Trailer swing tongue?

Original factory swing tongue, tubing is 3″X4″, and the plates welded on are of thicker gauge than the trailer itself. It’s something I’m curious on. This trailer ain’t built like the dinky ones you see nowadays, but I don’t know how well welds hold up over time.

Typically the welds will rust out first I’m told bc of the paint doesn’t get a good hold on them. Any info greatly appreciated, safety chains won’t hold up a trailer they aren’t connected to

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I think you need to wire wheel or sand blast it first to really see what you are working with. On the trailer I have now it was not the weld that failed but the edge of the weld where it meets the steel.
DT

nhamm wrote:

Any info greatly appreciated, safety chains won’t hold up a trailer they aren’t connected to

Some trailers using a swing tongue will fasten the safety chains beyond the tongue onto the main frame.
extending the safety chains on your trailer, would at least solve that issue.

Like DT said wire wheel/brush it and see what you’re working with. Looks from those pics to be mainly just surface rust at this time which is mostly cosmetic. If everything looks ok up close with no flaking then get a rust converter paint that will stop the affects of rust and turn it into a protector. Eastwood makes a very good one. Apply it inside and out. Then you can paint over it.
http://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-rust-converter.html

Otherwise if you didn’t use a rust converter you’d have to get every last bit of rust off to stop the spread, even if gets painted. Rust doesn’t stop until it’s completely gone.

And as Huntindave said get longer chains, attach them to a solid point on the main trailer, then attach a secondary point to where they are attached now. Like in the picture attached.

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Great idea with the chains!

Agreed that chains should be attached to the trailer, not the swingable tongue!

My trailer has cables that are curled so they are long enough to attach to the trailer and won’t drag on the ground.