pin and bushing or swivel joint

[dirt clod]

With all the posts on homemade grapples using fabricated joints with pin, bushing and tube for bushing. I'm wondering about the swivel type joints used on cat 1 top links. these use a 1" pin and the ends can be bought pretty cheap. How well would these work for building grapples?

 

[GuglioLS]

Cat 1 toplink pins are 3/4", Cat 1 drag link pins are 7/8". Those swivel balls are a little sloppy and no means of pumping in grease. Still, I dont see a strong argument not to try using them though. Using them would save drilling a few large ID holes. Are you building a grapple?

Larry

 

[dirt clod]

I'm sorry, I meant cat 2 which is 1". I'm selling my L3300, I'm going to try to sell with the grapple that's on it. If it sells with grapple I'm going to buy or build another one. As for as being greaseable.......These same links seem to work just fine on the 3 point where they are exposed to a lot of dirt. Looks like these would make a ready made joint for grapple and they are proven to work on tractors. The swivel ball can be bought in a weld on to weld to grapple arm and a 1" top link pin can be used on the base. Should make for a cheap reliable joint from common parts and the ability to swivel should help if there's every any misalignment, also no machining.. Maybe some of the wise ones on here can tell me why its a bad idea, or did I think of something?