[AT] Older John Deere tractor

Dean VP deanvp at att.net
Sun Mar 29 09:45:08 PDT 2015


John,

Antique Tractor pulling is a combination of science and art.   Inexperienced pullers tend to think HP first when in fact it is secondary to traction. The mistake you saw and I've seen quite often is the JD 435 owner tries to overcome the lack of traction with engine RPM's and noise.  The trick is to get the hitch set at the right height for the given track so that the front end gets very light but doesn't come off the ground,  and to run out of HP about the same time as you run out of good traction.  That combination  varies with each progressive sled hookup and unique track.  We had a guy in the NW part of the US, Renaissance Tractor, who pulled many different JD tractors including a JD 435 who had it down to a science.  He did really well with his JD 435 as well as with his other tractors including a Black Dash 820.  He had the 1958 JD 820 so well-tuned and setup that he gave the Oliver Super 99's with the Detroit Diesels a run for their money.  My wife and I pulled a JD 60 and a JD H for a few years. Both were as stock as you could get from the factory.  After I learned some of the tricks about hitch height and tire pressure we did a very respectable job of competing until.... the sport was ruined by those who had to win at any cost.  Cut tires, weights in places the manufacturers never made provisions for , engine modifications that were extreme and the whole concept of what was a stock antique tractor got lost.  We chose not to follow the crowd and pulling became less and less fun so we quit. However, my wife would jump at the chance to pull again. She was a farm girl and she knows how to drive tractors. One year we were at a pull in Shelton, WA, and the track was at best loose gravel and small rocks.  I made the fateful decision to raise the hitch higher than I had ever had it before because I knew the track was going to have really poor traction. I adjusted the tire pressure to what I thought might be best on the loose track. So my wife gets hooked up to the progressive sled with our stock 1942 JD H, with a pounding 12 HP at the drawbar, and she starts off slowly like she always did. She didn't get 10' down the track and the front end came off the ground about 3" and stayed there. I was kicking myself for setting the hitch too high.  But the front end being up a few inches didn't bother my wife, she just feathered the brakes, with her hand on the clutch lever, all the way down the track and did a full pull.  No one beat her that day and some of the competition had way more horse power.  This was in the 2500 lb class. The look on her face was worth all the work to get the tractor ready for the pull even though I thought I had messed up. Even my stock 1953 JD 60 did quite well in the 6,000 and 7,000 lb classes when setup right for the sled and track.  Bur we were not willing to spend the extra money to add all the non-stock enhancements to keep up with the win at any cost crowd.  When my stock 60 was doing well, the competition went bonkers. The next year the completion had changed to sometimes unrecognizable tractors.  It was fun  for a while but good things sometimes get too good. I've gotten too old now to do any more competitive pulling but every once in a while I think about that aftermarket Power Block that is sitting in the barn that would add 10 to 12 HP to my 39 HP 60 and dream about what that might do on the track. Oh well, not too old to dream. 

Dean VP
Apache Junction, AZ

“Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.”  … Sir Winston Churchill

-----Original Message-----
From: at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com [mailto:at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com] On Behalf Of jtchall at nc.rr.com
Sent: Sunday, March 29, 2015 5:58 AM
To: Antique tractor email discussion group
Subject: Re: [AT] Older John Deere tractor

Whats real funny is seeing one in a tractor pull. Reminds me of a Volkswagen 
with an exhaust trumpet!  Whole lot of noise and nothing to show for it. 
That’s where I saw my first one, I think he had a straight pipe on it also.
A friend of mine actually came across one of these in great shape about 10 
years ago and at a bargain price. Instead of the show circuit he put it into 
the hay field pulling a hay rake. Nobody really wanted to drive it because 
it looked so nice, he sold it after a couple years.

John Hall




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