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tractor pulling (good or bad)

O

olliekid

Member
what is your view of tractor pulling? i have a couplee different perspectives on it.
1. Its fun and although it beats up the tractor it can still be sed to farm if given proper care. also the tractor pull is a fun place to meet "farm" people and get tractor related advice.
2. Its wrong. Peole ruin the old antique tractors that we all love. at some point will the number of old usable tractors dwindle? I think people should be able to do whatever they want to their tractor but I just hate to see the nice old tractors turned into super stock (or whatever you want to call it) pullers.
well thats my 2cents. whats yours?
 
I personally dont like to these old machines used for that purpose. And pulling is so limited! I go to farm shows for the field demonstrations.

Scotty
 
To each his own. I don't care for pulling myself but I don't mind if you want to. And I don't think it hurts the tractor. At least not for the average "antique stock" classes. yeah you can hotrod one and it will never be the same but that's neither here nor there either. It's your tractor and we are not going to save them all. If we did mine wouldn't be worth anything.
 
I've never been to a pull myself, fellow who came by to buy parts told me it was as much fun as watching paint dry, and I saw no reason to doubt it.
Zach
 
I think that is a neat alternative to pulling but here in eastern ohio it seems all there is anything close to that is steam engine shows. No plow days or anything like that. I always thought a plow day would be interesting though.
 

Try it you might like it ! You can pull Division 1 [out of the field tractors].

Lets look at it another way. There is "alot" of tractors saved from the scrap man or pulled out of fence rows that are now up and running as pullers. Pulling with your tractor isn't any harder on it then what it was built for.

Grant you we do ad cubic inches to them and double there power but that is better then it wasting away.
 
I defend the right to use anything you or I own, Tractor or what ever, in any way you or I see fit as long as it does not infringe on the rights or safety of others.
In other words it none of anyone elses dam business how I damage or take care of my toys!!

Can't you just hear the fife and drums playing in the background...

Besides in a generation there woun't be anyone left that gives two hoots about old tractors.
 
My Father hates the idea of his restored antiques pulling in low gear on that smooth, even, dry track.
He'd rather take them back to the woods and use them as a timberjack in the brush,branches, rock, sharp sticks and mud. Then rev them up in 2nd gear and take a yank on the chain at stuck tree.
Go figure.....................
 
Plowing for hours or pulling for a few seconds. now I love doing both, and in the stock class, neither is really hard on the tractor.
 
I have 4 antique pullers and working on 2 more that have been restored to better than new condition. Any or all of these tractors could have been sold for scrap,sent to Japan or even worse China. I'll take my 50 year old Cockshutts over a Toyota or some cheap Chinese tool any day.
 
Tractor pulling on our farm is good.

When the Ford 2810 got stuck time after time after time, walked back to the tractor shed and got "15" our 53 70 gas.

<a href="http://s200.photobucket.com/albums/aa5/jameslloydhowell/John%20Deere%20Equipment/15/?action=view¤t=IMG_1527.jpg" target="_blank">
IMG_1527.jpg" width="500" height="400" border="0" alt="Photobucket
</a>



When Nancy stuck "Old John", walked back to the tractor shed and got "15" our 53 70 gas.

When hay customer "high centered" on terrace with 1 ton Ford truck and 20ft trailer loaded with hay, walked back to the tractor shed and got "15" our 53 70 gas.

Sure hope "15" our 53 70 gas never gets stuck.

If it does - no problem, walk back to the tractor shed and get "1011" our 53 70 gas.

<a href="http://s200.photobucket.com/albums/aa5/jameslloydhowell/John%20Deere%20Equipment/1011/?action=view¤t=IMG_1701.jpg" target="_blank">
IMG_1701.jpg" width="500" height="400" border="0" alt="Photobucket
</a>

Tractor pulling is great for the folks that enjoy it.

I'm content to hook a chain on the "stuck and troubled" equipment, put "15" in 1st gear, pull the throttle lever back to idle, engage the hand clutch, and enjoy the ride.

Take a 4 minute ride on "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbId7_pwkbc">15</a>".
 
Used to pull antiques. stock years ago. quit because too many people started cheating for a dust collecting trophy. If its your thing, fine, go for it. But i personaly do not see the sence in spending many thousand in a tractor just to pull with. I only watch the "virgin stock" antique class myself. The game has gotten too expensive to enjoy.
 
i think overall my though on them is that they look like fun, but you just wont ever see me participating in one. they sure are entertaining though.
 
Here is the way I look at it:

I used to pull antiques and got bored of it. I would sooner watch the smoker tractors with the fire and smoke,but even they can get a little boring. However they arn't chopping up the good antiques since alot of them are getting built from the ground up as pullers(never a stock tractor)

One good thing about people pulling antiqus it does save the history of them some what even if they are sporting chrome wheels weight brackets and all. Its kind of like old cars too.. You see alot of street rods out there that aren't stock anymore in any way.. I still like looking at them wether they are stock or custom. Its better to see them out and about then rottin in a field some where.
 
BINGO!!

I don't know how many times our 1954 70 has gotten us or someone else out of a jam. Last spring it pulled our neighbor's motor home up a bank just before it was going to slide into a creek.

As for pulling--both rear tires are loaded with a set of weights on the rears. With that setup, we can just get it into the 7500# stock class where it is a real puller.

And it's a real "plower," too. Take it to plow days and pull a JD 555 3x-14's in second or third gear, depending on the ground.

