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Tractor pulling.

J

JDseller

Well-known Member
I saw the post below about tractor pullers/pulling/manners/attitude. Got me to thinking about tractor pulling in general.

I don't know if anyone noticed that I don't respond to the guys wanting help to turn up/soup up their old tractors. I used to pull tractors years ago but it was a real stock pull then. They would Dyno the tractor and you had to be under factory spec plus 10%. Then the different weight classes. It was kind of fun and really compared tractors and drivers. Did not cost an arm and a leg to do. Only lasted a few years until too many where trying to cheat and the classes where dropped.

The tractor pulling of today is just comparing pocket books it seems. The cheating that has made the NTPA a joke seems to be going full bore in the antique tractor pulling. You have a JD two cylinder that turned 1050 rpm factory turned up/souped up to turn 2500 rpm. Does not seem like much fun to me. Some guys might have up to a $100K in antique pulling tractor.

I have spent much of my adult life trying to fix things to work. It just does not set right with me to see things deliberately turned up so far that they are not usable for anything else.

My one son got into the demo derbies several years ago. He was shocked when I made him work on it at his house. Why waste all the time and effort on some thing you are going to go out and wreck???

I really liked the old time tractor pull they had down at the Missouri Valley show. Just line up on an old style sled and people step on as it went along. No prises just pull to see how you would do.

It seems like too many of the pullers are always trying to get around this or that rule. So lets just have a no holds barred tractor pull. You have to have safety equipment but other than that anything goes. Weight the tractor right before it hooks on the sled and then let her RIP. If it goes 200 MPH and blows up. Well better luck next time. Lets take all the cheating and BS out of it. The tractor weights so much for each class and then anything goes short of nuclear fission. LMAO

Here is how an announcer might do a unlimited pull:

Well folks Billy Bob is back this week with his Boeing 747 engines back in his old school bus frame. It looks like he really spent some money this week. That looks like SUPER Gorilla Duct tape holding the engines in this week. You remember last weeks accident when his dog chain hitch broke and he did not get stopped until the next county. So it really looks like he has her all tuned in for this week's pull. The judges made sure he was using a good 1/4 inch chain this week. You all know how we always preach safety here at the "No Holds Barred tractor pulling Association". Well folks Billy Bob is already to go now........ HE really has a good pull going at the hundred foot mark. He seems to have it all lined up for a full pull as he passes the two hundred foot mark. Oh no he just had a some real bad luck at the 250 foot mark. It looks like he dropped his draft beer and it shorted out his high tech ignition system. Well folks that has to be a real heart breaker there. Man-o-man that was a real waste of a good cold beer. I really hate to see that happen. Well folks lets all give Billy Bob a round of applause for a good show tonight. Maybe he can save up some of his garbage truck driving money and get that fancy cup holder he has his eye on down at Wally World. We hope to see him again next week.


Never said I was "normal" LOL Have fun guys.
 
I was at that tractor pull!
The only thing missing is the 'race to the chase'.

That 'poor' bastid could win 15 pulls in the season and still not win the 'championship'.

That's why I don't watch NASCAR or NHRA drag racing.

good luck
k
 
JDseller, that was hilarious! Unfortunately you are correct about everything being about "what's in your wallet". In the mid 50s they built a quarter mile drag strip about 6 or 8 miles from where I lived. When I finished high school, got a job and a car, I intended to go drag racing occasionally. But,heck, by the time I did a little fine tuning on it, I found out that most of those running in "stock" class were nowhere near stock! So my drag racing career was shot down before it ever got off the line. (pun intended) The last antique tractor pull I attended was about four years ago. It was part of a community fund raiser and I honestly believe that most if not all the tractors were stock. Just a bunch of good old country boys having fun. But the professionals, they can put on a show, but stock, ?????????
 
Just the other day you were telling us about the JD5020 that you put a turbo on, putting out over 200hp.(more than 10%+). Then you come on here telling people that they're stupid for doing what they want with their money. It's none of your business what they do with their money. IF BUBBA JOE WANTS TO DO ALL THAT STUFF WITH HIS MONEY, AND IT ISN'T HURTING YOU, LET HIM STIMULATE THE ECONOMY AND MAYBE EVEN WIN A DARWIN AWARD.
 
