3-Point Hitch What is this part called?

[PILOON]

That item 'drawbar' is where the best pulling (without damage) can be attained

clevis or whatever and attach your chain right there.

That's my 2 cents!

 

[JWR]

It's supposed to swing right or left so it won't interfere with a PTO shaft, that is being raised and lowered.

It DOES swing when the bolts or pins are removed so that it can. Back in the 50's the ONLY drawbar on many tractors (my Massey Harris Pacer for example) was the one that is left-right oriented. The "swinging drawbar" is NOT fixed and can be moved left/right by removing a bolt or pin that normally keeps it centered. In later years the center or "swinging" drawbar is used to handle much greater towing weights/forces and is fixed down low so it never contributes to "bucking" or raising the front end of the tractor in super heavy pulls. The existence of the center mounted "swinging drawbar" also frees up the lift arms of the 3pt hitch for other things.