Podium Newsletter - Antique Tractor Pull Guide

Transcription

Podium Newsletter
February 2010
Welcome to the Podium Club!
Why don’t you use the Rolling
Circumference of tires for
ground speed calculations,
and what exactly is “Static
Load Radius” anyway?
As a member of the Podium Club, you have made a
very smart decision to access extremely exclusive
information related to Tractor Pulling. The
information found at antiquetractorpullguide.com is
like no other information out there. The tips, tricks
and secrets of successful tractor pulling are
designed to improve your performance at the next
tractor pull, while having more fun at the same time.
On all of the Ground Speed Charts that are posted in the member area of
antiquetractorpullguide.com, there is a table that shows different tire sizes
and a corresponding Static Load Radius associated with each. Static Load
Radius is the distance from the center of the axle to the ground with the
weight of the tractor on the tire. This takes into account the squash of the
tire due to a load when properly inflated. Why is this distance used for
ground speed calculations? Because it is the most accurate way to
calculate ground speed.
Why is circumference not as accurate?
Circumference is the distance around the edge of a circle. To use
circumference is to assume the tire is perfectly round. In other words
“rolling circumference” is an approximated perfect circle. The radius using a
perfectly round tire is longer than the Static Load Radius. See the diagrams
below that show this graphically.
Radius
Static Load Radius
Tire bearing the weight
of a tractor
©2010 by Zack Peterson and Podium Finish, LLC – www.antiquetractorpullguide.com
In most cases, the difference between Static Load Radius and the radius of
a Rolling Circumference is less than an inch or so, but it is enough to
significantly affect ground speed calculations, especially as gears get
faster.
With respect to the gearing and ground speed charts found at
www.antiquetractorpullguide.com, every measure was taken to make the
values as accurate as possible.
Massey Harris Mustang – The Engine Recipe
With the Mustang’s F140 Continental completely disassembled, it is time to
consider what modifications to make to ensure enough power is available on
the track. In using tips found in The Antique Tractor Pull Guide, there are
three major modifications that will be done to this engine. The following three
tips are always a good idea for any engine built for pulling.
Bore increase: The Continental F140 engine shares a common block with
the larger F162 engine. The only major difference between the two engines is
the bore size as they share the same stroke. Therefore, the F140 can simply
be overbored to accommodate the larger F162 piston.
Bonus tip: Why stop there? The very first secret of The Seven Secrets is
“Have Enough Power”. When building an engine for pulling, always build it to
the limits of the modifications you intend to do since it never hurts to have
more than enough power available. In this case, since the F140 block will
accommodate F162 pistons, why not bore it larger for the F162 rebore kit?
By installing +.060” F162 pistons, the engine now becomes 168 cubic inches,
and as it’s commonly said, “There is no replacement for displacement”.
These pistons were available off the shelf for $34.50/pc from Montes
Equipment in Chicago, IL. Sometimes it’s nice to use common engine parts.
Old piston vs. new piston – new piston is 0.31” bigger in diameter
Massey Harris Mustang – The Engine Recipe (cont)
Camshaft: The camshaft will be reground for high
torque. A cam grinding service will usually increase
the lift and duration of the cam, which controls how
far and how long the valves are open inside the
engine. This in turn increases power. Camshafts
can be ground for peak performance in different rpm
ranges. For the Mustang, the engine was rated at
1500rpm on the drawbar and 1800rpm on the belt.
The camshaft will be reground for peak performance
in the 1500-1800rpm range since local rules allow
10% over stock rated rpm. Even if the engine is
allowed to run over 1800rpm, there will be a “power
bulge” as the engine lugs down.
Cam lobes
control valve
timing
Reground cam lobe with
added lift and slightly
different shape, which
controls duration
Massey Harris Mustang – The Engine Recipe (cont)
High Compression Cylinder Head: This is where it pays to do a little
research. There were many different cylinder heads that were made for the
Continental L-head engines. This practice is fairly common for a lot of old
tractors – cylinder heads can be swapped to increase compression ratio. A
good place to start looking is at propane or LP type engines.
For this engine, a later head off a similar engine was found that is a little over
8:1 compression ratio. With the increased bore size, final compression ratio
will be around 9.8:1, which is about perfect for a pulling engine.
New Cylinder Head
Existing Cylinder Head
