Swing Set Bracket Kit with 2 Easy 1-2-3 A-Frame Brackets and 1 Easy 1-2-3 A-Frame Middle Bracket

Before I start my review, you should know a few things. First and foremost I did NOT receive this item for free or at a discount. Second, I am a 34 year old woman who has no experience building anything like a swing set before. I hadn't even used a ratchet before now. I am a biochemist eye disease researcher and mother of a 4 year old boy with autism. My son, like many kids with autism loves to swing. And when I say "loves" that is a major understatement. His birthday is coming up and I wanted to get him a swing set. We just moved into a new house. Our old house had great trees for swings and this house doesn't. However, nice swing sets are SO EXPENSIVE to buy, so I started looking into the possibility of building one. While I don't have much experience doing anything like this, I'm all about trying! That's when I stumbled upon these brackets and decided I could do it. I'm glad I saw the "kit" version instead of just buying two of the brackets themselves. It saved me a lot of time and trouble buying the right hardware as well. This kit comes with everything you need to assemble the A frame except the wood and tools. I ended up making a basic A frame with a 10' top beam and 10' legs (they recommend 8' legs but I wanted to have a larger swing arc). Here's what I needed to complete the project: - This kit (which comes with two brackets and 28 appropriately sized lag bolts and washers) - One 10 foot 4x6 beam (Home Depot) for the top (be sure to get pressure treated lumber so it will last and won't degrade in contact with the ground) - Four 10 foot 4x4 beams (Home Depot) for the legs (can be anywhere from 8 to 12 feet but I recommend going longer, especially if you plan to anchor the legs in concrete or bury them in the ground. I opted not to bury them but just get some screw in ground anchors. - A drill and drill bit smaller than the lag bolts to pre-drill the holes (already had). I don't know what size exactly I used but it was one that came standard with my drill. - 2 swings. I already had this Deluxe Platform Swing by HearthSong that I bought on Amazon last year and my son loves it. I hung it in our tree using the yellow swing ties that you see pictured - also bought on Amazon. I decided to use them since I already had them. I bought the half bucket swing on Amazon for this project from Swing Set Stuff. - Safe-Kidz heavy duty swing anchor kit (again, Amazon) which came with two anchors, two clips, a drill bit and 4 lag bolts and screws. - Two 80" lengths of zinc chain (Home Depot). I guessed at this amount before building the swing set but only ended up needing about 70" for the half bucket. It all depends on what type of swing you're hanging and the age of the children. - Two Quick Links (Home Depot) to connect the chain ends to the swing - Ratchet and appropriate size bit (again, one that came standard with my ratchet that I already had) With all of this stuff I was able to complete this swing ENTIRELY BY MYSELF in just a couple hours time and that includes the shopping and loading/unloading!! The brackets take all the guess work and careful measuring out of the equation for you. Just slide the wood into the bracket, pre-drill the holes for the lag bolts and ratchet them down and your A frame is finished! A note about inserting the beams into the brackets. Other reviewers mentioned tight squeezes and having to sand or lubricate the beams and then beat them in with a rubber mallet to get them to fit. I was prepared with my orbital sander, dish soap and rubber mallet to do whatever it took but none of that was needed! The beams I bought slid right in with no effort whatsoever. It literally could not have been easier. I guess it depends on where you get your wood, but if it's TRULY 4x4 and 4x6 they should slide in to these brackets NO PROBLEM without sanding or lubricating. Before I stood it up (I actually did need help with that part) I measured and installed the mounting hardware for the half bucket swing in the top beam. The manufacturers of the hardware suggest measuring at least 15" away from the nearest structural element of the swing set. I went a little further than that. They also recommend spacing the hardware wider than whatever swing they will be holding. For standard swings 16" should be fine. That's what I did. Once I stood it up I hung and adjusted the platform swing using my ladder and tested it out myself to be sure it was sturdy. Holy cow this thing isn't going ANYWHERE! Even without being anchored to the ground (which I will do anyway) I was able to swing pretty high laying on the platform without the A frame even wiggling a tiny bit under my 130lb weight! When my husband and son got home from their daddy day that afternoon they were both blown away that I had done it myself and my boy was ECSTATIC!! He LOVES his new swing set and I love how easy it was and that it saved me money! So here's the final price tag on the one I built if it helps: Wood - $100 Bracket/hardware kit - $79 Half bucket swing - $40 Chain - $30 Swing mounting hardware - $28 I already had the platform swing and swing ties but they were $130 and $25 respectively That was only $277 out of pocket and a few hours on a Saturday morning for me which is basically amazing. Total cost including the stuff I already had would put it at $432. For a swing set of this height and sturdiness you would be hard pressed to find something cheaper. Also, this would be very easy to add on to! I intend to add wood planks to the side of the A frame and build a climbing wall on one side and add a slide to the other! Plus I'm so proud of myself that I did this. I love sticking it to gender roles! I'm telling you, if I could do this, anyone could do this! I have nothing but the highest praise for these brackets and highly recommend them to anyone who thinks swing sets are too expensive or is contemplating building their own! One more free tip for you newbies like me: When working with pressure treated lumber, WEAR GLOVES!!!! Splinters from pressure treated wood are NASTY and will get infected really quickly so save yourself the pain and trouble and just wear gloves from the start. I really hope this helps someone else! Good luck and have fun building!

