|
markct
06-26-2003 20:03:32
|
well today i took a vacation day and baled up some hay i had cut, baled up a full wagon of good hay, and almost a full wagon of mulch hay, when it was time to go home i hooked the 2 wagons together one behind the other and headed up the road. the mulch hay was in the back wagon, i had the front wagon hitched to the tractor with a forged hitch pin, the ones that have the swiveling handle loop, the second wagon was coupled to the first wagon with a 5/8 hitch pin from tractor supply, one of the ones that is like a smooth rod with the handle dipped in a rubber coating. well as i went down a short steep hill just before a stop sign, well as i was slowing down i felt a funny jerking, i just figured it must have been a pothole or somethin, its a dirt road, but luckly i decided to jump out and check, it just didnt feel right, and ya cant see around the wagons from the tractor. well it turned out that the second wagon had slammed into the back of the first one, my first thought was that the hitch pin had lost its clip and jumped out, well when i looked under there i saw the hitch pin had fractured into 2 pieces, a clean snap right in the middle, i had thought that the cheap pins were just soft and unheatreated, but this appears to actualy be very hard, after i changed the pin and went home i checked the broken pin with a file to see how hard it was, well its so hard i cant scratch it with a file! i set it on the anvil and struck it with a hammer and the piece chipped like a hardened cutting tool would, way harder than a hitch pin should be, it seems that the pin was hardened and never tempered or something like that, i think from now on i will steer clear of tractor supplys el-cheepo hitch pins, could have been alot worse had it happened at a worst time
|
|
|
|
