520 vs g pulling

kdl

Member
I notice the nabraska test shows 520 HP at 38.58 and max pull 4723 lbs. It shows g test 38.10 HP amd max pull 4394 . soooooo , will a 520 keep up with a g at a tractor pull ? What have you seen ?
 

Looks like you have read the article written by JR Hobbs.
Stock vs stock I would choose the 520. The 520 will make extra power with high compression, a cam and port cleanup but.....not as much as an over bored and stroked G.
 
I can't answer your question but will make a few comments about the Nebraska tests. For the maximum pull tests in each gear the load is increased until the tractor engine is lugged down to rated speed and no lower. Wheel slippage is limited to 15% and the maximum speed is limited too but I'm not sure what that number is. Occasionally the lowest gear or two are not tested or if they are the throttle is backed off to get to rated speed without exceeding the slippage limit. The amount of weight that is added for the tests should also be noted as it used to be that unrealistic amounts of ballast were used. Both ballasted and unballasted tests were conducted and can be compared in the reports. Note that heavy ballast will greatly increase the maximum pulling force but doesn't do a lot for drawbar horsepower which is really what matters.

What all this means is that if you tie a tractor down to an immovable object (like what the pulling sleed becomes) and either spin out or kill the engine the results of the Nebraska tests will not give you a clear answer since the conditions are far different than what was tested. The Nebraska tests are very objective and can be used to accurately predict a tractor's performance relative to others. However, if the particular way that tractors are being compared falls outside the test parameters (such as with the case at hand) they can only provide an extrapolated "educated guess" at best.
 
Remember, these tractors aren't burning the same fuels in the test. The G is running on distillate. Find the 520 all fuel test, and see how they compare.

In my neighborhood (WI) most G's were "converted" to gas in the 50s or 60s. Either they had gas pistons installed, or the head shaved. That and maybe the gas manifold put the G close to 50 hp without stroking or boring or big valves and custom cams.
 
I watched a 530 compete against 730 sized tractors at our local threshing show tractor pull. The 530 just wouldn't quit! It was creeping along digging and clawing while the crowd cheered it on. In the end the bigger tractors out pulled it but not by much.
 
(quoted from post at 19:43:28 04/30/17) I notice the nabraska test shows 520 HP at 38.58 and max pull 4723 lbs. It shows g test 38.10 HP amd max pull 4394 . soooooo , will a 520 keep up with a g at a tractor pull ? What have you seen ?

Interesting question, 38 HP vs. 38 HP, however, it comes down to math. A 520 with 190 cu-in and 5-1/2” stroke makes 150 ft-lb of torque, a G with 412 cu-in and 7” stroke, 204 ft-lb. If there were strictly enforced limitations of a 1-1/2 mph and pure stock RPM, the tractors should compete, but that’s not typical tractor pulling. Minimum speed limit classes are usually 3 to 3-1/2 mph, rpms and internal modifications are not checked. Without doing anything else, turn both tractor up to 1600 RPM’s, the G has 62 HP, the 520, 45 HP. Once in awhile a 520 or 530 will show up to a tractor pull, but they are heavy, underpowered, and usually pull about ½ the distance of the other tractors. Maybe someone will take the challenge of a 520 but it appears to be an uphill battle.
 
I would certainly agree with you about the G. The BTO I worked for in HS had an A, G, 60, 520 plus three 4020's a 4320, a 4230 turbo, a Case 420 loader, and a 2470 Case. And I think there was a blown-up B back in the trees grown up in weeds.

The A, G, & 60 were flat wore out. I mostly hauled manure with them. He raised 400 head of beef cattle a year, always manure to haul. I never ran the 520. The guts of the muffler were blown out, I could hear it well over a mile away, up wind! I did NOT want to run it. Boss wore ear plugs running it most of the time. I bet he put 600-700 hours a year on that tractor, maybe more. The day I rotary hoed 80 acres of beans with the 60 and his 6-30" hoe I learned about Patience! Took A-L-L day and it was a very L-O-N-G day! Would have been a half day job with any of the 4020's.

As to the OP's question, my money would be on the G. No replacement for Displacement. Anything you do to the 520 to improve performance will make a bigger improvement on the G. As to which one I'd run? Neither, I've spent enough time on those miserable things! If you were going to crank any old 2-cylinder up to 1600 rpm I don't even want to be in the same county with it! No way will those flywheels stand that!
 
Yeah but, the G's low gear is around 2 1/2 MPH, the 520's low gear is around 1 1/2 MPH.......and it was weighted heavier than the G for the
maximum pull test. 520's burned about the same amount of fuel doing it's tests.....gasoline too, while the old G burned cheap distillate.
Sure the 520 designed in the middle 1950's is more than comparable to the G that received it's last designs in the middle 1940's.......the G's
middle 1950's design was the model 720. How do 720's fare against 520's?
No doubt the tractors designed in the 1950's handle much nicer than the models of the 1940's...and they had live hydraulics, independent
PTO , power steering, higher compression better designed engines, better ergonomics, etc.,etc.
John Deere had to do all kinds of good things for their 1950's model tractors to keep them comparable to the competition's offerings and
apparently it paid off, they still pretty well kept their market share....even with the often ridiculed outdated 2 cylinder engines......Most "John
Deere people" still bought new John Deere's. Not all the competition's owners were quite as loyal as time passed and their new models went
out to the fields and saw their reputations slide a little here and there.
 
I agree 100%. I first part of posters question, he's all about stock Neb. tests and results and in second part of question , it's at the tractor pulls...where "stock" does not exist and neither does alternate fuels (unless race fuel is considered alternate fuel ) and for the most part, CID is king, all else being equal...as you said in your post.
 
You guys are forgetting that torque is what does the work.you could have a 150 HP but if your was only 25lbs torque you could not it out of its own way. look at the adds for the new pickups torque is all the talk
 

HP is the rate at which the work is being performed . Double the HP and the sled travels down the track at twice the speed.
Getting back to the origional intent . Stock G vs a stock 520/530, my money is on the 520/530. The 520/530 can use 2nd gear in light classes and soft tracks and low gear with a heavy sled and a hard track.
 

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