Hey Bryan, Kraig, Steve- Thanks for the input. Yeah, it might be a tad on the stiff side... I suspect that if I put it in the 20-ton press, I might get it to deflect a little after really leaning on the handle... :-}
The bracket I made is fairly substantial too... Other than the welds all being in tension and single-plane (rathern' combination of tension, compression, and shear over multiple planes) I think the bracket will probably be okay. If I break it, I'll just make the next one heavier.
I'm concerned about the mounting to the axle- I used the bottom FIVE bolts rather'n the bottom three, and the studs I've currently got installed are actually pretty lousy- just cut from all-thread 'till I can swing by K&K and get a handful of serious 2" x what... 3/8-16? studs.
My guess is that if I hitched the whole thing up to one of my radio-tower's guy anchors, I'd just spin wheels, but if I used heavy chain, and got a SERIOUS run at it, I'd just rip the studs out.
As for the through-pin... I considered using one long pin on the bracket, but I'd hafta take off one tire to slide the pin in there... and I made my bracket with inner and outer ears, also... I'll shoot pix today, post 'em tonight... mebbie even have straps on, etc!