Anyone build a BIG swing set?

dadsbee said:

NOPE, just a big slide that you can see from space!
View attachment 1156656

Click to expand...

I want to try that slide!!!!!

Scott Engelhardt said:

I want to try that slide!!!!!

Click to expand...

Anytime. Built it for our Daughter the Summer before she passed away. She got to use it for a couple of weeks at least, so it served it's purpose, but we have to keep using it in her honour! LOL

I built a couple of them some way better than others

my best was all used wood
from demos, construction job (an old pole barn)
8x8" x 20' A-frame on the ends all sanded & clear coated
cemented/concrete in place
Simpson strong ties/bolts connecting everything up top
16" auger used for the piers/cardboard tubes
like 4' down IIRC at an 60*/30* angle
with an old 8x16" x 20' glulam for the beam/hangers
d-ring & shackles for bindings with swivels
so the 1-1/2" rope
or 2" straps (lifting or tow straps) would NOT get all twisted up
leather seats 6x24" Lisa sewed in triangles connections on the ends
(she crafted horse tack/gear too)
it was almost 15' high (IIRC)
dangerous as ****
you could swing from 1 of 2 ropes in the center
reg knotted 1-1/2" rope swing
with a plastic coated 10# disc weight at the bottom
or a tire swing, with a 3 x 1"x 4' straps triangulated anchors
to a single rope & swivels anchor at the top
or the 1 of 2 swings with leather seats on either side

it was great, kids loved
I'd go out & swing on it a lot too
all their friends loved it
you could get to a tree off the rope swing,
it was sketchy as ****,
my brother Tim broke his arm falling off it
(not the sharpest tool in the shed)
trying it out, not a great start

we did get some used foam pads/liners from a wrestling center
like 20x20' from the HS for padding on one side,
when they got new ones
put it down on a lil' hill by the tree behind it
kids liked to bail off at like 6'-8' off the ground

wish I had a photos
I'll have to look thru the old slides & Polaroids

it was still up when I moved in 2007
it was up since 1997 when I 1st moved there

I used it a gantry with a chain fall, lifting heavy stuff
out of my truck/s Jeeps or off trailers etc., a few times too

@747mopar
good luck sounds like a cool swing
you're building for your kids

Done!!! Kids love it and I don't mind mowing around it. The daughter's boyfriend has gotten up to maybe 12'-14-, he's crazy and will likely get it up to 16'. I bought 3/4" Polyester rope, laced the rope around thimbles on 5/8" eyelets, she's not going anywhere.. even added a climbing rope.

747mopar said:

Done!!! Kids love it and I don't mind mowing around it. The daughter's boyfriend has gotten up to maybe 12'-14-, he's crazy and will likely get it up to 16'. I bought 3/4" Polyester rope, laced the rope around thimbles on 5/8" eyelets, she's not going anywhere.. even added a climbing rope.View attachment 1169602

Click to expand...

looks good sturdy too

they will enjoy it too, I'm sure

Question is, how high have you gotten on it? It looks like a lot of fun

We had a ranch down in N.E. Oklahoma that was crazy overgrown Ozarks. We swung out on vines over cliffs and treetops until the vines broke and we went crashing through. On a different ranch in S.E. Kansas there was a really old brick schoolhouse. Untouched inside and out. The crossbar on the old swing set was about 22' tall. I've seen this in old parks too.

The real killer was a merry-go-round like this one my neighbors had. Unlike this, the top was a pivot point. So it could lift you off the ground as you were swinging around. If you got caught between the pole and the bar that held the seats you were dead meat. We were like monkeys on that thing with no fear.



This is the curly-cue slide I went down a million times as a kid. The regular slides were tall enough to be scary.

747mopar said:

Done!!! Kids love it and I don't mind mowing around it. The daughter's boyfriend has gotten up to maybe 12'-14-, he's crazy and will likely get it up to 16'. I bought 3/4" Polyester rope, laced the rope around thimbles on 5/8" eyelets, she's not going anywhere.. even added a climbing rope.View attachment 1169602

Click to expand...

You don't do stuff in half measures , do ya.

That looks excellent...and a great deal of fun for the kids. Well done.

This looks like fun.........

Scott Engelhardt said:

Question is, how high have you gotten on it? It looks like a lot of fun

Click to expand...

I'll get to that, I'm in the middle of putting in a foundation for an attached garage so I'm working every minute I have trying to beat the weather. I'll give it a whirl soon enough.

SteveSS said:

We had a ranch down in N.E. Oklahoma that was crazy overgrown Ozarks. We swung out on vines over cliffs and treetops until the vines broke and we went crashing through. On a different ranch in S.E. Kansas there was a really old brick schoolhouse. Untouched inside and out. The crossbar on the old swing set was about 22' tall. I've seen this in old parks too.

The real killer was a merry-go-round like this one my neighbors had. Unlike this, the top was a pivot point. So it could lift you off the ground as you were swinging around. If you got caught between the pole and the bar that held the seats you were dead meat. We were like monkeys on that thing with no fear.

View attachment 1169937

This is the curly-cue slide I went down a million times as a kid. The regular slides were tall enough to be scary.


View attachment 1169939

Click to expand...

We had what they called a witches hat, same thing as your calling the merry go round but instead you hung by your hands instead of sitting. It was a lot of fun, you could get it going and have the opposite side against the post making for a wild ride on the other end. Kids don't know what they're missing!

Richard Cranium said:

This looks like fun.........

View attachment 1170022

Click to expand...

Yes, that looks fun!

kiwigtx said:

You don't do stuff in half measures , do ya.

That looks excellent...and a great deal of fun for the kids. Well done.

Click to expand...

No sir, for me coming up with something a bit different makes it more fun to build. I do like the wow factor from the kids too, they came out and looked at it and said.. is that safe? Hell if I know, try it bahaha.