How not to pull a bad day at the track

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1 Welcome to the Podium Premium Club! The technical information found at is like no other information out there. In depth explanation of the how and why of successful tractor pulling are designed to improve your performance at the next tractor pull, while having more fun at the same time. How not to pull a bad day at the track If you recall the June edition of the Podium Premium Newsletter, you likely noticed the fallout from the Benton County Fair Spring Pull with respect to the Massey Harris 101. At that pull back in May, the belt driven Pierce governor ran out of oil and burned itself up. A replacement governor of the same type was found, but it took a about a month to hunt it down. Getting the new governor installed was a challenge, especially since it was the night before a pull. How many times has this happened to you working on your tractor late into the night to have it ready for a hook the next day? This is generally not a good idea since it crunches the timeframe down to work out any bugs, and that is what this story is all about. It was the night before the Wilcox Farms pull at Roy, WA on the 29 th of June. With new governor in hand that was an exact match to the original, it bolted onto the tractor quite easily. The problems started when the tractor was fired up and exhibited the same behavior as the old burned up governor in that it would not idle. In fact, not only would it only run wide open, the governor seemed to not work at all. After checking linkages, measuring things, taking the governor off, opening it to inspect it and putting it back on, nothing seemed to change the way the throttle responded. As puzzling as this was, the time was running short. The morning of the pull brought a refreshed view of the problem. After closely comparing the governors, it appeared the control arms were in slightly different locations. To accommodate this difference, the linkage between the governor and the carburetor was lengthened about 3/8 and presto the tractor s throttle worked properly as did the governor response. After carefully checking the oil level in the governor, it was then a race to load the tractor and get on the road to the pull. Wilcox Farms is 138mi from our doorstep and it takes all of 2-1/2 hrs to get there by Zack Peterson and Podium Finish, LLC 1

2 How not to pull (cont) This was to be a full day family outing too, taking along the wife and kids. With the entourage finally loaded with the tractor, we hit the road. I knew it was going to be cutting it close to make the pull, but sometimes it happens. Again, this is not the way to pull and you ll soon see why. We finally arrived at Wilcox Farms as the driver s meeting was taking place. While the pull began, I was unloading the 101 and trying my best to configure it for the first hook. It was entered in 3 different classes 4000# 4mph, 4500# 4mph and a 4800# 5mph King Of the Hill. I finished the paperwork for these classes, put the weights on the 101 and headed to the track. One of the biggest problems about being late to an event is the lack of time to study the track. In this case, the first hook was the first time I had seen the track The new governor installed that day. With this, you literally don t know what to expect. Guessing on the weight set up is never a good idea. Remember, the best thing you can do at a pull is remove as many unknowns from your set up by reading the track and watching other tractors pull. As you can probably guess, my weight balance was off. The Wilcox track is a short track at 200ft, but features softer looking dark soil that the sled pulls hard over. In this case, I had too much weight on the front end and also noticed that I was about a mile an hour slow at full throttle (that s in the adjustment of the governor). Needless to say, the first hook of the day was a bust at just over 100ft and probably last place out of several tractors in the class. Back to the drawing board. The second thing that should never happen at a pull is parking lot fixes. In this case, I raced back to the rig where the tools were at, quickly adjusted the linkage for the throttle to open up the top end RPM, and then headed back to weight up for the 4500# class by Zack Peterson and Podium Finish, LLC 2

