Eastern Jungle Gym Easy 1-2-3 A-Frame 2 Brackets for Swing Set with All Mounting Hardware, Green

I bought it to make a swing for my son, it fits 4x6x10, easy, I didnt have to push hard as expected. Putting 4x4x8 legs were also easy, it is sturdy and saved me a lot of time and secured my swing. Highly recommended.

Many years ago, my father bought a swing for our camp property that has sentimental value to me. Over the years, it has seen its share of weather and was starting to look pretty ragged. When he passed away in 2020, one of the first things I wanted to do was rebuild the swing. Whoever built it originally had basically just nailed some boards together and this was an awesome find for the rebuild. I was able to get it put together over the course of a couple of days (staining and sanding time included). Now the swing is stronger than ever -- a theory tested when I went to the property a couple of months ago to find a decent-sized tree had fallen on it... but it was still standing and still sturdy.

As many other reviewers have noted, these brackets are very tight fitting on a 4”x6” cross beam. I took the brackets with me to a wood yard and I recommend you do the same. The yard I went to had a new bundle of 12’ 4”x6”s. I sorted through about 10 before I found 2 that the brackets would slip over both ends tightly. The other 4”x6”s would have had to be planed down 1/8”-1/4” to get the brackets to fit. The beams from the yard I was purchasing from were ‘Yellow Wood’, so that shows you what variations in dimensions you could get from a random 4”x6” from the supply store. The brackets have all of the hardware needed to affix to posts and cross beams. There were no issues with any 4”x4” posts fitting. Even though I made sure the brackets would slide over the ends of the 4”x6” cross beams, I still had to use a block of wood and hammer to get them to slide all the way on. I drove them all the way flush to the ends of the beam. If you wanted a 3’-4’ overhang, it would be difficult to get the brackets to slide that far without planing down your cross beam. I made a 24’ swing, so I used these brackets on both ends and a middle support bracket to join the 12’ Cross beams. The middle support bracket seemed to be a little larger than these brackets and went on both ends of the cross beams with relative ease. I installed hardware to hang 3 swings on each 12’ Beam. This allowed for 22” from cross beam end to the first swing and 20” center to center for each swing hanger and 20” between each swing. This is very spacious for my girls (10 and 7) and the 20” spacing also allows ample room for adults to swing. You could certainly fit 4 swings on a 12’ Beam if you needed too. With the 4”x4” posts angled out on the end brackets, you could get by with starting your first swing hanger at around 14” from the end of the beam and be fine. I used 12’ 4”x4” posts to allow the girls to swing higher. I also used a 2”x6” brace on each set of 4”x4” posts. I did not trim the ends of the posts where they join the dirt and I have not anchored my swing set. I tested it out by swinging as high as I could and this set does not move at all. I may bury 4 posts on each end of the swing set and screw the ends of the 4”x4”s too just to be safe as the girls get older and wilder. I attempted to stain and waterproof my wood before putting it up, but it was just too green to hold the stain. I’ll come back and do that in a couple of months. I did have the luxury of using a front end loader to hold the cross beam in the air while I stood the 4”x4” posts up and into the brackets. Most slid right in and tight. If they didn’t, I got on ladder and rocked the cross beam while pulling down and they easily slid the rest of the way down on the 4”x4” posts.

