 2007 2720 has/had the swing hitch. Everything was worn to a point I questioned the safety of it. I just welded everything up and also added several gusset plates and backers. Now I don't have flex. I'm much happier this way.