Configuring Lift Arms on homebuilt 3-pt for H

I'm finishing the assembly on a home-built three-point hitch for my '47 H. The design is pretty close to what Saginaw offers. I cut the holes for the front mount points of the lift arms to just accept the 3/4" pins. As such, the arms have no side-to-side play and the spread at the implement end of these lift arms is 22". I understand the standard spread is 26". I also only have holes at the implement end of these lift arms - not the ball socket ends. I'm hoping to avoid welding ball socket ends on the end of the lift arms for the time being. My questions are directed at getting the spread at the implement end of the lift arms to the 26" - 30" range that I'll need to hook up an implement.

Should I:
1) Drill the holes in the lift arms at the 3-pt frame end a little larger so they have some play to allow the spread at the implement end to go a little wider? I don't have any example 3-pt hitches nearby to check to see if this play is normal.
2) Put some bends in the lift arms to get the spread to the desired width?
3) Both

Eventually I will weld the ball sockets on the lift-arm ends but I was hoping to get this thing working by bush-hog time this weekend.

Thanks for your time.

Take the to do it right and be done with it! The best place to get ball ends is Rural King stores. Armand

I"m posting a reply to my own question as this may help someone. I opened up the holes in the lift arms (lower arms) that the frame mount pins go through to allow a little play, side-to-side. I also opened up the holes that the implement pins go through at the other end. The opening-up I had to do was very slight but now I can angle out the lift arms enough to get that 26"-30" spread that I need to mount the implements. I will get the setup right with ball ends at the end of the arms when I have the time.

Dave, I certainly hope you used a drill, at least, and not a torch...

That'd be the way my dad would do it, but then again he's more accurate punching holes with a torch by eye than many machinists are with a scale, center punch, and drill press.

If you needed to get by, I too would modify the lift arms as reducing the diameter of your mounting bracket would be 30 times harder than fixing the lift arms when you mount rod ends to the lift arms.

Just another follow-up. The 3-pt was used to wield a bush-hog today to clear a small sloped field. Without the ball-socket ends on the trailing ends of the lift arms, mounting the bush-hog was a _little_ troublesome but nothing we couldn"t overcome in a few minutes. The hitch did it"s job well with just those simple holes. I"ll be putting the proper ends on just as soon as I can afford it.