Well Farmer Boy I must of hit a nerve on you!!!

Well I did turn my JD 5020 up. It also was the just about the same motor as the JD 6030 that came from the factory at 175 horse power. I also was using it to make a living with. I was not pushing the definition of what a 'stock' pulling tractor was.

I did not say anything about what you do with your money. Just be honest about it. How many "stock class" tractors are entirely legal with all the rules??? Not a single one of them that is how many. Every guy I know, who pulls for serious in the big pulls, has some little trick/cheat he has done on his tractor. An 95% of the time they never get caught.

That was what I was talking about just cut the BS and have it just be run what you brought. Totally unlimited.

I think they should do that in NASCAR too. It seems like every year this or that team is caught cheating. So make it zero rules. A car weights so much and has to have this type/style of safety equipment. Then let them go for it.

The way they are now the cars all look the same if it was not for the different colors. About all of them run a certain model. So lets make it more interesting run the thing WIDE OPEN!!! Don't act like all the teams/owners/drivers are as pure as driven snow.
 
JD- I've always had the utmost respect for you....because of all of your posts. This one is just reinforcement. Pullers have never impressed me once they get beyond stock, out of the field....aka the 'bragging rights' picture. I have a couple of 1939 AC Model RC tractors- pullers have been scarfing them up forever just to get the differential gears- then throwing the tractor away...(5500 made, 1939-1941). Diff gears fit in an AC Model WC, and from the outside, you can't tell the difference. Then they stick up to a D17 engine in it, hopped up. What a waste of a rare tractor! I'll never give them up. Same reason I don't respond to pullers asking for advice.
 
Its sounds like a debate between car restorers and hot rodders---its my tractor and my money and i will damn well do what i wnat.
 
Shows go to having Hot Stock classes and more because almost no one wants to see 15 or 20 stock John Deere B's go down the track about 100ft at the the breakneck speed of of 1 MPH.Pulls are entertainment so if they don't entertain it'll equal no customers.How many times have you paid $$$ to go see a stock pull?
Same with drag racing a track won't get a crowd if they only have stock cars.
Everyone gets to vote with their $$$ as the folks that put on the events don't care what runs in pulls they just want to make $$$ and the Hot Tractors won.Sounds like CAPITALISM to me.You're a fan of that right?
In a Capitalistic Economy the consumers are constantly voting with their $$$.Its a great system even when it comes to Tractor Pulling and Demolition Derbys.
 
Anyone ever notice that guy at the coffe shop that is always the loudest or always thinks he knows best? He's the guy who will brag about what he has done and how it's better than the way you did it. I guess I can see Jdseller playing this role.

Oh yeah, I think the real reason he quit pulling is that he could figure out how to beat Billy Bob!
 
(quoted from post at 03:05:29 10/26/12) Anyone ever notice that guy at the coffe shop that is always the loudest or always thinks he knows best? He's the guy who will brag about what he has done and how it's better than the way you did it. I guess I can see Jdseller playing this role.

Oh yeah, I think the real reason he quit pulling is that he could figure out how to beat Billy Bob!
Click to expand...

Yea!!!!!!!!!!!! And he can't even fix a pushmower!!!!!!!!!!!! :roll:

You boys just can't behave yourselves for nuthin..................
 
A great bif "BINGO!" for your post.

We like pulling, but only stock classes-like my grandfather's tractor against your grandfather's tractor type of thing. NATPA pulls only for us, about the only place you can find enforced rules. This souping-up, whoopty-do stuff has gotten out of hand. And some of these guys will cheat any way they can even in the stock class, just to be a big-shot locally and to win a hat or a cheap trophy.
 
You are right-but I like watching those JD B's going down the track at 1 mph. But I'm probably in the minority as people would rather watch the hot tractors that cost more some houses cost.
 
As usual, we are in agreement.
The only kind of pull I would have any interest in would be taking tractors right "out-of-the-field". Certainly there would be some variation in tires and ballasting. But that would be instructional, as I am always interested in the most efficient application of HP to the ground.
 
I liked the good old days when they brought them out of the field and pulled them at the local fairs.

You may be die hard green so this true story may not be to your liking. I was in the grandstand and found this entertaining.

