Thanks for all the recent posts. Solid advice.
And good news! I actually already had another top link laying around that had come along with one of my used 3-pt attachments some years back. It looked kinda bent and rusty so I had tossed it aside in the barn and never gave it another thought until yesterday.
But! After a quick clean up and lube, it spins way nicer than my original one. And luckily, extends to several inches longer. Way beefier overall.
New one installed, old one laying on top for comparison:
I promptly extended it way out to tip my box blade way back. First test:
This is just one pass down each side, done for now!
So using the box blade did slice off a good bit of my crown in the interest of smoothing and dressing everything. Once I get the rear scraper blade put on to handle snow plowing (if winter ever shows up here), I can pull the gravel back to the middle and then feather it back into a crown.
Anyway, I will call this a victory and try not to be sad that I don't get to buy another implement. :laughing: