[mikeinri]

Hey guys,

We have an old metal swing set that came with the house, and doesn't get used now that we have a wooden set.

Before we scrap it, I was wondering if any of you have done something more creative with the available metal? Fab up something for a tractor, etc?

Mike

 

[bontai Joe]

The typical swing set has metal tubes for legs, and if not too rusty, can be used for all sorts of projects. Keep in mind that a swing set was designed to see loads of maybe 200 to 300 pounds total spread out over the set. So you won't have much in the way of heavy duty anything, but I would certainly add the material to "inventory", especially if you can totally disassemble it. I would guess the nuts & bolts are pretty much rusty scrap.

 

[Tractor-Holic]

I've made a few exhaust pipes for my pickups out of the tubing before!...my friend took one look at the "stripes" on my pipes and rolled his eyes and said "tell me you DIDN"T make them out of a swinset"...so I didn't!......I had to braze all the bolt holes shut in the tubing...it lasted a LONG time,a lot longer than I thought too...


You might be able to make a light duty gantry crane out of one if the pipes are in good shape,it would be useful to hoist a tractor or engine up ,as long as you dont try overloading it too much..
t!...

 

[Ken in NJ]

If your a deer hunter, they are great to hang deer from.

One thing I remember from my childhood, no swingset during deer season. There was usually a deer or two hanging from ours.

 

[GT_80]

If your a deer hunter, they are great to hang deer from.

One thing I remember from my childhood, no swingset during deer season. There was usually a deer or two hanging from ours.

Ken I keep seeing the Yuengling in your avatar... I wish we had it in Mass, last tie I bought some it was in New Jersey and I bootlegged it to Mass, and had one bottle a week for 6 weeks. I know it's not like the hardest beer in the world to get or the best beer in the world, but I like it and we don't have it here

 

[davidg]

narrow them up a little and they make great chain hoist mounts. a friend of mine in highschool had one that we narrowed to just wider than a car/truck. it could handle hoisting his 350 out of his Z28 just fine, and as a matter of a fact it did often since we were always working on that dang car! i dunno how the newer ones compare, the one he had was made in the 70's or 80's so it may have been a thicker guage than modern swing sets.

 

[cjet69]

Somewhere in the mid 70's, my dad built a land sailer out of our old swing set. It was alot of fun.

 

[Tom603]

It would be a good spot to hang tractor parts for painting.

 

[Poppa Dave]

Toss a good quality tarp over it and make a temp. shed for storage.
You could get 2 or 3 tractors under there.

 

[Oo-v-oO]

Ken I keep seeing the Yuengling in your avatar... I wish we had it in Mass, last tie I bought some it was in New Jersey and I bootlegged it to Mass, and had one bottle a week for 6 weeks. I know it's not like the hardest beer in the world to get or the best beer in the world, but I like it and we don't have it here

Agreed! There is even a group on Facebook dedicated to bringing Yuengling to New England.

I had a business trip to NY a number of years ago and did the same thing:

A friend of my wife's makes semi-regular trips to Indiana to pick up unfinished furniture and he will bring me back some Yuengling as well as Fat Tire if we ask him to.

I like the tractor shed idea and will probably do the same. A second swingset would be even better.

 

[mikeinri]

Good ideas. I'd say it's around 10 years old, so probably not going to use it as a cherry picker / engine lift any time soon...

I do like the idea of using it as a "shed," but my neighbors probably wouldn't. :lalala:

Mike