Evener pin through tongue?

[bradley]

Do you all think that putting an evener pin through a Pioneer ash tongue on a hay wagon would compromise the wooden tongue too much and make it unsafe? I would have a bracket bolted on as well and the pin would go through that above the evener. Thanks.

[mitchmaine]

hi bradley,
pretty sure thats common practice on running gear, spreaders, binders and such. the hammerstrap(?) is a fairly important peice. takes some strain off the ash. the weak link then, would be how the pole attaches to the wagon gear. if that is good and sound, no worries.
i just got through splicing a new end on a mower pole that i snapped the yoke end off. i think the rest of the pole is pretty sound, but wouldn’t lend that tool out to someone else. we are all betting our life on that 3″ peice of hardwood, ain’t we?
one by one, i have replaced alot of poles with iron square tubing. 2-2.5″, a little heavy, but doesn’t rot as quick. mitch

[grey]

Yes, evener pin must go through the wooden tongue. Hammer strap is necessary as well, to keep the evener flat to the tongue.

[grey]

I drill my evener pins (as well as all the other important bolts) and put a hairpin or a piece of wire or such through the pin to keep the pin/bolt from lifting out.

I once saw a wagon push a team down a mountain road about 200 feet or so because the tongue pin (not the evener pin) had rattled out. That cured me. A little time at the drill press is cheap insurance.

[bradley]

Awesome, thanks a lot. That makes me feel a lot better, maybe in the next week or so I’ll be putting a load of hay on there.

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