Tractor pulls

[Al Smith]

Well,in the Pacific northwest,the folks have the lumberjack contests,and the saw races.Here in the big cornfield,it's tractor pulling,both with loaded sled and transfer sled.In one of the pictures,taken 12 years ago,I am attempting about 6,000 lbs.This includes the 1937 John Deere B ,on the sled.I don't think I moved it.My tractor,is a John Deere A,1946.This,like most of my saws,was a basket case when I got it .

 

[MasterBlaster]

Well, if they woulda got that tractor off the skid, I bet you woulda pulled it!

 

[Al Smith]

Or done this

This is another basket case,1954 oliver OC-6 crawler.One picture is in the over 10,000 lb class .I won.Now the rest of the story,that was an exibition pull,to show the difference between the power of a crawler compared to a wheel tractor.The crowd loved it.

 

[lucky]

Tractor pulls! Oh Yeah! Al, I've just gone through a '48 AW with the 42 inch rears. It's got the high compression aluminum pistons and Robert's Carb Shop cam to add some oomph. Haven't used it much, yet, but I can tell traction might be a problem.

Can you fit a 12 volt under your long hood? John

 

[Al Smith]

yep.it's a 12 volt system.A short coupled A standard,AW ,model D,do real well on loose track tracks,with ag tires.The "war years" A's,like mine,never do real well,in stock condition .If I ever get back into pulling,I have '40 A,with a .090 over block.I may slug the front of the cylinders{like a power block} and install a 60 cam .That one,has a set of spoke wheels and I can get the weight under 4,000 .Where I was pulling,5,000 class,I was in with super M Farmalls,and didn't have a chance.I could get them with my 70 gas though.

 

[lucky]

What's slugging? Is that boring and sleeving beyond .125?

Ever notice when the weight comes forward on the sled IH's usually stop and stall out? The JD's stop too but the wheels still turn and the front end climbs. Two cylinder torque! Yee haaaaaaaa!

A 70 would be nice to have..... I'd really like a diesel w/power steering but they're tougher to find out here.
John

 

[Ax-man]

Al.
I am not that familiar with Deere tractors because we always had the other colors, mostly red and a few orange ones. Is your tractor what they called a Johnny Popper ?? I always like hearing those go down the road.

Larry

 

[Al Smith]

Yep,poppin johnny.The slugs,are just a way to raise the comp level,by taking up space in the combustion chamber.High comp pistons do the same thing.In a power block,the slugs were cast in the block,but used a 6 inch piston [JD 720 gas].The power blocks,were not allowed to run in the stock class,and were easy to recognize because they had no petcocks and had POWER BLOCK,cast ,in big bold letters.Most of the time,now days,they are allowed.Before so,the slugs were a way to get around this.It's kind of like"stock appearing",in chaisaw races.There were no tear downs to measure cubic inchs,you just could not run over 20 percent above stock governed speed.In the case of a John Deere,that was less than 200 rpm.