“What is it?”

[Kane Bragg]

Hello,
I found the following 28 lbs chunk of steel on the side of the road. Was a rusty red color in before a vinegar bath. I initially thought maybe it was some railroad related part. Have since used it many times for all sorts of things when weight was needed.

Any guesses?

[Bill Dufour]

Tractor draw bar.
Bill D

[Kane Bragg]

Thank you! Makes total sense.
sometimes I love the internet…

[Maurice Mcmurry]

It is not like the tractor draw bars I am familiar with. It is an odd part. Looks more like the linkage to backhoe bucket but not quite right for that either...

Seeing Hammerstrap or Hammerstrap spacer, both of which are drawbar parts.

[Ronald Blue]

It is not like the tractor draw bars I am familiar with. It is an odd part. Looks more like the linkage to backhoe bucket but not quite right for that either...

Seeing Hammerstrap or Hammerstrap spacer, both of which are drawbar parts.

Totally agree. Every tractor draw bar I've been around has probably at a minimum been 3 feet long. It doesn't look like any hammer strap I've saw either. Also zero indication anything was every hooked up to it. Most draw bars are designed to swing from center to the left or right as well. I think you are onto something with it being some sort of linkage Maurice.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

What ever it is I bet the previous owner laments its loss. Big heavy duty parts like that are expensive. I just got lucky and found a used draw bar for a 20 HP Ford for $200.00. A new one was going to be over $400.00.

[Kane Bragg]

Feel kind of funny stripping and repainting a chunk of metal, but I am. Soaking in vinegar again, will prime and paint next week…

[Maurice Mcmurry]

It might actually be intended to be a weight. The big hole that reduces down to a smaller hole puzzles me. Weights are very handy. I, like Kane, have several hunks of rail road track and other rail road iron that I use around the shop. Picking it up along the tracks turns out to be stealing. We have some long abandonded rail corridors as well as a 237.7 mile long rail trail close by. Small stuff I find in those places I consider to be litter and bring home if it looks useful.

[Ronald Blue]

Picking it up along the tracks turns out to be stealing. We have some long abandonded rail corridors as well as a 237.7 mile long rail trail close by. Small stuff I find in those places I consider to be litter and bring home if it looks useful.

Thr rails to trails corridors would be fair game in my estimation. Abandoned however doesn't necessarily mean forgotten. About any scrap metal buyer these days won't touch rail, anchors, or plates unless you can produce proof that you are authorized to sell or possess. Ironically even though I was around a lot of it I don't have any rail for an anvil or anything like that. Everything being installed these days is 136 or 141 lb rail.

[Rich Engelhardt]

oops - never mind.
I thought this was the off topic forum.
Nothing to add as to what this is.

[Bill Dufour]

About any scrap metal buyer these days won't touch rail, anchors, or plates unless you can produce proof that you are authorized to sell or possess.
It has been that way for decades. If a scrap yard is caught with railroad stuff they have to provide proof of where it came from and that the seller had legal rights to it. If not it is a federal crime, interfering with interstate commerce. They will shut down the business until the trial is over and likely take over the business as proceeds of an illegal transaction.
They will not take the stuff even if you pay them to take it off your hands.
They really should do the same for copper wire since most electricity passes over state lines.
Bill D

[Tom M King]

Looks like some sort of link arm for a bucket like on an excavator, or backhoe.

[Scott T Smith]

Looks like some sort of link arm for a bucket like on an excavator, or backhoe.

That was my thought as well.

[Tom Bender]

Part of something heavier than a backhoe, dozer maybe or something from the age of steam.

The orange paint should help but I don't recognize the shade.

Likely lead paint.

I'm sure it makes a fine gravity clamp.

[John K Jordan]

Looks like some sort of link arm for a bucket like on an excavator, or backhoe.

That’s was my first thought too. A tapered hole is sometimes used to securely align and mount a part to another. (My John Deere skidsteer used large tapered pins in tapered holes to mount the bucket cylinders to the frame.)

I can’t imagine using using something like that (that looks like a link) as a tractor drawbar.

JKJ