Swing Tongue

[tmakos]

I bought a 2009 Basscat Puma about a month ago and noticed my swing tongue had some slop in it when the strap was loose. The pictures show the gap when the strap is loose. Is this normal or is it something that needs to be looked at?

[g352nv]

I dont see a issue, it also has TWO pins in it. You'll be a ok.

[Cajunhunter67]

Pull the removable pins and check for wear or stepping on them. I believe you are fine.

[Bass Cat Boats]

We have built thousands of these Pivot Tongue trailers and have seen very few issues.

BCB

[bassier]

We have built thousands of these Pivot Tongue trailers and have seen very few issues.

BCB

Hello. I’m having some serious bounce issues all of a sudden with my truck and trailer. 2016 PII. I haven’t changed anything since purchasing the boat. All of a sudden I’m having a bouncing front end on truck while towing a we bumps. Never happened before. Nothing in my boat has changed. I did put a new grade 8 bolt in the swing hinge and tightened it. That helped a little. I checked the hinge welds and haven’t seen any cracks. I have noticed that the swing pins are looser in their holes than they used to be. And I have some slop in the tongue up and down. Any solutions to this issue. It’s driving me nuts. I tow my buddy’s boat with no issues with the hop and you can’t even tell there’s a boat behind me. Thanks

[Bass Cat Boats]

IF the bow strap is under the second roller (lower) and pulling that bow down tightly onto the trailer, that should eliminate a lot of the play.

[barbarian]

Are you sure it’s the nose bouncing and not the receiver? Some hitches have quite a bit of play. They sell a little aftermarket bracket to stop that. If it’s the bow bouncing, make sure you’re getting boat far enough up on trailer.

[apdriver]

All of a sudden I’m having a bouncing front end on truck while towing

I would think this would be a shock or strut issue with your tow vehicle. I would look here with a critical eye and depending on the tongue weight between your BassCat and your buddies boat that could be the difference in their respective tow differences.

[bassier]

IF the bow strap is under the second roller (lower) and pulling that bow down tightly onto the trailer, that should eliminate a lot of the play.

I have always used it under the second roller and it’s as tight as I can get it. When tightening the bow strap it noticeably comes up quite a bit to have the right tension on it.

[bassier]

Are you sure it’s the nose bouncing and not the receiver? Some hitches have quite a bit of play. They sell a little aftermarket bracket to stop that. If it’s the bow bouncing, make sure you’re getting boat far enough up on trailer.

I purchased a u bolt type bracket with plate to stop the slop in the receiver. Like I said, everything I do is what I’ve always done and it just started doing this all of a sudden. Bow eye is always snug to roller since day 1.

[bassier]

All of a sudden I’m having a bouncing front end on truck while towing

I would think this would be a shock or strut issue with your tow vehicle. I would look here with a critical eye and depending on the tongue weight between your BassCat and your buddies boat that could be the difference in their respective tow differences.

Def not a truck issue. My boat tows the same behind my wife’s telluride and my buddy’s truck. I went from a 2014 High Country to a 2021 Denali Sierra and there were no problems. Then about 6 months in to having the Denali, the tow started to get worse and like I stated it got a little better by swapping out the hinge bolt. Not quite as much play. Only thing I’ve noticed is that the pins you remove are easier to put in and take out. Like they’re hollowed out some. And also the hinge pin was looser to out in and take out.

[bassier]

IF the bow strap is under the second roller (lower) and pulling that bow down tightly onto the trailer, that should eliminate a lot of the play.

Could it at all be possible that the actuator has slop enough to make it bounce when hitting bumps? Just a thought. I’ve had it at trailer shops and they all want to move the axles to shift weight. That’s not the problem solver. Always had a great ride with every Cat I’ve owned.

[bassier]

[Bass Cat Boats]

That’s really not much play and we are talking thousandths of an inch tolerances.

[lpugh]

Possible tongue height issue, increase it a 1 or 2 if the trailer set level now, shocks/struts on tow vehicle. Is not a Tongue problem.

[basshole51]

my 2004 and 2013 both had significantly more slop in them with strap loose and pins removed. no play when strap tightened and pins in "ready to tow"

[krindgen]

My MarineMaster looks worse than that and I don't tow a lot. With the MM trailers they don't have a ground wire across that joint. This causes loss of continuity and the truck's trailer plug disconnected thingy to come on a lot. I added a ground wire across the joint and it's much better. Betting a BCB doesn't have this issue.

[machinist]

Take a piece of shim stock or some material and open the tongue and put it the material in and close the tongue. Try to take any slop out and then pull it . If it still does it the problem is the truck. If it pulls ok then it is the trailer. At that point you can work on the problem.

[DennisMH&F]

Lots of great suggestions here and I would guess it has something to do with your tongue height, drop it an inch and you will probably be fine. There is one item that has not been mentioned that you may want to check which would be your trailer bunk boards. This is often overlooked but with carpet on them sometimes they can deteriorate without you noticing, allowing the boat to bounce up and down over rough pavement. I learned the hard way to check my bunk boards periodically after I had a bunk rot so bad on my first used boat that a trailer brace cracked the hull (aluminum Tracker).

[catdude28]

I like machinist’s idea. Putting in a shim will remove any slop and will tell you if the problem is that the holes for the two pins have been reamed out. If so, the fix won’t be hard.