A 850 HP John Deere diesel vs. a steam tractor rated 18 HP

[reible]

My brother forwarded this to me and I enjoyed it. So take a look if you like.

I know some of you iron age members will like it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=FLQhvruimfs

Ed

[Ed in Tampa]

That brings back memories. We were at a motorcycle race and parked in a farmer field. Fairly steep incline, rained all day and then started to snow.

Everyone was stuck even the big four wheelers. What a mess spin ruts every where and we were all covered with mud. Every one was stuck.

The farmer told his son to go get the tractor.
15 minutes later this John Deere single cylinder tractor with a fly wheel that must have been 3 feet in diameter and about 6 inches thick and 6 foot high wheels came pucking up the lane. We all laughed and figured we were there until the ground froze or someone came with a track machine.

That tractor hooked on to one truck after another sometimes as many as 4-6 trucks at a time and puck puck puck pulled them to the top and went back down for more. We were entertained watching this thing. I don't think it spun a tire, didn't move much faster than walking speed but you could not stop it. Some guys screwing around actually had their trucks in reverse trying to stall the thing.

[shipwright]

That is one damn hard way to plough a couple of furrows!!
Maybe it's not the horses in the power but rather the power in the horses.

[JPG]

That is one damn hard way to plough a couple of furrows!!
Maybe it's not the horses in the power but rather the power in the horses.

I think tis the weight on de wheels, area on de ground and proper gearing.

[shipwright]

Yes, that's sort of what I meant JPG. :-)

[robinson46176]

That didn't surprise me at all. You will note also that the hitch point was a lot higher on the steam traction engine. In addition to the steamer weighing a half zillion pounds the Deere was pulling down on the steamer's rear wheels and the steamer was pulling up on the Deere's rear wheels. Of course it didn't matter much but in most such pull-offs the drawbar heights would have had to have been the same since it can be a big factor.
I love steam engines but they kind of scare me too. A badly maintained and operated one blew up at a show in Medina County Ohio in 2001 (you can Google that) and the force lifted it about 10' off of the ground in spite of its weight. 5 people died and almost 50 were injured, some very seriously.
I believe the worst steam boiler explosion was the SS Sultana on the Mississippi with 2400 passengers on board and a loss of life of 1800. You can Google that too. I just watched a "Modern Marvels" TV documentary on that one yesterday.
For several years we did live demos every year at a large living history museum event north of Indy (Conner Prairie) and we were located in area with a bunch of steam engines only about 40' to 50' away. Most appeared to be carefully maintained but a couple seemed lax and one guy in particular seemed pretty sloppy. Made me kind of nervous...

BTW Ed, That Deere would have been a two banger... Sounds like a "spoker" D. They turned at a very low RPM down in the putt, putt, putt range (highly technical description ).


.

[billmayo]

That didn't surprise me at all. You will note also that the hitch point was a lot higher on the steam traction engine. In addition to the steamer weighing a half zillion pounds the Deere was pulling down on the steamer's rear wheels and the steamer was pulling up on the Deere's rear wheels. Of course it didn't matter much but in most such pull-offs the drawbar heights would have had to have been the same since it can be a big factor.
I love steam engines but they kind of scare me too. A badly maintained and operated one blew up at a show in Medina County Ohio in 2001 (you can Google that) and the force lifted it about 10' off of the ground in spite of its weight. 5 people died and almost 50 were injured, some very seriously.
I believe the worst steam boiler explosion was the SS Sultana on the Mississippi with 2400 passengers on board and a loss of life of 1800. You can Google that too. I just watched a "Modern Marvels" TV documentary on that one yesterday.
For several years we did live demos every year at a large living history museum event north of Indy (Conner Prairie) and we were located in area with a bunch of steam engines only about 40' to 50' away. Most appeared to be carefully maintained but a couple seemed lax and one guy in particular seemed pretty sloppy. Made me kind of nervous...

BTW Ed, That Deere would have been a two banger... Sounds like a "spoker" D. They turned at a very low RPM down in the putt, putt, putt range (highly technical description ).


.

Brings back memories, I worked as a mechanic for a Jonn Deere dealer for 2 years in the late 1950s. Being 21 and foolish, we had our own tractot pulls. I used a John Deere "A" tractor and other mechanics would take the other makes tractors that was traded in and with a chain between the other tractors draw bar and underneath the middle of the "A" (there was an attachment point for chains at this point, but difficult to get to), I would drag every one of the brand names tractors over the large multi acre back lot we had. The supervisory never caught us.

