trust me, i tried not using the masterlink. the pins are 'mushroomed' at the ends, so once you've pushed it out of one of the plates, it's damn near impossible to get back in. i actually ended up breaking out the dremel and opening the back of the hole just a tiny bit, so it would create a 'cone' for the pin to slip into, making it easier to get in. still wound up bending the plates every time. i even had to dremel out my chain tool (topeka multi tool) just to get the chain itself to fit into the damn thing.