Swagman Swivel Hitch Extender - 2" Hitches - Dual Side - Swing-Away Hitch Adapter

Video Transcript for First Look at the Swagman Swivel Hitch Extender

Hey there, I'm Evangeline right here at etrailer. Today we're gonna talk about my first impressions of the Swagman Swivel. This is a swing-away attachment to be used with your hitch-mounted accessories. So you put this into your hitch receiver, you attach your bike rack. What we have today is the Swagman E-SPEC, and then, with a pull of a lever and a pull of a pin, you can then Swivel your whole system out. This gives you more access to things like lowering your tailgate, opening up your hatch, opening up the doors if you have this on a van.

Now, there are some pros and cons to this style of an attachment. While it gives you a lot of benefits, you're also gonna have to consider some things to make sure it works best for you. So let's talk about that. So what is a swing-away hitch adapter Well, what's included with a Swagman Swivel is gonna be this adapter base that fits into your two-inch hitch receiver. But to be able to handle the swing-away function, you need some extra parts.

So included is going to be your anti-rattle bolt. This comes with a clip at the end. You're also going to get a hitch stabilizer, which will be this collar here. Today, since this truck already had the etrailer anti-rattle collar, I didn't take it off and switch it, but you are going to get an anti-rattle or hitch stabilizing collar included with your Swivel. The next components of the Swivel are going to be this lever here.

This is what's gonna hold in a lot of that weight and it's what's gonna be what you use to really bring the tension into the base when you're ready to go and drive. And then finally, you're going to have your hitch pin and clip that holds the base in as a safety measure. Now, for your accessory, today we have a bike rack, and that bike rack incudes this anti-rattle bolt. So this will be an adapter to your hitch receiver. So where your hitch receiver's over here, it's just gonna extend out to over here, but now with the add-on swing-away function.

From all the different swing-away hitch extenders or adapters that I've worked with, and if you look through the different options, you'll notice that they tend to be labeled as passenger side or driver's side. And that just talks about the direction that the extender swings out to. And you always have to pick and choose which one works best for you and your vehicle. Now, what I've noticed here on the Swivel is it looks like all the brackets and all the parts are designed to be kind of symmetrical, meaning, while it's designed to be set up where you swing it out to the passenger side, like most extenders that swing away do, if you flip this over, everything would still line up in the exact same way where you should be able to swing this out to the driver's side as well. The reason you may wanna switch it up is maybe your vehicle has a swing-away door and that's the only direction that works for you, or maybe you find yourself parking in areas where you'd rather have things off to the driver's side or off to the passenger side. The next thing I look for is how far does the hitch extender swing out So the swings up relatively easily. I don't feel like it's bending down from the weight. And then we can go a full 90 degrees out. And we can also pull the pin that was holding that base in earlier, and this just pushes right back in with the holes that line up, and that secures our base. So here you can now load your bikes up, take your bikes off, you can hang out, you can set up your campsite, things like that. This is another reason why a lot of people prefer the passenger side swing-away, because, most often, the passenger side is where the curb is, the grass is where your campsite is, and then off to the driver's side when you're parked, that's usually where the road is and not where you want to have your swung-out bike rack. So as we're focusing on my first impression here today, if you ask me what I thought about Swagman Swivel, I'd say, well, it works pretty much just like any other hitch swing-away adapter. If you're curious about specs and weight capacities and things like that, those are all spelled out on our product page right here at etrailer. That will help you with those specific details when you need to compare things. However, there are some smaller features that I noticed that are a little different compared to the others, and you may wanna keep those in mind to make sure you get the most out of your Swagman Swivel. Sounds a little silly, but I like the bulkiness and density of all different brackets and the bolts, because if I'm putting a hitch adapter, hitch extender on my hitch, I need it to be able to handle that extra weight of swinging things out. So things like the anti-rattle bolt and how that needs a 22 millimeter wrench to tighten down, as well as the hitch stabilizer collar that they include, because the bolt reduces the rattle side to side, but the collar reduces the rattle up and down, and though it is very important to minimize the rattle all around. So that gives me a little bit of peace of mind as I'm swinging things out. The downside though, is it means I have some extra touchpoints and extra things to tighten down. Like, it's a 22 millimeter wrench for that anti-rattle bolt, it's a 17 millimeter wrench for the nut and bolt on the collar. And speaking of bolts, the second thing that I noticed is the location of the hitch pin hole on the extended shank and how close it gets to the lever for the base. So I'm using the Swagman bike rack, which is a Swagman bolt, which is pretty long, and it has a lock on the end. So notice the location of that lock and notice the location of the lever. I actually had to bring the lever in and undo it to an extent in order to tighten down that bolt. So something that doesn't make or break the base, but it is just a little interesting (lever thudding) and something to consider when using this extender. But those are just minor things in the grand scheme of functionality. Swagman likes to keep things functional, and if you've looked at all of their different bike racks and different accessories, you've noticed how they really focus on function, weight capacity, things like that. So this really is just going to be a swing-away hitch extender, fits into your two-inch hitch receiver, has an additional two-inch shank that's about 11 inches away, so you add a little bit of distance, but then you also add a lot of function, which could be a game changer for those different adventures or even different vehicles where you need the extra space, you need the extra clearance, and you like that swing-out feature for more of a campsite, more of a setup, and more to your journey. With that being said, I do really enjoy all the different touchpoints. All the welds look good. There's little cushions on the spot where the base swings out and being able to lock that base into place so it's not swinging around when you don't want it to is very helpful as well. Doing away hitch adapters are not a new idea. Different brands have had versions of this for years now. There are even bike racks that have a swing-away function integrated into the rack itself so that you know when you get the rack that the whole thing can swing out with your bikes. With that being said, while Swagman seems like it's a little late to the game, the offering they do have is pretty polished. It looks good, it feels good, it feels durable. And that's the most important thing for me, because if I'm adding an extra point of contact between my good hitch as well as my sturdy bike rack, I want to make sure that the extra piece there is not the weak link. And in this case here, after using it, swinging it around, clipping it into place, tightening bolts down, I feel pretty confident in the stability and durability of this extender, just like I'm confident in the durability of the Swagman bike racks. So with that being said, stay tuned here at etrailer, because we're gonna do a full review on this. We have a bunch of different test fits where we try it out with different vehicles and different racks, and all the different information that you may need to figure out what's the best fit for you and your adventure is right here on our website. But today, this is my first impressions of the Swagman Swivel Swing-Away Hitch Extender right here at etrailer.com.