Made building a swing for our daughter fast and strong

So while I just put this together today (2/15/19) I wanted to give an initial review on putting it together mostly because I used a 16ft 4x6 cross beam, which I hadnt seen any pictures for so I wanted to share so folks could have more examples. I used 4 10ft 4x4s for the legs and that 16ft beam. I plan on getting some 2x4s to eventually connet to the bottom of the 4x4 and cement those into the ground or buy some of the anchor kits online. As of now this thing and the weight isnt going anywhere :). The brackets (similar to others) worked well, but I had to sand down the 4x6 and then use a rubber mallet to get it in place. Not a huge deal. The 4x4s all went in with no help needed. I drilled pilot holes for the hardware that it came with and with a simply ryobi impact drill they all went in easily. The big challenge I knew would come from standing it up as I hadnt seen any reviews with the 16ft beam. Looking at a wood beam weight calculator this was right around 300lbs. I luckily had one buddy swinging by so 2 guys were able to stand this beast up. I only added one toddler swing for now that I transitioned from my parents house and I have two of the jungle gym standard swings coming. I plan on adding a 4th saucer type swing and might see if 5 things fit. As of now this gets 5 stars for ease of use. Im not crazy handy and this was as easy as it gets. The big thing will be to tell how well the 16ft beam supports a full load, but we only have 1 kid, with another on the way. We have friends over a lot that have multiple children which is why I made it big. I see no lag, but again it was just installed. I was going to do a 12 and as of right now am glad I got a 16ft top beam.

When you install your 4x4x8 legs, the inside edges of the 4x4s that touch at the top (as extended inside the bracket) form an isosceles triangle with long side 95 7/8 and short side 74 7/16 (so in that triangle plane, the legs have an angle of approx. 22.8 degrees from the middle of the triangle) The other angle (which extends over the long length of the assembled swing) is approx. 14.5 degrees from vertical. The net result of this is that you make 4 marks on each of the lines that form the corners of your 4x4. The outer corner you leave (the existing corner is the mark). The inner corner, make a mark 2.5 from the bottom. The corner that is inside-long-way/outside-short-way, make a mark 1 from the bottom. The corner that is outside-long-way/inside-short-way, make a mark 1.5 from the bottom. Now join up these 4 points with lines. These lines form a plane, and you can cut the plane with a sawzall with a long blade. The legs will now sit flat on the ground.

These brackets are great! Made putting together an A-frame swingset extremely simple. We bought the following from Home Depot: -12 ft top beam (6 x 4 pressure treated beam) - 4 x 10 ft side legs (4 x 4 pressured treated beams) Then we got swingset anchors for all sides. We went with the 12 ft top beam because we wanted to get as much space on the beam as possible. We got the 10 ft side beams because it gives more swing radius/height for when my kids get older. However, we could have easily done 8 ft beams on the sides. Once we had the beams, we sanded the rough edges to prevent splinters, then coated with stain/sealer before putting together. We did have to sand 2 of the beams at the end where they go in to the brackets. Id read about that from another review and glad I did. Beams are not uniformly cut and not exact, so just make sure you have a sander handy in order to get the ends in, if needed. The whole thing took less than a few hours total. I should note that we are newbies to putting swingsets together, but Id read another review from a rookie whod put it together herself in a few hours, which gave us confidence we could do it. Bottom line, if we can do it, you can too! Also, highly recommend a disc swing and horse glider swing (those are the two we put on this). My kids love them!

So getting the posts into the brackets was likely the worst part. A couple went in smoothly, but the rest I had to sand down and plane away some wood and hammer on with a mallet to get them in. If your budget allows, I would recommend buying some decent quality galvanized lag bolts as the provided ones are pretty chintzy. I snapped one off and went out and bout some good ones. The two major complaints I have is that they should have formed these with a little thicker gauge material considering that A: they are expected to hold a 4x6 beam and B: you’re sinking 3” lag screws into them which causes them to distort a tad when you tighten them. I bought the center pie a as well and ran another 4x6 beam to extend it another 6 feet and am not super impressed with its sturdiness as well. However, all in all they are a decent product and I would recommend for a budget friendly option. We shall see how they hold up as time goes on.

I checked the dimensions of a 4x6 at both big box stores and they were all a hair too tall. Width was perfect. I took a skill saw and cut about 1/8” off the TOP of the 4x6 and was able to hammer the bracket on. The 4x4 legs fit with no modification, but was actually a little loose. If the manufacturer would make the bracket fit common available lumber it would go together without many tools. If you’re a competent DIY’er it’s no problem. You will need a friend to stand this up and move it around once assembled.

Well made brackets for what I’m constructing .