# Removable Trailer Tongue Mod (How-to)



## firecat1981 (Nov 27, 2007)

This is a how-to on how I converted my old trailer to a removable tongue. This allows the front of the trailer to be pulled off so the furthest thing forward is the bow of the boat. all while keeping the tilt feature.


This is what my trailer looked like when I converted it to a swing tongue 9 years ago for my last boat. That was a 15.5ft skiff and this almost made it fit my garage. I still needed to swing it a few feet.


127 by kevin lefkowitz, on Flickr


As you can see the swing tongue did give me a bit of room, but it’s not enough for a 17ft boat. The major issue with a swing tongue is according to Fulton you can NOT mound anything in front of the hinge. Meaning the winch stand.


128 by kevin lefkowitz, on Flickr


Once I got the boat on the trailer it really became evident, I needed to do this mod. The winch stand has been moved to in front of the hinge here, Only for measurement purposes. Please note, there is no motor on this boat yet, so it will stick out much further as it's only about 6 inches from the back wall now.


20200130_203656_resized by kevin lefkowitz, on Flickr


First things first. I needed a sleeve. I considered making one out of plate steel, but my welding skills need some development. I have a 2x3 tongue, so I needed to find a 2.5 x 3.5 piece of steel and decided on 20” long. I drilled ½” holes, 4 on each side. 2 will be for the boat side and get bolted on. The other 2 will have ½” hitch pins holding the tongue on.


20200204_090517_resized by kevin lefkowitz, on Flickr


Most dimensional steel comes with a bit of a ridge on the inside from being welded. It needs to be removed before the tongue can slide in smoothly. I had to put a Dremel on a stick to get all the way down the inside.


20200210_150531_resized by kevin lefkowitz, on Flickr


20200210_150635_resized by kevin lefkowitz, on Flickr


After fitting it up I realized the tongue would work ok, but be to short once it is inserted into the sleeve for me to open the tailgate on my truck.


20200211_105646_resized by kevin lefkowitz, on Flickr


A quick trip to the mill got me 24ft of steel. Yes it’s overkill by about 21ft, but it’s actually way cheaper to buy it this way. I’ll build some tables and other things later out of the scraps.


20200211_123402_resized by kevin lefkowitz, on Flickr


I cut the tongue down, so the bow is actually about an inch and a half past the end of the sleeve.


20200211_134705_resized by kevin lefkowitz, on Flickr


Mocked up for measurements. Because there is about 1/8” play in each direction I’ll need to make spacers so it fits nice and tight.


20200211_144245_resized by kevin lefkowitz, on Flickr


I cut up some 16ga steel to use as spacers/shims and welded them in place.


20200212_193213_resized by kevin lefkowitz, on Flickr


I used a flap wheel to grind the spacers and welds until everything fit tightly inside the sleeve.


20200213_070530_resized by kevin lefkowitz, on Flickr


I then lined the parts up and drilled the matching holes.


20200213_070558_resized by kevin lefkowitz, on Flickr


I cut the safety loop off of the old tongue and welded it on the new one.


20200215_142831_resized by kevin lefkowitz, on Flickr


All the raw steel bits got coated with cold galvanizing compound. Then the sleeve and tongue I painted with hammer coat.


20200216_152106_resized by kevin lefkowitz, on Flickr


20200219_090807_resized by kevin lefkowitz, on Flickr


I decided to put a break away plug so part of the wiring harness will be attached to the removable tongue by zip ties. I also added a few new grounds, just in case.


20200217_151401 by kevin lefkowitz, on Flickr


20200218_120037_resized by kevin lefkowitz, on Flickr


Here is the final product, more or less. I have some bolts to tighten and need to attach the break away wiring harness to the front tongue.

20200219_101359_resized by kevin lefkowitz, on Flickr


With the tongue removed it makes a dramatic difference. It doesn’t look like it from this angle, but the bow is the furthest thing forward. All said and done I think it saved me about 26” of space. This will allow me to pull this 17ft boat straight into my garage, which is about 19’3” long.


20200219_101505_resized by kevin lefkowitz, on Flickr


This is just my way of doing it, there are many out there. I hope you enjoyed this modification. Let me know if you have any questions.


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## NativeBone (Aug 16, 2017)

Thanks for sharing


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## topnative2 (Feb 22, 2009)

Great job..as usual.
Kudos.


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## Mako 181 (May 1, 2020)

How about you just get a bigger garage?


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## firecat1981 (Nov 27, 2007)

Mako 181 said:


> How about you just get a bigger garage?


And the award for most useless comment of the day goes to....

But hey, why not play along. I can extend the garage, already looked into it, 20k at a minimum.
Why not move? A home of equal value with a bigger garage seems plausible right? If I can find one, I'll have to sell my home, that's minimum 12k to the realtor, 9-10k in closing costs, 1-2k in moving costs, and that's before adding my lost tax savings or any renovation.

Seems like a great option versus a $100 trailer mod.


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## Nagant1 (Apr 19, 2021)

I need to try this out. Any problems with it? I'd love to extend my so called garage but price of materials and elevation change behind garage would be insane for where I'm at.


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## firecat1981 (Nov 27, 2007)

Nope. Towed it over 200 miles this week with no issues at all. It works exactly as designed.


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## NealXB2003 (Jun 8, 2020)

Looks great. I do have one suggestion though, from someone who has been ran over by a runaway trailer........ shouldn't the safety chains be connected behind the extension. Should those pull-pins in the sleeve fail, your safety chains won't do much good.


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## firecat1981 (Nov 27, 2007)

I thought of that, but the likelihood of both pins failing is zero. Really only one pin is needed, the second is for redundant safety. Plus in order for the extention to come off the winch strap would have to fail as well since it's still attached to the boweye.

There is more chance of a coupler failing, but that is what the chains and safety loop are for on a trailer. Plus with chains that long there is no chance the trailer would come to rest on them and you'd end up with a pogo stick.


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## DBStoots (Jul 9, 2011)

Brilliant. A lot of respect for you and other DIY guys.


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## firecat1981 (Nov 27, 2007)

A quick update on this one. It's been a few years, and several thousand miles. She's still soild as a rock.


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