A 70 JD had embarassiongly powered out in low at 2.5 mph but was leading in distance. The last entry, a 400 Farmall with TA pulled further and spun out. I observed the JD guy getting in the face of the person controling the pull with arms waving and mouth moving. People in the grandstand were taking sides with a lot of yelling.

I was a Case guy so I was neutral but entertained by the everpresent green and red battle in our community.

The Farmall was also 2.5 mph in low but TA dropped the speed to a lower speed and the Farmall did not power out. The person in charge allowed a speed race in low gear followed by a repull of both tractors.

Apparantly, the Farmall guy was told to not use TA so he didn't. Now, both tractors powered out. The Deere won by inches and now the Farmall guy has a big frown on his face but was otherwise a good looser. The grandstand uproar lasted for a long time.

Back home in FFA, there was a lot of discussion about who really won. I guess we in FFA won because we got to hone our debating skills. LOL
 
Personally I enjoy pulling stock tractors but people that put on pulls have alot of expenses and they need people that are willing to come pay
to watch and stock doesn't draw the crowd that willing to put out the big $$$$$
 
I call it "tractor racing"

I sure can't see where they get all the dollars to do it ? I'm sure glad I didn't get bit by the pulling bug too. The restoration bug bite was bad enough !
 
I agree Traditional Farmer on the fact that you can vote with your money. What I was jokingly trying to get across was the fact that they try to act like they all are as pure as driven snow and never cheat/fudge to rules.

Thats is what I mean by just making the one that want to really soup up there tractors be honest about it. Make it unlimited. Just weight rules and safety other than those run what you bring.

If you can afford to make an old tractor produce 1500 hp and pull for only 300 feet then go for it. Who know we may even have some new idea or tech knowledge come out of it.

The way it is now the only thing learned is how to hide the cheat /rule stretching. This is not just in tractor pulling either. Talk to the guys that race stock cars or drag cars. Same issue.

People are competitive. Which is great. Lets just take the sham out of it and make it real competitive. Run what you bring, unlimited other than safety and weight. So you can spend as much or as little as you want to. You can do the work yourself or hire it all done.
 
susally the guys that complain about pulling are the ones that can't figure out how to do it, give them the toughest tractor in the bunch for them to set it up and weight it and they still couldn't makeitnto the top third,if you don't like pulling don't go, I like pulling and I also like stock tractors and we have a few pulls for truely stock tractors, I am fixing up a CC Case to pull in those classes. I also hear about the pullers wrecking good tractors and in the case of a rare one maybe that's true to a point but on the other hand if they own it they have the right to do with it as they please.The tractors I pull were built out of parts that were on the way to the scrap yard. One of my next builds will be a 5-600cube 400 case with a combine block and a rear end out of a 400dsl. that has been parted out. I enjoy pulling and the friends I have made. We have a good bunch of pullersand some good rules and we don't have many problems. So if you don't pull don't bash those that choose to. I think tracor drives are pointless and if I am going to drive mine 20 miles it will be hauling grain or doing other farm jobs but I don't get on here and make a fuss about those that like to go on drives. To ach his own.
 
you don't have a clue,you think people are spending too much and yet you don't want any rules? Rules like speed limits keep a lid on excessive spending. Some like spending money on their tractors, or a 4 wheeler or a Harley or a camper, golf clubs ect. It's their business. I go to a few national pulls. I have a bored and stroked CC Case, I pull in 3.5 to 5 mph classes with cut tires and am within the rules so why don't you come to a pull and point out how I am cheating? I won a class at the Lincoln pull and won at Sigourney, Ia and no one seemed to have a problem with it. Most of the winners are not cheaters. I have found thet the ones that can't do very well are usually the ones that try to operate outside of the rules.
 
Well I don't really care what you spend your money on. I spend mine on things I like and you spend yours how you want.

As for the type of pull/race I was talking about READ my post carefully. I said after weight AND SAFETY rules, run what you bring. Your speed limit is a safety rule!!!! That is the class you want to run in. So great!!!

I think watching a tractor you have all hopped up going 3 MPH down the track is like watching paint dry. That is just my Opinion.

I am sure you would find many things I do just as boring to you.

