vtfireman85 Posted October 5, 2022 Share Posted October 5, 2022 Last year i made a quick “stone boat” out of half of a 270 gallon oil tank. We have a small contingency of farmall cubs that show up at our fire department stone boat pulls. As with everything fire Department related it is all on a budget, but what do you all use for boats and for weights ? We were throwing hanging weights and wheel weights in last year, but it dragged funny and it wasn’t ideal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TractormanMike.mb Posted October 5, 2022 Share Posted October 5, 2022 Are you pulling down a track or is it considered a pull if they tractor can budge the boat? Ill try to get some pictures of our clubs eliminator when it gets light out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vtfireman85 Posted October 5, 2022 Author Share Posted October 5, 2022 Its just a pull for fun, people come, pay a small entry fee, buy some donuts, buy some BBQ, buy some raffle tickets. If they show up every year and can’t even move the boat that’s not much incentive to show. I was hoping to make a boat that could be competitive with cubs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1256pickett Posted October 5, 2022 Share Posted October 5, 2022 Disclaimer I have no experience other than being a fan of tractor pulls. My first thought is the front of the boat smooth or a sharp edge? Maybe a piece of steel pipe across the front might make for a smoother edge. Second possibly try a different angle to attach to boat (as low as possible?). Maybe get one or two of the cubs out a week or two before to try out different options kind of like what they call a test & tune. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
560Dennis Posted October 5, 2022 Share Posted October 5, 2022 We started out with a Cadillac hood and fifteen feet of wire chain Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
int 504 Posted October 5, 2022 Share Posted October 5, 2022 The Maine Antique tractor club has some sort of rig for pulling garden tractors. Maybe you could use an old fashioned wooden stone boat? I used to use a pick up or car hood for a stone boat. Was hard on hoods. The pointed ones worked good. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike H Posted October 5, 2022 Share Posted October 5, 2022 don't know if this will help I use a 6' bed liner to haul day old bread from the front of the farm to the barn usually its a full pickup load of about 3-400 # of bread pull it with the 1972 SS 12 sears tractor it makes her snort a little bit but it gets the job done Mike 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ihfan4life Posted October 5, 2022 Share Posted October 5, 2022 Are you looking for ideas for the weights to put in/on the sled, or for making the sled? Any horse pullers or oxen around there? I’m thinking they could have some good ideas for you… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
red2thebone sr Posted October 5, 2022 Share Posted October 5, 2022 The few horse pulls I’ve been to used concrete blocks in their sled. Had them on flatbed trailer, pull up to the sled and stack a few more on when they needed to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TractormanMike.mb Posted October 8, 2022 Share Posted October 8, 2022 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TractormanMike.mb Posted October 8, 2022 Share Posted October 8, 2022 I posted a few pictures of our clubs pulling sled above, we built it about five years ago. I don't know how much it weighs, we never had it on a scale. We had to add a lift axle to take weight off of the pan for the lighter classes. