Gorilla Playsets Blue Ridge Sundance Wooden Swing Set 4.7 5 166 171
My son is a happy boy! I spent a lot of time studying different swingsets. I read a lot of different reviews. Visited a bunch of different sites. I was looking for a company that would stand by their product. Customer service is always very important to me. I settled on Gorilla. There was never any doubt that I wanted to make the purchase through Walmart. They always stand behind what they sell.. The swingset is perfect in every way. A little pricey, but you get what you pay for. Assembly was a snap. For little boy has own playland in the backyard. I couldn't be happier. 04/09/2009
Great Value, Excellent Quality I was worried about how the assembly of this play set would go, but things went quite smoothly. We had a crew of 3-4 people working off and on through the day and managed to whole project start to finish in about 9 hours.I am especially impressed with the hardware included with the set. Everything is heavy duty and top quality. All the lumber was excellent as well. My three year old and all the neighborhood kids play on the set daily (even in the rain), and it's a struggle to get them to come in. The design is very sturdy and doesn't need anchors--this also makes it easier to assemble.Here are a few tips that helped assembly go smoothly.1. If at all possible, use an impact wrench. Driving all the large carraige bolts will go SO much faster with this tool.2. Count and sort all the hardware and lumber ahead of time. We sorted the lumber by length and found that to be helpful. Our set included all the needed hardware, but I would count just to be sure since other have reported missing parts.3. We did make a run to the local hardware store to pick up 5/8 X 4 1/2" hex bolts (16-18 thread count) since the 4" bolts included were just not quite long enough.4. If possible, have more than one power drill available since multiple people can be working with them at once. We also found a step ladder very useful.5. Read the entire instruction booklet. We followed the instructions precisely and everything went smoothly. In fact, the few times we didn't heed the instructions, we had to go back and fix what we'd done! 06/11/2009
Gorilla Sundance Playset Our children love it. My wife and I found it difficult to keep them off of it while the set was going together. We thoroughly enjoy the much more open area under the deck. It is much better than the straight-pillar supported decks on other playsets. Since I am an engineer by trade, my comments will reflect my unique opinions about the set.1) The quality was what I expected for the price. We got the pine version. Note that Gorilla reserves the right to substitute the California Redwood and Western Red Cedar with "some other species" of wood - claimed to be the same quality.2) After many do-it-yourself projects with big-box lumber, the Gorilla playset lumber had obviously been dried before being cut into the various shapes and sizes. Only a few boards had minor warping - compared to how much the "green" stuff (from lumber stores) warps.3) Each board is tagged - which was likely to help the warehouse put the correct parts in the kit. I have figured out their numbering system and it saved me major headaches. The decimal point is assumed. One board is marked 125-4-2850-PS. It is 1 and 0.25" or 1-1/4" by 4" by 28.5" or 28-1/2" and is the Panel Slat. Another is marked 125-4-4800-RWB which is the 1.25" or 1-1/4" or 5/4" by 4" by 48.00" Rock Wall Board. Some lumber is dimensional while others are cut to "traditional" dimensions. Thus the tags are much more reliable than using a tape measure.4) The inner fort support has IFS on its tag and the outer support has OFS. The written instructions on step 7 were opposite of the figure and the board tags. (I found that out the hard way).5) Someone thought this out well: The major assembly steps are initially bolted together with 5/16" hex bolts and T-nuts. If something isn't assembled right, the bolts are easily removed and re-used with no permanent alteration of the wood. When you get it assembled correctly, squared, and tightened, then you drive in the more permanent and stronger lag bolts. Follow the instruction sequence EXACTLY.6) I made the 5/16" by 4" bolts work, but 4 1/4" long bolts would have been easier.7) The boards are "primed" with a very, very thin coating of red primer that is easily scratched off. I sprayed / painted every board (before and after assembly) with an outdoor varnish or polyurethane that had UV protection. I will know in 10 years if that helped.8) An extra person and a good step ladder (6 - 10' tall) is very handy.9) The pine lumber growth rings (or grain) per inch varies wildly from 1 to 10 rings per inch compared to big-box redwood which I measured around 20 to 30+ rings per inch. I was disappointed in the low density wood but it is expected with commercially made items of this price range. At least the lumber has larger dimensions than the $400 kits! Nevertheless, I am pleased with the overall playset.10) I got the tire swing option and added some more 2-1/2" wood screws to join the center deck support to the deck boards - especially around the tire swing support. That will distribute more of the children's weight across the deck boards.Hopefully this information is uniquely helpful to those of you looking to buy and build this set. 07/31/2010
Great playset This playset is great; my twins girls love this playset and they don't like when its time to go inside because of this. I was a bit worried about putting it together considering some of the reviews that I had read about other playsets that had inadequate instructions and poor or no labeling on the individual pieces. This playset had excellent detailed instructions and each piece was labeled nicely. The different bolts and screws and washers were in individual bags that were also nicely labeled. The instructions stated to set aside up to days to put it together completely but it only took three of us a total of 5 hours! If you follow these instructions, there is absolutely no confusion as to which part goes where. Very similar playsets were up to $700 more at other websites. Thank you Wal-Mart and Gorilla Playsets! 05/08/2009
