Yep. When I stop being lazy, I'll be converting mine to a double shear. With a double shear, the stresses are spread across two pieces instead of one. Stands to reason that the linkage won't fall apart as easily with double shear. The damage I had to fix this winter is mostly because I didn't have a double shear setup.
Now to get a look at someone's double shear setup to see what I need to fabricate to duplicate it. I've looked at the Inex rules, but to be honest, their drawings need work. They are too rudimentary sometimes, and I can't quite tell for sure if I've got it all figured out right. I'd rather take a look at one personally and take some measurements, make my own sketches. At least then I won't have to worry about being dq'd because I didn't read it right.
Mike