homemade toplink broke cylinder end. would CCM break?

[skipmarcy]

Bent/broken toplinks make me think that the 3pt is being used to push in reverse. They're not really designed for that. Toplinks, lower lift arms, etc work great for pulling and lifting, but fail quite quickly when used to push. Backdragging in reverse, if it's causing 3pt part failures, can be done going forward with a scraper blade if the convex part is facing forward. Broken bits can sometimes push their way into the cab, so it can be dangerous as well as expensive.

I think breakage would depend more on whether the implement is matched to the tractor - I use my boxblade more in reverse than forward and have done so to the extremes (true abuse) many times with no damages to my hitch. When spreading a load of gravel on a driveway for instance, I always push as much as I can before dragging forward to keep the inevitable ripples to a minimum. Most tractors have too short of a wheelbase to drag a nice smooth grade out from a larger pile and you always get the dips in there which are time consuming to get out. I also have backed my rotary cutter into heavy saplings etc. hundreds of times where it actually starts to buck up before I could stop & go forward again. The parts on the hitch for my Mahindra are all plenty stout to take this abuse without failing. About the only thing I ever damage are my drawpins on the implements and my 10# sledge will straighten them a time or two before I replace them. I've been using my tractor and the same cutter, boxblade etc. for 7 years and right at 1600 hours like this and no failures yet. I guess it depends on the quality of your tractor ? Oh yea, I just used shop air (carefully) to extend and retract the rod on my cylinder to weld it and used the wet rags some. As long as you have the piston inside the cylinder at the opposite end from where you're welding it will be fine.

 

[dfkrug]

Bent/broken toplinks make me think that the 3pt is being used to push in reverse.

The bent mechanical toplinks that I had on my various tractors were most
likely caused by forward ripper action. I did this once on my old L2550.
The OEM toplink is very thin at the troughs of the threads and buckles in
compression as the BB tries to pivot on the 3-pt arms. Easy fix was to go
to a hyd toplink that has a 1.25" solid rod. That was my first tractor
modification.

 

[GinNB]

That can do it, but lots of times around here it's hitting something backing up, or some idiot flying down the road with a bushhog on the back and hitting a frost heave/pothole that throws the mower up and forward until it runs out of travel and then tries to compress the toplink.