6 Best Clevis Pin Kits for Farm Repairs
Secure implements with the right hardware. We review 6 top-rated clevis pin kits, offering the durability and size variety essential for fast farm repairs.
You’re halfway through mowing the back pasture when you hear it—that sickening clatter of metal on metal. The brush hog has disconnected from one of the lower lift arms, all because a 75-cent clevis pin finally sheared off. Now, your whole afternoon is shot, all for a tiny piece of hardware you don’t have.
Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, this site earns from qualifying purchases. Thank you!
Why Every Farmer Needs a Good Clevis Pin Kit
A clevis pin is one of those simple, unglamorous parts that holds the entire farm together. From the three-point hitch on your tractor to the gate on a stock trailer, these pins are the critical connection points for countless jobs. When one fails, everything stops.
The real cost of a broken pin isn’t the pin itself; it’s the downtime. A trip to the hardware store can burn an hour or more, derailing your tight schedule. Having an organized assortment kit in the shop or your truck’s toolbox turns a potential crisis into a two-minute fix. It’s the difference between finishing a job before the rain starts and leaving a tractor stranded in the field.
More importantly, having the right pin is a matter of safety. Grabbing a random bolt that "mostly fits" is asking for trouble. A loose-fitting bolt will egg out the holes on your expensive implement, while an undersized pin can shear under load, causing an implement to break free. A good kit gives you the correct diameter and length, ensuring a secure, safe connection every time.
Grip 150-Piece Clevis Pin Kit for Versatility
Think of the Grip kit as the perfect starting point. It’s the one you buy when you realize that coffee can full of mystery hardware just isn’t cutting it anymore. This kit covers the most common sizes you’ll need for light- and medium-duty tasks around a small farm.
This is your go-to for connecting a yard cart to the mower, securing a drag harrow, or pinning the top link on a small sub-compact tractor. The assortment typically includes a wide range of diameters from 1/4 inch up to about 1/2 inch, with various lengths for each. It’s not designed for the massive stress of a primary tillage implement, but for 90% of the daily connections, it has what you need.
The best part is that these kits almost always come with a corresponding assortment of cotter pins. There’s nothing more frustrating than finding the right clevis pin only to realize you don’t have a way to secure it. The Grip kit solves both problems in one organized, portable case.
Neiko 50456A: Heavy-Duty Pins for Implements
When you move up to heavier equipment, you need hardware that can handle the strain. The Neiko kit is built for exactly that. These pins are noticeably beefier and are often made from higher-grade, heat-treated steel to withstand the shock loads and vibrations of implements like a brush hog, box blade, or post-hole digger.
While a general-purpose kit might top out at a 1/2-inch diameter, the Neiko assortment focuses on the larger sizes—5/8 inch, 3/4 inch, and even bigger. These are the pins you need for connecting to a drawbar or securing the lower lift arms on a utility tractor. Using an undersized pin in these high-stress points is a catastrophic failure waiting to happen.
The tradeoff is quantity. You get fewer pins for your money compared to a bulk kit, but you’re paying for strength and peace of mind. This isn’t the kit for fixing a gate latch; this is the kit that keeps your most powerful implements safely attached to the tractor. It’s a specialized tool for a critical job.
SpeeCo S07095300 Zinc Plated Assortment Kit
SpeeCo is a name you see in every farm supply store for a reason—they make reliable, purpose-built hardware. Their clevis pin kit is a perfect example. The key feature here is the heavy zinc plating, which offers excellent corrosion resistance.
If your equipment spends any time outside (and whose doesn’t?), rust is your constant enemy. A rusted pin is a weakened pin, and it can be a nightmare to remove. The zinc coating on SpeeCo pins helps them stand up to morning dew, rain, and mud, ensuring they stay strong and easy to work with season after season.
The assortment itself is intelligently curated for farm use, often including sizes specifically for common drawbars and three-point hitch categories. It’s a well-balanced collection that bridges the gap between a light-duty general kit and a purely heavy-duty one. Paired with a durable, well-organized case, it’s a workhorse kit that will live in your shop for years.
