Re: Antique Tractor pulling? A different type of pull

showcrop

Well-known Member
I posted on the above thread about the difference between a soft track and a power track. I attended a pull yesterday in MA that is billed as the New England Championships, although we all know that it is not. The pull does draw from All over New England and New York and even PA. There were a lot of hooks with some very big classes and we didn't finish until 8:30. The big difference here is that it is a soft track. I bring the drag and tractor, and it is a big challenge to keep the hills and valleys out. Not that we are successful at that, and the hills and valleys made for some displays of some extremely expert tractor pulling. The winners in most of the classes had to use a lot of finesse in their throttle control in order to get the sled over a hill crest and then on down the track for another ten-twenty feet. We had speed limits which did not affect the lower power tractor drivers, but speed limits combined with the soft track certainly put a damper on many of the high power guys. again and again we saw pullers that normally place well but not often win, take the win over the guys that usually win.
 
Our club used to never stop a pull unless the rain got really heavy. I have been wet more
than once. We have pulled when it was snowing. I have pulled when the mud was 4 inches deep
on the track.I have pulled on tracks that looked like the waves in a ocean. That's when my
old Cockshutts show their stuff. I have won a lot more first places on a wet or loose
tracks than I ever have on a hard clay track. We pull on one track that is uphill all the
way and as loose as sand. Pulled first place in the 9000# class last pull. It is really
easy to overpower these tracks. It takes a little playing with the throttle to navigate
them.
 
Not many places have tracks with "REAL CLAY",and many places pull with a very long chain,over 48 inches,up to 60 " and more,very different place to
place,state to state,region to region.Every dog has it's day,some just not so often.
 
Been my experience:higher horsepower
tractors on a loose track may have
better results going up a gear and
reducing engine rpm. (When speed
limit is used).
 
We had a pull on the 4th of July about 5 years ago. It was dry and the dust was terrible. We didn't have a means to water the track. About 3:00 in the afternoon it came a thunderstorm that lasted about 30 minutes. The dust turned to mud,up over our shoe tops. We tried to scrape the track. Scraper tractor couldn't even begin to move the stuff. Three different tractors tried to pull the sled so maybe we could drag the mud off enough to finish the pull. They couldn't even move it.We hooked my 570 Cockshutt diesel to it and pulled the sled over a hundred feet. We pulled it back and forth a few times and finished the pull.
 
I like a clay/loam track that's just loose enough to let the lugs of my tires that are about 1 inch high dig in full width of the tire with my tractor weighted to
the maximum allowable for it's class......But I don't like "sugar pile sandy" tracks much....Now that ain't expecting too much is it?
 
(quoted from post at 13:31:19 11/02/17) I like a clay/loam track that's just loose enough to let the lugs of my tires that are about 1 inch high dig in full width of the tire with my tractor weighted to
the maximum allowable for it's class......But I don't like "sugar pile sandy" tracks much....Now that ain't expecting too much is it?

I majored in geology so I expect that if pressed I could come up with a "soils" test using sieves that would define clay, loamy clay, loose sandy soil, and sugar sand. I think that it is really easier though to just take note of which tracks the "power boys" do well on vs. the ones that the "slightly warmed up" pullers do well on. You may have to attend a number of pulls though to be able to determine which pullers in the "stock" classes are seriously enhanced vs. just "warmed up".
 
(quoted from post at 19:13:44 11/02/17) Just listen to the sound the engine makes,stock is not powereful and strong

Yes, A noticeable "bark" is a good indication of a "stout" tractor, but the proof is still in the pudding, as they say.
 

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