The main classes I have been around where the super stock tractor pulls. Remember this was 20-30 years ago too. At that time they had a rule that the tractors where supposed to have only have certain engine blocks and such. The guy that won the nationals was not far from me. I know he had the numbers recast in the side of a larger engine block. So he had a larger displacement engine than he was supposed to. He got away with it for years.

There is one common factor. Tractor pulling guys have the thinnest skin of all the different speed freaks out there. Tell a drag racer that many are pushing the "rules" and he will laugh and say SOOOOOO. Tell a dirt track guy that and he will tell which one is doing it the most. The tractor pulling guy will argue with you for an hour that it is not happening. Then one of the guys listening will come and ask about changing the gears in his tractor so he can run a different speed in a gear limited pull.
 
Yep speed limits are all you need if a 60HP tractor can take it out at a set speed its pointless to have 100HP and probably the 100HP is going to break traction first.Most of the time the people that complain about 'cheating' have an old tractor that half a$$ runs,worn out rings and
when they get beat complain about all the other guys cheating.And most of the complaining about tractor pulling is by folks that wouldn't ever pull anyway and certainly wouldn't pay a $20 hook fee
 
Cubic dollars will eventually take over about any motor sport, it's just the nature of competition. Once the sport gets expensive the whole nature of it changes, and sometimes the crowds or fans change. Read some of the articles about cheating in NASCAR, it's almost a Spy VS Spy relationship, NASCAR writes a rule, the teams exploit holes in the rule and NASCAR re-writes the rule. I enjoy looking at some of the old NASCAR pictures were a car dealer or implement company is the team sponsor. Heck today the race team is a bigger business than the folks that used to sponsor them. I really don't think there's a way you can stop it because even if there is limited prize money the uber competitive will spend more than the prize to have bragging rights. Also explains a lot about politics and what has happened to our government and why the current folks that want to talk about "fairness" are showing that they don't understand the realities of life. I was told 500 plus years ago an Italian scholar determined that 30% of the population in Italy owned 70% of the resources. Much time and effort has went into studying this phenomena. It has been theorized if you divided all the world's resources equally among everyone within 100 years 30% would own 70% of the resources. In business it's not uncommon for 30% of your customers to provide 70% of your revenue and conversely 30% of your customers will provide 70% of your problems and it's usually not the same 30% providing the revenue.
 
There is alot more to it than just throwing money at your tractor... Sure it helps but I only have 3500 in my john deere G and usually only run 1st gear i have a great great set of tires that always hook up and i usually atleast place. There is alot more ot be said about weighitng your tractor properly, and reading the track... I will spend more money on tires than anythingn else for a pulling tractor... I see a lot of guys running nice tractors that run great but got a shotty set of 200$ tires and they cant hook up at all. Traction is key in my oppinion...
 

Stock, straight out of the field is what we want, right? Well how about the local dairy farmer who with his son, drives his 4440s down the road to the pull? All they do is add a little weight to bring them up close to the max. It's dark by the time their classes come up. They have mufflers and turbos so you can barely hear them coming down the track, then they hit the brakes at the end of the track. First place year after year. Straight out of the field, never did anything to them, bought them from out west. Only I know a couple of guys at the dealership. One of those 4440s blew the packings out of the dyno at 225HP.
Some guys that pull stock tractors think that some others beat them too often. Well how about if that other guy's tractor came from the factory with a third more power. Not much money being spent here.
 
We mostly pull modern farm tractors here in Northern Ireland, straight out of the field, on to the weigh-bridge and out to pull.....Our event is always held on the last Saturday in Feburary and the ground conditions are sticky, kind of sorts the men from the boys.....There are several postings on you tube ...enjoy!
Sam
http://youtu.be/63DvqFPwJZk
 

Yep, it ought to be like a friend's rules for Horse Pulling...: the 1st MUST work in the field Plowing, before they qualify to hook to the sled...
THAT separates the men from the BOYS...

Ron..
 
Our 'pulling' club doesnt give trophys,cash prizes or any recognition to 'winners'.We figure if we did that it would become a 'richmans game' and spoil it for all of us 'poorboys',no longer be fun.Granted we have no 'modified' etc.,only antiques and field tractors.We only last year voted to accept tractors 30 years and older and under 100 hp.
 