As for pulls, there are the local/fair-type pulls that are pretty loose on the rules. On the other hand, a pull that has scales, tachs rpms and follows NATPA rules eliminates the "hot dog tractors"--and---most of the guys who have them won't go to a pull with rules.
 
Loved your 4 minute ride on the 70.I probably spent more hours on a 70 than any other tractor.
My dad bought a 70 in 1954 and a few months
bought another one with power steering. My brother and I really liked the P,S. because we spent many hours cultivating little cotton with
heavy 4 row front end cultivators clucking along
in low gear in the hot Texas sun. (no shade)
 
I think the Feds. should ban the use of those old machines that do not meet the new emission standards working, pulling, just anything, just look but don't start!LOLLLL
 
I guess it depends if you are winning or losing.Alot of it is a social event.I watch them when I get the chance which isn't to often.

Vito
 
Love the power steering on both "Big John" 55 70 diesel and "Vernon" 56 70 gas.

Power steering is best on "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYxv_HsWGHg">Vernon</a>" so that's the mowing tractor.

Turn that tractor on a dime and get 9 cents back in change!
 
My brother & I buy a lot of old tractors to keep them from going to the scrapyard...have the shop & shop yard & back yard of my home full of them....now slipping a few into the front yard of the house ...pull a 56 WD-45 at the antique pulls ...what else are you going to do with them?...just let them sit & lock up...no such thing as a plow day around here & most if not all farms are to grade & when the crops are off the locals have them looking like a pool table & don't want anyone on them until planting time next spring....whats the use of owning a old tractor if you can't use it?....that why I like to pull....take care ...Kent
 
I thought it would be a good test of a recent refit/rebuild/restore. She said no. Couldn't really declare a winner in a split decision...

So we grade the driveway and push snow...

Aaron
 
The bad is that you could blow an engine, tranny or rear end which can cost big bucks to repair.
The good is that you might win a $5 plastic trophy.
Your call.
 
I've got to give it a "thumbs up" as I run stock and the "kid" goes with. 13 but wants her own tractor!
a23305.jpg

a23306.jpg
 
Go ahead and get it out of Youir system ,But i don't care to pull anymore ,, It is hard on the trannys and clutches more than anything ,, And THE Sport Is so different NOW than 40 Years ago ,, todays stockers would be Known as hot rods Years ago
 
i like antique pulls some times its the most work the tractors will do in a year. What REALY bugs me is the rules of some clubs. My freinds talked me into taking my wd45 to this years power show. Rules say no tractors newer than 59, no hanging weights, all weights must be of stock oriant. we wrestle the loader off get up there 90% of the tractors have suitcase weights the other 10% had 3 sets of wheel weights. I get stuck in the 5500 pound class with no weights and they expect you to be competitive. sorry about the lenghth got fired up thinking about it.
 
I dont like to participate as either a puller or spectator. As a spectator its too loud, too much smoke/fumes, and way too many drunks with small man syndrome in the crowd. As to being hooked to the sled, I dont have enough money to want to waste some of it breaking something for no purpose.
 
I was going to say that I don't understand your post, but I do. I enjoy pulling for the most part. I go to about 15 a year. I believe that pulling competitions are "play" for a tractor compared to the pulling that it did when it used to work. Example: The owners manual for my Ford 901 has a chart for ballast limit for listed tire sizes. The max is 10,070 lbs! The tractor shipping weight is 3500 lbs. Whoever bought your tractors new, bought them to work, not be trailer queens. We all decide what we wish to do with our own tractors. Some of mine work, some play, some pretty much just sit. When my play tractors go out to "play" They are typically weighted at half of what they would have been when working. I think that it is obvious that cutting weight in half is going to pretty much cut breakage likelihood in half. So please don't tell people that doing what they enjoy with their prized possession is more likely to hurt them than what you do with yours.
 
maybe you should have seen my pullers before I started, I built them out of junk tractors/spare parts that no one else would have fixed up so instead of going for scrap I put two tractors back into circulation.
 
I help my brother pull by lifting weights and it saves some old iron from the scrap yard BUT for me its a money pit just like dirt track stock car racing, mud drag racing, dirt bike racing, and all the rest of the pits I have thrown money down into. Always somebody with more money or less fear. I guess I'm getting old & cranky........seems like it takes all I have to just keep the oil changed and batteries & tires up on everything. Paul in Mississippi
 
I pull and have for several years. My dad and I had a large collection of John Deere's that just set in the barn collecting dust. We took a couple of junk tractors, did some work to them and went pulling. We have had a lot more fun adn enjoyed the tractors much more.

I don't really see why people would be upset about taking a common tractor and hot rodding it. After all it is better than it going to scrap, and its better than it just sitting there. I mean most of the pullers are Jd A's and G's, Farmall H's and M's, there were thousands of these made, its not hurting anything. If anyhting it makes the stock ones more rare and drives the price up.

Pulling is not a cheap sport and it is a money pit, but it is a lot of fun building and competing in. It is much more fun to me to have a heavily modified tractor that makes twice, three, or more times its factory horsepower. To do that with these tractors says something about the quality of design and build. They will live long at 3 times or more the horsepower. I have never broken anything in the transmission personally. I have seen it happen, but not all that often.

Leave us pullers alone, we are doing our part to preserve history. If you have never competed in a pull, try it, you may find it to be fun. I sure did!
 
We really like our 70s; all are good dependable tractors.

All assigned to the most "important" jobs on our farm.

Since we are limited to weekend work on our farm, unfortunately we don't get to attend any "fun" tractor events.
 
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