The John Deere was so powerful that the tractor would rotate around the back axle turning over backwards before it would stall the low RPM 2 cylinder engine. This could happen very quickly if pulling from the drawbar with a chain. We could never fully make all the owners of these old John Deere tractors understand that you could not pull from the drawbar with a loose connection like a chain. You needed the 3 point hitch for attachments at the rear of these 2 cylinder tractors. I was tasked with recovering several John Deere "A" tractors where the owner was using a chain from the drawbar to pull stumps, etc and the tractor turned over backward killing the owner. Not a nice job.

[Ed in Tampa]

You are right Bill I remember he had the attachment point under the middle of the machine. I thought it odd at the time seemed like a lot of work for nothing. But after reading you account I understand the wisdom of that old farmer. The front wheels never lifted it just hunkered down and pulled and those big tires never spun in the slop.


And to Farmer
Yeah Farmer it probably was a two banger. All I know is it was turning so slow sounded like you could count the revolutions by the putts. But it pulled like an anything. The speed of the engine never seemed to increase the putts just got bigger/louder.

I loved it, like I said the big fancy four wheeler's with their super wide tires were riding on top of the goo and doing nothing. In fact you could actually pull the truck backwards. Then this bright green Deere shows up no bells or whistles just doing what it was designed to do. PULL!

[robinson46176]

Those John Deere "A"s are highly favored in antique tractor pulling today. I have a 1948 Deere A in my line of project tractors and it is a fairly high priority tractor for me.
I have 14 old tractors. Some restored some just running running and usable, some not. Some need very minor work and some need a lot of serious work. I am actually fond of the smaller tractors now that I am not actually farming. We sold our larger tractors but kept and added a few small ones.
I still have:
Massey Ferguson 165-D High clearance. Good tractor needs rear tires.
Farmall Super MTA. Good tractor a little rare. Needs paint.
Farmall Super M Good tractor, my loader tractor.
Farmall F-30 Pretty rare, serious project but worth it.
Farmall F-12 Serious project.
Farmall CUB Good tractor, original 1947 first year of production.
John Deere A Needs some things but not that much.
Ford 8N Acquired recently, should be easy to get running.
Ferguson TO-20 Great little tractor which I use often.
Minneapolis Moline R Restored, needs one rear tire changed, I have the tire.
Allis Chalmers C Restored, doing some light work on it now. Lots of personal attachment.
Allis Chalmers WC Needs a lot...
Case VAC Great little tractor. I was in the middle of changing a rear tire when my ticker bombed out. Hope to finish it about next week.
Massey Harris Pony Good small tractor. I don't use it very much, awkward to mount and dismount.
I think that is everybody...
I have shown a number of these at various shows here and in Western Ohio.
Keeping them in tires and batteries is a major expense especially tires.
Most of them are not fancy and each of them needs "something"... Tractor shows are much different than car shows. We show a lot of tractors "in their working clothes".


.

[billmayo]

You are right Bill I remember he had the attachment point under the middle of the machine. I thought it odd at the time seemed like a lot of work for nothing. But after reading you account I understand the wisdom of that old farmer. The front wheels never lifted it just hunkered down and pulled and those big tires never spun in the slop.


And to Farmer
Yeah Farmer it probably was a two banger. All I know is it was turning so slow sounded like you could count the revolutions by the putts. But it pulled like an anything. The speed of the engine never seemed to increase the putts just got bigger/louder.

I loved it, like I said the big fancy four wheeler's with their super wide tires were riding on top of the goo and doing nothing. In fact you could actually pull the truck backwards. Then this bright green Deere shows up no bells or whistles just doing what it was designed to do. PULL!

That really brings back some of my most foolish memories. We would take turns with the John Deere "A" with a chain between the drawbar and a telephone pole. We would see how high up you could get the front end and time how long you could hold the front end up. We stood on the axle with one hand on the steering wheel and worked the long clutch lever with the other hand. About 45 deg was max angle but could hold that for a minute or two before giving the clutch a break from all the slipping it was doing. We never got caught by management as this was the largest John Deere dealer in the mid altantic states with many places to hid.