Tractor pull....
Went to my first tractor pull yesterday on a beautiful day....way up here in New York State on the Vermont border. Very impressive, lots of powerful smoke belching beast. The twelve year old boy that cuts my grass was competing in the garden tractor class. I think that impressed me more, lots of pre teens and teens, both boys and girls , kind a like soap box derby on steroids. Very well attended, lots of social distancing and masks, but I'm sure Andy Cuomo would have a fit if he saw it. Even the State Troopers seemed to be enjoying themselves. All money raised went to cancer research. From coast to coast, these are the folks that keep the Lefties awake at night.
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Cool! I have a friend that pulls. These are "real" tractors. The kind that just come from the field for the most part. Not those multi-engine things. 0 -
many years ago i went to the tractor pulls at the state fair...had one with an Allison V12 aircraft engine ....AWESOME...every cylinder that fired hit you in the gut up in the bleachers... was at a surplus store in wichita and they had big rectangular crates stacked outside ...one lid was slightly askew and i peeked in to see a NEW Allison V12..wish i could remember the selling price ?????? 0 -
I went to a tractor pull a few years ago that pitted a modern John Deere diesel 4WD with 4 big lug tires on the back and 2 in front, against a big old steam tractor with steel wheels. They were connected about 20 feet apart back-to-back with a very heavy chain. At the start, the JD began slowly pulling the steam tractor backward..... until the steam driver opened the throttle just a bit. The JD slowed to a crawl. A bit more steam and the JD was being pulled backward across the finish line with all 6 wheels digging deep ditches as they still were churning to go forward. Steam is powerful stuff, super high torque and a steamer can keep on pulling even if all the engine parts are not moving. 3 -
Fixt for accuracy?spasmcreeksrun said:many years ago i went to the tractor pulls at the state fair...had one with an Allison V12 aircraft engine ....AWESOME...every cylinder that fired hit you in the gut up in the bleachers... was at a surplus store in wichita and they had big rectangular crates stacked outside ...one lid was slightly askew and i peeked in to see a NEW Allison V12..wish i could remember the selling price ?????? would have bought all of them.
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A very VERY long time ago dad took us to a tractor pull down by Maryville, MO. Yes, way before they thought about putting automobile / airplane / jet engines into tractors.
Anyway the tractor pulled a steel plate along on the ground behind it. On both sides of the track people stood at preset intervals (maybe 10 feet?). I can't remember for sure. When the plate passed your position, you would step onto the plate and ride. When the tractors got bigger, you would bring a bale of hay with you. When the tractor could not pull the plate anymore, he was done.
You had to reset the track and start all over with another tractor. Of course, you had to stay on the track - at your position - until that weight class was done to make it fair for all of the pullers.
Hey! I told you it was a very long time ago.
Later, the seed corn company dad worked for sponsored the tractor pull at the Missouri State Fair. That was a really big thing to be able to be inside the "Pit Area" instead of the grandstands. The very first time I saw a tractor with six (three on each side sitting behind and above the one in front of it) engines on it. All of the engines were blown 426 Hemis. Yes, you wanted your hands over your ears when that thing passed by.
The craziest ones I ever saw were the "Hot Rod Garden Tractors". They had automobile engines on custom built frames (cuz you could not get those kinds of engines on a regular lawn mower frame). Many of them were blown and you just learned to love the sound of the blowers. Most of them were really pushing the line on the "garden tractor" part, but relatively speaking they were tiny compared to the real tractors. Absolutely insane sport. You DID NOT stand anywhere close to the track when those guys were pulling. Also the first time I ever saw "Dead Man" kill switches. Your hand was "hooked" to the steering wheel with a cord (and switch). When your hand came off the steering wheel, it immediately killed the engine. Generally, that would immediately stop the movement of the tractor (except for the forward momentum and unless they broke the pull chain). I don't think I ever saw a chain break - or the tractor come unhooked from the sled. That would have been a very dangerous event.0 -
Speaking of pulling, here’s the Little River that Could
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDhI-K0aAk83 -
Tim The Tool Man:
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Best one I have attended was an ANTIQUE tractor pull in Douglas County Colorado. One driver was 76 years old, so was his tractor. One lady competitor had a John Deere done in pink and purple, marked as a JANE Deere. 0 -
I don't bother to watch anything except "out of the field farm class" pulling. Run what you brung straight out of the field is the REAL tractor pulling. If you can't hook it to an implement and work it all day, it's just an expensive (and noisy) toy.
RE: steam vs diesel
It's more about weight and traction than horsepower. Modern farm tractor weighs 20,000 # while the steam tractor weighs 2x that.3 -
Used to go to the Indy Superpull in the fairgrounds coliseum in Indianapolis. I remember it was LOUD! 0 -
I belonged to MSTPA back in early 80's and pulled a Oliver 88 in the light limited super stock class 0 -
They're pretty loud! 0 -
In time, Tesla will come out with a quiet one, victoryj19, that will outpull them all.
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