Yes, the original has a shoulder that keeps the arm from moving across the length of the pin. Also, and this is not original on my part, I connect my sway chains using a heavy padlock at each end. Keep the keys on the tractor key ring and it takes just a moment to take them on and off.
I have that, and use it. But there's always too much tension to pull the pin until I loosen the length turnbuckle a couple of turns. Then if the new implement isn't perfectly aligned I need to loosen the turnbuckle, maybe the other one, quite a bit before I can get the pin back in.
I have that, and use it. But there's always too much tension to pull the pin until I loosen the length turnbuckle a couple of turns. Then if the new implement isn't perfectly aligned I need to loosen the turnbuckle, maybe the other one, quite a bit before I can get the pin back in.
Replacing that link with a very short load binder would make everything easier.
This photo is what's on the small YM186D. There's no room for a load binder. Hopefully the arms on the YM240 are long enough. Trying load binders there is something I've thought about for a long time. But now the backhoe is nearly never removed from the YM240 so I'll never get around to it.
Incidently Jmlcolorado this is a much better picture of that long hinge on the YM186D that keeps everything in the same plane. But the pin would need a lot of reinforcement to work on the more powerful YM240.
Also incidentally - this chain repair link used as a coupler is a stronger replacement for what I found on the YM186D when I bought it. The previous ones weren't OEM and both were badly stretched to where cracks had appeared beyond the pins. Apparently cast from bad Chinesium and never should have been sold for chain repair. These replacements in the photo (date 11-6-10) still look strong as new after 10 years use. The damage to the old ones illustrates how much force is applied there.
I'm bored, after nearly a month of lockdown here.
Interesting! I had assumed that was the case, but then got my neighbor's advice to get the sway chains tight to where you can get just a tiny wiggle. (Any tighter accelerates wear). He's third generation running his own apple orchard, now converted to grapes, and he contracts my orchard and others to total 200 acres that he maintains - prune, disc, thin, spray, harvest. Up to a dozen full time employees live at his bunkhouse. I rely on his advice for things like this where my amateur work will never put the hours on my equipment comparable to what he experiences.
) Here's a recent improvement. I cut down a HF bar magnet and welded it to the top edge of the q-hitch. Now when I pull that chain-splice clip and then its pin, I have a place to hold them so they don't fall down in the weeds. The magnet is strong enough that it also works for those longer pins that adjust the height of the q-hitch's hook.