3 How not to pull (cont) This time down the track in the 4500# class, the tractor ran better and at noticeably higher RPM. At Wilcox, as most pulls in the area, there is a display showing speed and distance at the end of the track. Since the sled horn was not operational that day, it was up to the driver to stay under the speed limit at all times while hooked to the sled. They did however grant a 0.2mph variance in the final readout because of the lack of the horn. In the first 50ft of the track, the Massey 101 was running great and as I focused on the throttle, I forgot to look at the speed readout. Lifting my head I realized I was going 4.4mph and was immediately disqualified. It s too bad since the hook was a good one and I would have had 2 nd place if it weren t for the DQ. Lesson learned there. At this point let s recap two messed up hooks with one due to poor setup and the other due to poor driving. Unfortunately I didn t learn enough to prepare for the The Wilcox Farms track King of the Hill. At 4800# the Massey Harris 101 is admittedly outclassed by larger tractors. In this case, the band of Olivers was there which are 4 of the toughest tractors around with large cubic inches. There were 10 tractors in the KOH class, including the tough Olivers. The sled was set a little on the loose side and 5 of us, including the Massey 101, pulled it out the end. I always love a full pull because it means a bonus hook in a pull off. In this case, the sled was tightened down considerably, with tractors stopping between ft. After looking at the track and studying the weight placement, the darn track fooled me again. With a bad line and bad weight balance the 101 ended up in 5 th place with a 99ft pull. This would be the icing on the cake of a bad day by Zack Peterson and Podium Finish, LLC 3

4 How not to pull (cont) It was the performance on the track that was poor that day. The chance to visit with pulling friends and introduce them to the wife and kids was great. Wilcox Farms is also a fantastic setting with a festival accompanying the tractor pull. Wilcox Farms produces eggs and dairy products for the Northwest and featured free omelets all day long. In all, the family enjoyed the trip as did I. The take away from this experience goes back to the Boy Scout Motto Be Prepared. With a tractor in good operational condition well before the day of the pull, it lowers stress in preparation and allows a clear head when at the track by Zack Peterson and Podium Finish, LLC 4

5 Massey Harris 101 Senior Project Update The good news to report is that the engine is at the machinist being worked over. I thought it would have been done by now, but the machinist had several engines to do in front of it, so it may be featured in the next issue. For now, it may be appropriate to talk about another area of the tractor, the transmission. When building a pulling tractor, transmission ratios should always be considered to make the tractor as effective as possible. If you re not up for opening up Pandora s box, then look at tire options. The Massey Harris 101 Senior features a 4 speed transmission. These transmissions are unique to the 101 series as the shafts and gears were different in later tractors such as the 44, 44-6, 30, 33, etc. which all had 5 speeds. Because of this, the number of gears and options is fewer, however it is possible to get the right ratios for effective pulling on the track. The 101 tractors featured pretty fast gearing in 1 st gear, mostly due to higher operating RPM of the flathead engines. There was a gearing change for 101 Senior tractors for 3 rd gear in that it was a tooth slower. Also in the 101 Senior there were 3 different 4 th speed ratios. I felt lucky enough to find a tractor that was built in 1943 that had the slowest of the 4 th gear ratios a 6-1/2mph for steel wheels. This makes it possible for the 4 speed transmission to be similar to the later 5 speed. To make things even more interesting, in the very first year of production in 1938 Massey Harris offered a fast ring and pinion for the standard tread version of the 101. The pinion gear is simply a tooth faster with the ring gear the same number of teeth. Most people who have pulled a MH 101 tractor would wish they could slow down the gearing, but with a big cubic inch engine in front, this gives the green light to go faster. Speeding up the rear end with the fast ring and pinion proves a very interesting exercise in formulating the right ratios. Why do this? If you know what classes you are targeting to compete in, knowing your ratios and ultimate ground speeds is extremely valuable for tuning the engine into certain RPM ranges. In this case, the 101 will run around 2400 RPM at full throttle. Knowing this and understanding this will be an effective 6-8mph puller, it s possible to put the gearing into the upper band of the RPM to have the peak power of the flathead engine available for those classes. On a side note, up to about 4mph is considered torque type pulling, while 2013 by Zack Peterson and Podium Finish, LLC 5