Back in the day, the farmers would bring in their tractors a day or two before local pull and have me, give it a little more. Some didn't have a little more, some did. It was kind of fun then also. Last pull I went to a 3020 John Deere beat out all the 4020's and 806's. It was right out of the field, untouched. Wet track. I never went to another pull. Don't answer questions on turning up the power. Way too much trouble with the tractors without turning up the power. I will confess to watching a few U-tube shots where the engine blows up. Such fun.
 
There ya go!
Nascar, Top drags and tractor pulls.....people go to see 'em crash, burn, blow up.........cool when everything from crank up blows off the tractor!
If stock, they would just run & run & run........no big bang! No one would come & pay to see that! Look at NASCAR.....without the crashes, it would be just like sitting beside the freeway during rush hour, drinking beer. Watching a farmer plow for hours on end!
 
weren't you always always trying to promote Ray's rip off parts? not much of his stuff would run in the field if the engine even ran at all
 
You think you are going to call all of the pullers cheaters and some are not going to get riled up? I take offense to that as I abide with the rules that are given to me. as I said I have passed tech at national pulls without a problem so you are welcome to give my tractors your own tech inspection. If you don't want to see my tractor pull don't come. It has 4440 jd sleeves, bb chev pistons, 400IH small end welded to a 310 Waukesha big end for rods, IH 436 intake valves and a stroked crank. How's that for cheating? The guys I run with have just as long a grocery list!
 

I have never watched a tractor pull. I would enjoy watching truly stock tractors from the field pull. I don't care for the fancy tractor pulling rigs, drags, monster trucks, ect. It just doesn't turn my clock. IMHO the Chip Foose 4020 was a waste of a good tractor. That kind of mentality is how you get idiots like those guys on Top Gear, if you guys saw the show when they had tractors. I would have enjoyed seeing tractors that were comparable in size in a realistic field trial, but that show was stupid.
 
The more shine, glitter, excitement and the occasional catastrophic failure of an engine makes a good show, more people come. How many of the big pullers have a sponsor? Once the sport starts getting sponsors the game changes. In the basic sport you have the competition, that is a product for the participants, it becomes entertaining so entertainment is a product of the sport people pay to watch, they start to identify with the participants or dream of being able to do it themselves. When sponsorship comes into play the publicity generated also becomes a product but sometimes it displaces the competition or at least takes the fun out of it. Costs go up because the value of the publicity puts money into the sport the winners get more publicity. The increased cost stifles innovation and resourcefulness, you can't afford to try much new for fear of not delivering publicity to your sponsor. the cost of new technologies increases along with the cost of failure.
 
Pretty good antique tractor pull at the Prairie Land Steam Show in Jacksonville, IL every September. No cash prize; all you get for first 3 places is a hat. Different weight classes. Some tractors are obviously upgraded with weights and who knows what engine work, but it isn't obnoxious. I've got video I have taken of the last two years of it, for the curious:

2012 --> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t10pwLP8G74

2011 --> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNFXOoXeKhk

I'd wager that most of the tractors in it are stock, considering how far the sled... Doesn't travel, so to speak. Back many years ago they used to to do the old style sled where people would just get on it, but I think this method is probably safer and faster, honestly.
 
bdoll: It seems you are pulling the type of pull I am talking about. There must not be many rules other than what it weights and how fast you can run. So then you can build your tractor anyway you want and it fits the "rules".

Like I said the ones I have seen that do the cheating have rules on displacement or block numbers or fuel, etc. Then some one was always trying to get around the rules.

An example of this is the local VFW pull. It started out 4-5 years ago. It started as just a little Sunday afternoon get together and have a simple pull. Some local guy built a sled with a moving weight box. The first year or two it was fun to watch just a bunch of local guys with their tractors having fun. Then they started to get more hopped up tractors. So they made the rule you had to pull in 1st gear. I know of three different guys that changed the gears around in their tractors so they would have a faster 1st. gear than it came with. The prizes given??? A nice hat for 1st. and coupons off of food at the VFW for 2nd and 3rd. So at least those three cheated on the rule. One of them had gears made for his and it cost him $1500. Funny thing is the local pull is the only one he goes too. Seems kind of funny to spend that kind of money for a win of maybe a $10 hat.

The most honest class at a pull is the modified. They are not many limits other than speed and weight.
 
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