Electric tongue jack on swing-around tongue

[Bill]

I lift the front on the corner jacks, retract the wheel so it's off the ground, swing away, and then lower the wheel to roll the TM the last few feet into position in the garage.

Perhaps I am misunderstanding, but I seem to hear you say that you put the full tongue weight of the TM on the wheel while the swing tongue is swung to the side. This is not a good idea, since the torsional rigidity of the A-frame and swing mechanism is compromised when you pull out the big pin, and apply a torque from the side. We had a big discussion of this a few years ago, in the context of broken frame welds in the swing tongue area. I found it in this thread

http://www.trailmanorowners.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3728

as well as an earlier thread which is referenced therein.

Bill

 

[ThePair]

You are not misunderstanding. That is exactly what I do, and it's something that I had discussed with both the dealer and someone at the factory prior to purchasing the TM. I do not swing with any weight on the front, but once swung to the side, I do roll the TM in the last 18" or so, then remove all weight.

I will call the factory this week to reconfirm. I have a feeling that they redesigned things with the swing tongue since that thread, but I will reconfirm and post here. The last thing I want to be doing is something that could potentially damage the tongue!

 

[ThePair]

Ok, just got off the phone with Mike from TM. He said that they have made some small modifications to the swing hitch over the last few years, but the purpose of those was to prevent the types of hitch damage seen in the aforementioned thread. As a result, he said that, as long as the TM was closed, and the ground was smooth without risk of a sudden drop or other sudden stress, then it should be absolutely fine to do what I'm doing. Seeing as I'm inside my garage (perfectly smooth floor) with the closed TM, it seems like I'm safe.

Obviously, this is something that can only be done in limited and set circumstances, but my set up seems to be one that allows for this.