These brackets are very sturdy and keep you from having to cut much (perhaps any) wood. For me, the 4x4s slipped easily into their holes. I used 10' 4x4s. Because there is wiggle room on the 4x4s, it is possible to bolt them down and have one A-frame be considerably wider or narrower than the 2nd A-frame (assuming you are buying two of these to make a traditional A-frame swing). I put a cross piece between the legs on each side using the same length 2x6 wood at the same distance from the bottom of the legs. That way I knew both A-frames had their legs the same distance apart. I wanted to add the cross brace anyway for a little more reinforcement. I cut the cross brace so the ends had the same angle as the legs. If you didn't use a cross brace, you wouldn't have to cut any wood at all. The 4x6 didn't have as much play, but slid on easily. The 2nd bracket had the weight of the legs pulling on it so I couldn't slide the 4x6 through by hand. A rubber mallet had it easily moving down the 4x6 though. With the 10' legs, it took some effort to stand it up. I tried by myself at first, but eventually my wife helped and we had it standing up. I am glad I went with 10' legs as I wanted that extra height to get a nice big arc for more thrilling swinging. I highly recommend securing the legs into the ground with some method. I went with concrete. I had several people caution me against putting the legs in the ground because they can rot fairly quickly. I used Simpson CBSQ44-SDS2 4x4 holders that let you sink a metal "U" shape in the concrete and then provide a metal plate for the 4X4 to sit on on. They are pricey, but worked out nice. I sank them in the concrete at an angle so the metal plate met the 4x4 legs squarely. Now that the legs are in concrete, the swing set is very stable. It is up to you to decide how long you want the 4x4s for the legs and 4x6 for the main beam. I think 10' is great for the legs (actual height will be a little less due to the angle they are at). 8' wood be OK. If you put the legs in the ground, you would have to subtract that from the height. For the 4x6, I saw a wide range of recommendations from no longer than 8 feet to up to 12 feet. I found several commercially made swingsets/kits that used a 12' 4x6 so I went with 12' and I am glad I did. 12 feet gets used up quickly with a few hanging items. The legs of the A-frame angle out (not just to make the A-shape, but also in the "outside" direction). This makes it so you can hang a swing on the 4x6 right at the bracket and have plenty of side to side room so you don't hit the legs while swinging and you get a little sideways. I put a rope right in the middle of my 4x6 and put all my 240 pounds on the rope. I couldn't see the 4x6 bend at all. That gives me confidence that three kids swinging (even with their dynamic load) would not stress the 12' 4x6. Overall I think these are excellent brackets. They are a little pricey since you have to buy two, but they are built well and make swing construction easy. Edit: over a year later these are still working great. I added some monkey bars next to the swing set and touched up the stain (Behr 3330 stain/paint Redwood color) on the swing when I stained the monkey bars. Picture added.

Works as it should. Very sturdy, comes with all hardware needed..

Good and strong. Made for much easier angles and timber connections.

More quality than expected. Very satisfied

Works well.

Good product, excellent sales & shipping service!