Existing head combustion chamber
New cylinder head combustion chamber –
more shallow (note spark plug thread depth)
Learning the Hard Way – Crawler story #1
Each newsletter I will share a story from my past where I learned a valuable
lesson, usually by damaging something, hurting myself, or embarrassing
myself.
In 2003, my father bought a Minneapolis Moline Motrac crawler at the Red
Gaede auction in Limon, CO. Most folks might not know that Minneapolis
Moline did in fact build a crawler tractor. This particular crawler was built in
1960, has a 206 cubic inch diesel engine, similar to the 445 and 4 star wheel
tractors and is one of only 161 ever built. The crawler was trucked out to
Oregon not long after the auction and when it arrived we had the task of
figuring out how to unload it. The factors were not stacked in our favor:
No loading dock
Crawler didn’t run and has a bucket loader on it
Hauled in on a semi with a step deck trailer
We didn’t own any decent or large loader tractors to assist
Since we hadn’t had too many tractors trucked in, we really hadn’t thought
about a building loading dock just yet. The crawler was delivered by a semi
with a step deck trailer and luckily the rear end of the trailer was similar in
height to our gooseneck trailer. This made it relatively easy to get the crawler
off the semi. Using a Minneapolis Moline UB Special tractor, we were able to
pull the crawler onto the deck of our trailer – step one, a success. Since the
gooseneck has beavertail and pull out ramps (all steel), there was a path for
the crawler to make it to the ground. All we had to do was tow it off the trailer,
right? This is the part where we learn.
The crawler was pointing backwards on the trailer, which meant the bucket
was in the way if it were to roll down the ramps. Thinking we were so smart,
we rigged up a chain to go under the bucket so that when it was tensioned,
the bucket lifted. I was tasked with “steering” the crawler down the ramps as
my father tensioned the chain with the UB Special. The bucket went up and
the crawler began to move, so far, so good. Then the crawler nosed over
onto the beavertail section of the trailer where the deck is all metal. Metal
deck meets metal track pads and the sliding began. The crawler suddenly
turned sideways in the beavertail and slid further off down the ramps.
Fearing the worst, I bailed off, hitting the ground at a full sprint in fear of being
crushed by a crawler rolling off the trailer.
The crawler’s left track actually slide into the ground first and the whole
machine tipped up as if it wanted to roll over. It came back down, slamming
against the trailer with a loud crash and then a silence followed. I
exclaimed, “Well, that’s one way to do it!” as we all stood there in disbelief.
An awesome delivery – the MM Motrac and a MM U High Crop
The easy part – crawler transferred to gooseneck trailer
Street pads meet metal ramps – the aftermath. OOPS!
Did that really
just happen?
Putting a little stress on the trailer
Hitch up the UB
Special and let’s get
this thing moved
Motrac back on terra firma – whew!
There is a video clip of the event that will be posted at
www.antiquetractorpullguide.com
Tractor Tip Follow Up – Simple Tachometer Installation
In order to install a digital tachometer on a gasoline pulling tractor, the
very first thing to address is the spark plug wires. The way most electric
tachometers are designed, they use a signal wire pick up from the coil.
Any electromagnetic interference with this signal wire will cause the
gauge to read erratically or not at all. With solid core spark plug wires
that are not electromagnetically shielded, they emit so much
interference that a digital tachometer will not work. Using shielded spark
plug wires such as MSD helical core wires, with avoid any problems
completely.
Digital tachometers wire up very easily. The tachometer featured in
Tractor Tip 106 is called a Glowshift tachometer. This little tachometer
works very well for reading engine rpm and only uses a 3 wire
connection. The wires are:
Red – Battery power
Black – Ground
Green – Signal wire (attached to coil wire that goes to the distributor)
Tractor Tip Follow Up – Simple Tachometer Installation
(cont)
Tachometer mounted on the battery box, visible from the driver’s seat.
Notice high performance MSD shielded spark plug wires, and signal wire
going to the coil (green).
For more information on this style of tachometer, visit www.glowshiftdirect.com.
Podium Newsletter
Coming next month…
Geared down: Cockshutt 30 vs. the power track
Countdown to the first pull of the year
Massey Harris Mustang progress
Tractor Tip Follow Up
And more…
I want to hear from you! If you have feedback, requests or
information you would like featured, please send an email
to: [email protected].
Cockshutt 30 pulling at
Banks, OR in August,
2006.

Podium Newsletter - Antique Tractor Pull Guide

Transcription

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