Clevis direction up & down or side to side?

Hi,
Was wondering if any of you have any thoughts on the advantages or disadvantages for which way your clevis sits for pulling. I'm trying to finish up some drawings for a sub frame with a new hook point and need to decide if I want my clevis hole vertical or horizontal. I have a monster sized clevis with a screw in pin that's about 1-3/4" diameter and the hole in this clevis for a hook is about 4" wide x 6" long. Should be plenty stout for what I have yanking on it.

Seems to me the set up would be stronger or easier on the pin if the pin was sideways. This way the pin will be loaded completly in shear and at both ends of the pin.
If the pin is mounted vertical then it seems like the load would be trying to bend the pin two directions. The top being pulled on and the bottom of the pin being pushed back?
Also considering which way might be easier to hook the thing up? Probably not much difference there?

And one more thought. If mounted hook vertical... would anything be gained by restricting the side to side movement of the clevis?

Appreciate any thoughts on this.
Bob

All the pulls that I pull in, require that the hitch point is horizontal to the ground and stationary in all directions. Around here, about the only classes, that really allow a clevis to just be loose like that are brush pulls that have no rules, or possibly a pure stock class.

most pulls require a twisted clevis.

Are you pulling a Big Bud or something? That clevis you mention is waaaaaaay overkill for 99.9% of pulling tractors. You can get away with a clevis that's got a 3/4" pin (providing the open area is large enough) and you sort of answered your own question with regards to mounting it. Mount it crosswise through one or two steel plates so that it's in shear. This will also give the officials an easier place to measure your hitch height. If you use a single piece of plate to mount through, the bending forces on the pin, even a 3/4" dia pin, aren't nearly high enough to yield or break that pin, unless you are pulling at 20K pounds or something.

Zack

This sub-frame and hitch set-up is for a pull they call "King of the Mountain" held at the fall steam show in Portersville PA. It's an unlimited... sort of... pull for tractors 1957 or older. I've got a beefed up 820 I'm hoping to finally finish up and get it there this year. I need to finish my sub-frame before I can mount my fenders and get my back wheels on... so I can finally hear this thing run. This is my third year working on this and I need to get it done. Ran short $$ for a spell and had to put things on hold for a bit.

The dead sled typically ends up around 26,000+. I did some bending calculations and given what IH560 said I figured a 2" burn-out plate would handle the bending load if I figure 30,000 for some cushion. This would be a clevis shaped hole with the load 6 inches out. I used mild steel in the calculation. Could probably easily get away with 1-1/2" thick and gussets about halfway out.

I'd really rather just use this clevis if the rules will allow it. Was figuring on a 2-1/4" wide bar x 4-1/2" deep with the hole for this pin running horizontally about 2" back into the bar. That bar will be heavily bolted and welded to a cross member that's beefy with gussets and all...

There's no hitch height restriction for this particular pull so I wanted to have several holes to pick from. One at 18"-ish for a local pull up the road, and a few higher holes to see how much height/ down-pull... I can get away with.

I'm 99% sure I've seen clevis's used at these pulls. Guess I need to contact one of the pull officials and see what they say. Worst case I build a clevise and bolt it to this rib. If I space the holes about every four to six inches I can grab two holes and make this homemade loop rigid.

The drawback I'm seeing of non-rigid clevis is it will hang down against this rib and might need lifted a little to get the huge heavy hook in place. This could be a little awkward...

I need to get my subframe done and bolted on this thing so I can get my wheels on and light this motor up. This framework I'm building has to be installed under my fenders and before the fenders and rubber go back on. Gonna have a few heat cycles and re-torques to do also and need to do some test pulls and tweak in the pumps. Still need to install my new clutch guts and paint a couple more pieces too.

I appreciate the input. Getting back into it and getting excited. Hoping to get these last couple drawings done yet today and get steel ordered tomorrow.

Thanks again,
Bob

where I pull if it's not horizontal we measure to
the top of the clevis.

You want to have a horizontal D-ring or a twisted Clevis with vertical pin, or you will lose a little hitch height. And use an adequate pin for the weight you are pulling. I have bent 7/8 pins and clevises pulling at 11,500, So I finally got a D-ring that bolts onto a horizontal surface. and hold it with a one inch grade eight bolt.

You want to have a horizontal D-ring or a twisted Clevis with vertical pin, or you will lose a little hitch height. And use an adequate pin for the weight you are pulling. I have bent 7/8 pins and clevises pulling at 11,500, So I finally got a D-ring that bolts onto a horizontal surface. and hold it with a one inch grade eight bolt.