CONGOSwing'N Monkey 3 Position - Green and Sand Low Maintenance Swing Set

Not wanting to deal with staining and splintering of a cheap wood swing set, and worried about the heat of a metal swing set, we decided to go with this laminated wood Swing N Monkey 3 position swing set. The delivery came with 2 long boxes (2.5x1x8 ft approximately) each weighing 100-150 lbs, a large protective bag holding the slide and main beam, and a small box with metal parts. I was able to wheelbarrow each individually to the backyard.Unlike some of the smaller more detailed units, there are not a ton of parts, many of the parts are large pieces, and they all seemed a sturdy size for its function. I am not overly impressed by the plastic caps on the end of many of the wood pieces. They are not the snuggest fit and appear to only be hot glued on. Luckily once assembled the caps are all squeezed between two pieces so they are unlikely to come free. Once I started assembly it took me about 5 hours to assemble needing help only to get the primary A beam up on top of the legs. Overall the instructions are pretty good, with maybe a few lackluster areas, read the directions carefully. Here are a few tips that I learned along the way:Phase 1: the pallet nut goes on the back side of the holes midway on the B beam. The directions state "top hole" which was confusing, but they go on the middle holes identified in "detail-1"Phase 2: I highly recommend pre-drilling some holes for the 3" Lag Screws. Start by loosely fitting the 4.5" hex bolts, make sure the wood is snug against A-frame bracket, then mark where the two 3" lag bolts will go, remove the wood and pre drill those two spots. Otherwise it is hard to get those lag bolts started with the other side of the A-frame blocking your access. Do this for all 4 B legs in Phase 2 & 3.Phase 4a or 4b: these 3.5" lag screws are beefy and could be tough to get in. I used a 2.5 foot breaker bar to ease the install.Phase 5: I had trouble getting the 5.5" hex bolt from screwing into the T-nut. I used a hammer on the bolt and T-nut to help set them together.Phase 10: before finishing step 4 with the 3" RSS screws make sure everything is square. The instructions don't caution this and there is nothing done at this point to ensure the legs are square. If you don't align this correctly it may not fit well to the B legs on the other side.Phase 15: prior to attaching the ladder boards, ensure your B and E legs are parallel. I forgot to check and my F-board went from ending about mid point on each side at the bottom to aligning with the outer edge of the E and B legs at the top.Now to the frustrating part. Amazon advertised the delivery to be 3/26 and 3/29. I wasn't called to schedule delivery appointment till 4/3 with earliest delivery being 4/4. Once delivered they had incorrectly shipped the wrong bolt set. Calling Kid Wise on 4/4 I was told new set would arrive 4/6 to 4/8, by 4/9 no new bolts had arrive so called again. They had forgot to ship it and would send them out for delivery by 4/11 to 4/12. The correct bolts finally came 2 weeks after planned original delivery. Be sure to inventory your items right away!

Lovely swing set, but...Top beam brackets wear out quickly.Written March 20, 2019. Swing set purchased in 2015.Review for Congo Swing'N Monkey 3 position play set:First, the problem. The top beam brackets seem to be under specified for the intended purpose. We bought our set in 2015 and now, in March of 2019, we have inspected the swing set before the Spring time rush of grandkids arrive, expecting to swing as usual...thank goodness we checked it. One bracket is nearly completely fractured on one of its contact bends and starting to do the same thing on the other contact bend. The bracket holding up the other end of the beam has bent and needs replaced as well. I RECOMMEND HIGHLY that KEEP CLOSE WATCH on these top beam brackets. Once they fracture the whole beam structure bends. I want to stress that this swing set was never overloaded. It has a 125 pound limit on each swing. This was never exceeded. The problem occurred over time, not in response to load.Otherwise, this is truly a beautiful swing set which dresses up our back yard nicely. The rest of the set is strong and still healthy. The end caps of vinyl tend to pop off, though, and sometimes get lost with kids play. You can buy replacements for this problem. But so far, I have been unable to locate replacement brackets for the top beam. They seem to be unique and not commonly used by other manufacturers. If I can't find replacements, I will find a blacksmith who can reshape, weld, and strengthen these brackets. I want the swing set to live a long lifetime in my back yard.UPDATE: On March 25th, 2019 I purchased, for $65.00, two new replacement A-Frame Square brackets from KIDWISE OUTDOOR PRODUCTS. There was no reduced cost due to any warranty. The new frame brackets came with 2 extra brace additions for the exact problem I had with this swing set's top beam. So, I know that it is a well established problem, and a safety hazard at that, which is not being remedied without a further purchase at your expense.I recommend that if you own this swing set, that you purchase these extra braces from KIDWISE, because you will have the same problem that I did...and you will have to disassemble the swing set to replace those brackets. Buy the braces and install them for a much easier fix!Because this was a known problem, and because I think I should have been contacted regarding what should have been a safety recall, I am reducing my star rating from 4 to 3. I think there are better swing sets out there. This one looks good, it is okay, but may still have safety issues.

Looks great, very sturdy. Only issue was running to the hardware store a couple times to get the right bolts as well as having to drill holes and re-drill existing holes that slowed down the process a bit.