3pt Top Link chain

[miscjames]

Top link chain. I know a lot of people run them for their rotary cutters. What else do you use them on and do you have pictures of your set up? What are some precautions?

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Top link chain. I know a lot of people run them for their rotary cutters. What else do you use them on and do you have pictures of your set up? What are some precautions?

Using a chain in place of a top link allows the implement to be able to rotate back onto the tractor.
I'm not saying that it will, but the possibility is there.

 

[Gordon Gould]

EDIT: ^^^^ He is right as noted below


Before I got a hydraulic top link I used to run a chain as a top link at times on my land plane. You have to be sure the surface is loose first because if you hit a snag the back end of the LP could easily roll up and smash the tractor. Plus my LandPlane is different than most in that it is heavy in the back which makes it run flat with a chain top link on a loose surface. Using the chain allows it to follow the road surface over sharp humps and dips. If you put the chain thru a pipe it would catch the back end if it tried to roll up. For the chain I used a choker hook at the tractor end and a slider on the LP end to make it adjustable.

I also used it on a log tongs set-up I made. Gave me some quick adjustment capability for the A-frame angle.

gg

 

[RayIN]

After reading about guys using a length of chain top link, I made one. I considered what happens if the mower or land plane tips up all the way. My rotary mower would tip up to about 60° before the A-frame hits the back of the tractor diff. housing, but by then the PTO shaft has already broken, which I should've already known and shut down the tractor. Using a short pipe 6" shorter over the chain prevents this from happening.
I wonder how many tractor operators don't watch the implements they are using, just turn the key and steer? This can cause problems though, I have a loose disc in my back from looking over my right shoulder watching what's happening; my chiropractor fixes me about 1-2x/week.

 

[TerryR]

The Bush Hog brand cutter I bought 25 years ago used a chain, not instead of the top link, but from the top of the A-frame to the rear. This left the rigid top link in place, which I'd expect would provide at least some resistance to the cutter flipping over forward. In any case it was never a problem.

 

[John0829]

I will not say it could not happen, however in all the times I have used a chain for the top link I have never had an implement flip up enough to be of concern.

 

[Too many Kubotas]

Using the chain allows it to follow the road surface over sharp humps and dips.

I don't want my land plane to follow the road surface. Instead I want it to cut down the humps and fill in the dips.

 

[Gordon Gould]

I don't want my land plane to follow the road surface. Instead I want it to cut down the humps and fill in the dips.

I know what you are saying. But I'm not talking about wash board and stuff like that. My road makes use of water bars and broad based dips for drainage that get filled in and/or a unwanted mound left with a stiff top link. I would have to go back and fix these with the bucket or a rear blade. Using the chain saved me from this.

Of course the real answer is a hydraulic top link. It allows me to adjust as I grade and is better than the chain because it allows me to control rather than just follow the surface.

gg

 

[LouNY]

After reading about guys using a length of chain top link, I made one. I considered what happens if the mower or land plane tips up all the way. My rotary mower would tip up to about 60° before the A-frame hits the back of the tractor diff. housing, but by then the PTO shaft has already broken, which I should've already known and shut down the tractor. Using a short pipe 6" shorter over the chain prevents this from happening.
I wonder how many tractor operators don't watch the implements they are using, just turn the key and steer? This can cause problems though, I have a loose disc in my back from looking over my right shoulder watching what's happening; my chiropractor fixes me about 1-2x/week.

It is surprising how much further I can twist and turn to the right, and do so for quite awhile.
Compared to the left I can easily rotate twice as far as the left side.

 

[RayIN]

The Bush Hog brand cutter I bought 25 years ago used a chain, not instead of the top link, but from the top of the A-frame to the rear. This left the rigid top link in place, which I'd expect would provide at least some resistance to the cutter flipping over forward. In any case it was never a problem.

That's the way I modified my old rotary mower. If this top link chain begins to worry me, I'll use the chains on the A-frame to rear wheel straps with a pipe 6" shorter than the chains again.
Making this top link chain was much less work though.