Tractor pulls - technique

Hi Guys. I've watched a few tractor pulls on youtube and most of these guys seem to "bolt out of the gate", presumably not in a real low gear.
Comments please. Rod.

Rod,

I think best way is start out steady and slowley increase the power they are ones who seem to do well .

But what would I know I only drive BEDFORD POWER. Dave

But what would I know I only drive BEDFORD POWER

Hey Dave, we all had to start somewhere : :'(

Hi guys if vintage tractor pull run under NHMA INC cover max speed around 5 km. If run under CAMS or some thing like that you can go a lot faster cheers john

I did go in one tractor pull with my 1950 80 inch LANDROVER mind you they did take the wieghts of and I got a FULL PULL !!!!. Dave

Power does not have much to do with it . Traction is the key .We were out at Biloela recently , the boys with their super 70s and 90s gave up in disgust as with a bit of moisture on the black soil they just sat and spun .Our 40 and 55 HP crawlers kept pulling out full pulls each time .

Ian,

most crawlers will out pull any rubber tyred tractor on the day.

When I ran dozers, the general consensus was that one tracked tractor HP, was the equivalent of at least 2 wheeltractor HP, when it came to drawbar pull.
In other words, a 100HP crawler would equal, or out pull, a 200HP wheeltractor.
You can improve wheeltractor traction to a large degree with radials. Because radials have soft walls, they spread the tyre "footprint" over a bigger area, thus improving traction substantially.

Also, wheeltractors, when they get excellent grip, will more often than not, rear up .. thus causing consternation and subsequent declutching, and losing the grip advantage.

The biggest surprise I ever got was from a tandem A-554 tractor, when the brother got one of our D6C's buried in mud in a dam extension.
We'd tried a couple of little Masseys for assistance in pulling the D6C out .. but they just spun. A BTD-6 was then brought in and did the same.

However, a hydraulically-steered (no front axles) tandem A-554 was rounded up .. and it dug in like nothing I've ever seen, and hauled the D6C out, performing like a Cat D7.
I was staggered at the exceptional drawbar pull this little tractor setup had.

inter dealer in a neighbouring town, also had engineering shop attached

they made a tandem setup out of 2 x w6 as a demo unit to show off the hyd hitch

those 2 old w6 would outpull the 806 that had been released

I have never been in a tractor pull, but I have spent quite a few thousand hours on wheel tractors.

To me the operator would need to have an intimate knowledge of his tractor, to know what gear to select, so that when the load comes on, the engine will load up and apply maximum power without stalling. This in turn transfers the whole weight of the tractor to the rear wheels, thus providing the maximum amount of traction. If the gear selected is to low, the engine will have plenty of power to pull the load, but the operator will not get the maximum amount of traction he needs and the wheels will just spin.

Conversely, if the gear selected is too high, the engine will load up and stall before he gets too far.

Ground conditions would also have a bearing on this as well.

RnR.