cnewell, no offense intended, but at first I thought this was a dumb question (no such thing, right?) because I have always put mine together using the washer and cotter approach. Just seemed more logical to me because if the spring breaks at the loop and the rod falls out, you got no brakes.
But your question made me look at many gear drive model parts drawings and none of them show a washer/cotter. So the original intent must have been to put the spring loop through the hole. Maybe they didn't expect these things to still be operating 50 years later.
So good question after all, but what they like to say around here is "It's your tractor, do as you like"!
|