6 Massey Harris 101 Senior Project Update (cont) while above 4mph is where horsepower takes over. Why mention this? Horsepower is a function of engine RPM, so being in the upper end of the RPM range allows good power for faster speed classes. Unless a very large cubic inch engine is built, such as a CID John Deere G, it s going to be higher RPM horsepower that gets the job done in faster classes. All that said, here s how the numbers shake out for the 101 Senior. Ultimately, the last configuration on the page is the chosen one. 101 Factory Gearing 101 Factory Gearing with optional 6-1/2mph 4 th gear set (w/21:43 3 rd ) 101 Early Standard with 9:41 Ring & Pinion 101 Early Std w/9:41 R&P and optional 6-1/2mph 4 th gear set (includes 21:43 3 rd ) Yeah, great numbers Zack, but how to these correlate to ground speeds? Read on 2013 by Zack Peterson and Podium Finish, LLC 6

7 Massey Harris 101 Senior Project Update (cont) Let s say we use a set of tires, which seems reasonable for a modified tractor that will pull at #. Here s a look at how the ground speeds line up. G S RC 101 slow 4th & 21:43 3rd 101 Std 9:41 R&P 101 Std Slow 4th & 21:43 3rd Notice the highlighted ground speeds in the last row. In this case 2 nd gear is set up for a 6mph class and 3 rd gear is set up for the 8mph class. It s also conceivable that 3 rd could be used for a soft track at 6mph depending on conditions. So why are the ground speeds faster at full throttle than the speed limit? This is to allow for tire slippage an advanced topic to be covered more in the book on tires. In short, as tires slip, ground speed slows but traction is not compromised and that is why it is possible to bump the throttle to keep speed constant. Also, note of the difference the fast ring and pinion makes about a 300 RPM. This allows the gears to fall into the proper ratios to make the ground speeds correct. Stay tuned for the build up and installation. This is how to use gearing and ground speed info by Zack Peterson and Podium Finish, LLC 7

8 Learning The Hard Way Blown MM UB This is why it is so important to pay attention when driving a tractor that doesn t belong to you. At this year s local Father s Day pull, my father brought his Minneapolis Moline UB to pull from # including a 6250# KOH class. This UB has a 403 engine in it, a very common upgrade using stock parts from a G tractor. The 403 produces good power and the tractor pulls strong in 2 nd gear and sometimes 3 rd even with the big rubber. At the time, the Massey 101 was out of commission, so he gave me a chance to hook the UB. It was the 6000# 6mph class that was the ultimate demise of the tractor. I was announcing at the tractor pull, which is something I dearly love to do. Realizing it was almost time for the 6000# class, I handed off the mic and went to stage the UB. I switched on the ignition and heard a motor running which I thought was the electric cooling fan. Thinking nothing of it, I fired it up and drove it to the scale. When I hooked the UB, the sled operator didn t get the sled put into gear. The UB pulled out the end and I felt pretty good until I looked back and saw the signal to pull again. The second hook was a very good hook, pulling all the way to 2 nd place in the class. And then it happened. Right after I clutched the tractor and stopped, one of the frost plugs between the cylinder heads let loose in a huge explosion of steam. It was startling, especially for the flagman standing near the front of the tractor. The tractor overheated in a serious way because the electric fan was in fact not turning. What I had heard on startup was the electric fuel pump and forgot to switch on the fan with another switch! This will be fixed in the future with either a thermal switch or oil pressure switch. For now, the tractor still runs fine and no serious damage was done. Check out the video on the website by Zack Peterson and Podium Finish, LLC 8

9 Learning The Hard Way Blown MM UB (cont) More pictures from the Father s Day Pull and the before & after. UB Engine apparently filled with stop leak 2013 by Zack Peterson and Podium Finish, LLC 9

10 Coming next month Project updates Starter replacement Setting the gears All in on one hook - Banks And more I want to hear from you! If you have feedback, requests or information you would like featured, please send an to: zack@antiquetractorpullguide.com. August issue will be available 8/28/13 Farmall Cub in 1200# garden tractor class 2013 by Zack Peterson and Podium Finish, LLC 10