TSC, Atwoods, Linton's Big R, etc. all have ratchet binders or jacks with clevis pins on each end, but nobody has one with Cat I ball ends. If I had a machine shop I'd be making these and selling them for $50 a pop (or whatever gave me 200% profit) as fast as I could make them. Since the threads on my link are getting a bit worn anyway, I guess I'll get a local shop to cut the ball ends off and weld them on the ends of a new ratchet jack, assuming I can find one of the required length. Or, I guess I could do it myself - my welding won't win any beauty contests but nothing I've stuck together has ever come apart. Hopefully I'll have something that works and that I can lean over and reach from the seat to make fast manual adjustments.
It still amazes me that with zillions of aftermarket Cat I tractor gadgets available out there (many of which are next to useless) that nobody is making a killing selling something practical and useful like these things.
Considering the incredible price of adding a set of remotes and a hydraulic top link (over $1k, I believe, even for a newer tractor - and much more for an old rig like mine), I also don't see why some enterprising shop isn't building an electrically driven remote controlled adjustable top link based on a Chinese 12V ATV winch. I think a lot of small tractor owners would happily pay $250 or even more for a remotely controlled electric adjustable top link that worked reliably, and that any owner could easily install without resorting to $100+ per hour dealer labor. I just bought a fairly stout little 3000 lb ATV winch for $110, so the basic winch drive unit can't be too expensive, especially in volume and at wholesale prices. The trick, I suppose, would be designing a simple low cost gear-drive setup to transfer the winch's driving power to the top link, but it just doesn't sound all that complex or difficult to do, at least from my non-engineer viewpoint.