Horusdy 360-Piece Kit: Never Run Out of Pins
This is the "bulk supply" option for the farmer who is always fabricating, repairing, or losing things. The sheer volume of the Horusdy kit means you’ll almost certainly have the pin you need, when you need it. It’s an inventory solution as much as it is a repair kit.
The value proposition is simple: quantity. For the price of a smaller, more specialized kit, you get a massive range of pins and clips. This is incredibly useful if you run multiple pieces of older equipment, each with its own quirks and pin sizes. It’s also great for non-implement tasks like repairing wagon running gear, building temporary fencing, or fixing machinery linkages.
Be realistic about the quality, however. To offer this many pieces at a low price, the pins are typically general-purpose grade. They are perfectly fine for most applications, but you wouldn’t use them for a high-stress, safety-critical connection on a large implement. Think of this as your primary stock, and supplement it with a few heavy-duty pins for the big jobs.
Glarks 155-Piece Kit with Hairpin Cotters
The Glarks kit stands out for one simple, brilliant reason: it includes a generous supply of hairpin cotters (also called R-clips) in addition to standard cotter pins. This might seem like a small detail, but in practice, it’s a huge time-saver.
Think about any connection you have to make or break frequently, like swapping implements on your three-point hitch. Fumbling with pliers to bend and unbend a traditional cotter pin is slow and tedious. A hairpin cotter, on the other hand, snaps on and off in a second with just your fingers.
This kit is designed for convenience and speed. The clevis pins themselves are standard quality, suitable for most general farm tasks. But the inclusion of a full assortment of hairpin cotters makes it the ideal choice for anyone who regularly changes attachments. It streamlines your workflow and removes a common point of frustration.
Dorman 969-040.1 Universal Clevis Pin Kit
Dorman is a trusted name in the automotive world, and their reputation for quality hardware translates perfectly to farm use. While their kits are often smaller, they are filled with precisely-made, reliable pins. This is the kit you grab when a good-enough fit isn’t good enough.
You’ll find this kit is excellent for more precise applications, like control linkages on small engines, throttle cables, or custom fabrications where tolerances matter. The pins are consistent, the holes are cleanly drilled, and the finish is durable. It may not have the giant 1-inch pin for a hay wagon, but it will have the exact 5/16" x 1-1/2" pin you need for a critical mechanical connection.
Because of its smaller, more curated nature, the Dorman kit makes a fantastic "glove box" kit. Keep one in the UTV or farm truck for those unexpected repairs you have to make far from the main workshop. It’s a compact, high-quality solution for on-the-go fixes.
Choosing the Right Clevis Pin for the Job
Having a great kit is only half the battle; you still have to pick the right pin from the box. It’s simpler than it sounds and comes down to a few key factors. Get these right, and your connections will be safe and secure.
First is diameter. The pin should slide through the hole with minimal play. If it’s too loose, the connection point will wobble and wear, elongating the holes on your equipment—a costly repair. If you have to hammer the pin in, it’s too tight. A snug, push-fit is what you’re looking for.
Next, consider the usable length. This is the distance from the underside of the head to the cotter pin hole. This length should be just slightly longer than the combined thickness of the parts you’re connecting. Too short, and you can’t get the cotter pin in. Too long, and the pin can snag on brush or interfere with moving parts.
Finally, think about the retainer. For a connection that rarely comes apart, a standard cotter pin is fine. For anything you disconnect regularly, a hairpin cotter will save you immense frustration. For critical connections on heavy, towed implements, a locking lynchpin is the safest choice. Never substitute a piece of bent wire or a nail—your safety depends on using the proper retainer.
Ultimately, a clevis pin kit is one of the best investments you can make for your farm. It’s a simple, low-cost tool that prevents expensive downtime and dangerous equipment failures. The best time to buy one was yesterday; the second-best time is right now.
