Tractor Pulling

Tractor pulling, also known as power pulling is a type of competition that uses the heavy tractors to pull a heavy sled through a course of road. This competition is usually held in the rural areas where the sled gets harder and harder to pull as you continue to travel. Usually there is a great amount of commotion created because the sled that is pulled creates a lot of noise, dust and smoke thereby preventing the sled from traveling farther through the road. However, this tractor-pulling episode with its own quota of enjoyments certainly attracts a lot of people.

The history of tractor pulling dates back to the late 1900s when the horses started pulling the farming machines. Farmers who tried to prove the strength of their horses initiated this pulling episode. To prove to people about the gigantic strength of the horses, they started towing huge loads and made their horses pull them. The load continued to be added till the horse found it impossible to carry anymore. The horse, which could carry the greatest number of people for longest distance was supposed to be the strongest of all. This game was more known as draft horse pulling.

However, it was in early 1930s, that motorized vehicles were added instead of horses to continue with the competition. The first event took place in Bowling Green, Missouri and Vaughan Ville, Ohio for the first time. Although the rules started varying from country to country, from state to state, yet it became an increasingly serious game that continued with tractors. In 1969, there were representatives from eight different states that made an uniform book of rules and created the National Tractor Pulling Association.

Throughout the time period of 70s and 80s, there was a modified division that continued to add more and more engines and soon the tractors turned into high spec dragsters. The tractors were either two-wheel drive trucks, four-wheel drive trucks, mini rods, open super stock, diesel super stock, pro stock, modified or unlimited modified vehicles. Each of these vehicles has their individual features like single automotive type with V-8 engine, 15’ maximum length from center of rear wheels, huge rear tires, maximum wheelbase, up to 4 Turbo’s at 250-psi boost, stock frame, hood and grill, stock crankshaft and transmission housing and final drive. The two other divisions that were made into the tractor comprised the pro-stock division and the mini modified division.

The tractor pulling phenomena usually used two main techniques when it came to pulling a sled. In ancient times, they usually used either a dead weight of fixed mass that was dragged along the road where people took their fixed position and stepped onto the sled as it came on their way. This often lead to severe accidents where people twisted their legs and ankles, broke their hands and got injured from stepping into the sled all together. A speed limit was introduced that has today decided the theoretical speed limit of the tractors as 125 mph.

Today the sleds use a more complicated system where the gears are used to move a weight of 65,000 pounds/29483 kilograms. This is done by making the tractor start off with all the weights over the sleds rear axles to give it and effective weight of the sled and plus zero. As the tractor makes its way up the road course, the weights in the tractor are pushed forward of the sleds axles pulling the front of the sled right into the ground synthetically creating a gain in weight until the tractor is no longer able to overcome the force of friction.

Here are some of the basic rules for tractor/power pulling:

• Driver must be seated in a safe manner when pulling or it will be disqualified.
• When hooking and unhooking from the weight transfer, the tractor must be in neutral and the driver’s hands must be free of the tractor.
• Drawbar must have a 3” opening of ¼ turn clevis with a 3” opening.
• The hook must swing freely without any free-floating hitches.
• All weights must be in solid form and securely fastened to the tractor on brackets and not on three point hitches.
• Full pulls and ties will re-pull.
• No front weights more than 24” from the farthest front casting should be applied.