Bought a toplink at Tractor Supply, what a piece of junk. Balls barely rotate without getting stuck, threads are poorly made and there's no stop, so you can run the threads right out of the body. Also it was too wide to fit the bracket on my tractor, so I had to grind the ears off the ball to make it fit. Any suggestions on where to buy a decent toplink that doesn't cost a fortune.
3-Point Hitch Aftermarket toplink piece of junk
- Thread starter BeezFun
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gwdixon
Elite Member
You could try eBay.
>The balls being tight may be by design. Try some lube. They will loosen up after use.
>If the treads work then it isn't too bad.
>No thread stop is usual for aftermarket. The body could be cut in half, a tack weld put on each end of the threads, and then weld the body back together. Can't say I'd be that concerned. If you are, then there is a fix.
>Too wide for the bracket is usual, also. A little grinding makes a perfect fit. Didn't bother me to do it because now the issue is over. It is hardly a reason to junk a toplink in my opinion.
>The balls being tight may be by design. Try some lube. They will loosen up after use.
>If the treads work then it isn't too bad.
>No thread stop is usual for aftermarket. The body could be cut in half, a tack weld put on each end of the threads, and then weld the body back together. Can't say I'd be that concerned. If you are, then there is a fix.
>Too wide for the bracket is usual, also. A little grinding makes a perfect fit. Didn't bother me to do it because now the issue is over. It is hardly a reason to junk a toplink in my opinion.
MtnViewRanch
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Balls being tight is common. A little bit of use and they won't be. Kubota uses a narrower than normal cat 1 end on the B & BX model tractors. Theirs is 1 9/16" wide where as a std cat 1 end is 1 3/4" wide. If you don't want to grind, then you will be buying a Kubota unit. Grease the threads and ir should adjust easier, but then the grease attracts dirt. Hard to have it the best of both worlds for cheap. 
dfkrug
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I have purchased 5 or 6 of them new, from AgriSupply, and SurplusCnter. All were less than $25, for both long
or short, CAT 1. Decent quality.
I agree with the others that a tight Heim joint is standard, and not a bad thing. None have a stop, and some OEM
toplinks have no stops, too.
It's not that the joint is tight. Through part of it's range of motion it's loose and flops around, but there are places that it almost can't be moved without putting a channel lock on it, like there's some kind of bur inside. Both ends are like that. I bent the threaded piece on my original kubota toplink, I think I'm going to see how much a new threaded piece costs.
RalphVa
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Guess they've changed, I bought another top link from TSC in 2005 for my soil ripper. It's good.
gwdixon
Elite Member
Another option is to take it back to Tractor Supply and get one that has balls that rotate freely (relatively). TS is usually very good about returns/exchanges. Even if you ground down the balls to fit the bracket.
Don't be afraid to take a small sledge hammer to the balls to loosen them if you aren't going to take the top link back. Such "convincing" is standard practice on all the implements around here. :laughing:
Don't be afraid to take a small sledge hammer to the balls to loosen them if you aren't going to take the top link back. Such "convincing" is standard practice on all the implements around here. :laughing:
MtnViewRanch
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Gary Fowler
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All of your complaints seem to be normal to all toplinks. Even OEM top links don't have stops to keep them from unscrewing all the way out, that is how you can get the apart for cleaning. Balls are tight in all of them and will wear in loosely with just a bit of use. Poor threads is another issue entirely and you should have noticed that prior to buying it. The bracket on your tractor seems to be the issue not the top link, they are made to a specific width so if you tractor is narrow gauge, blame it on the tractor manufacturer.
Sounds like you have it modified to fit your tractor.
P.S. :I wouldn't blame TSC for not taking it back if you think to bring it back after grinding off the ball socket.
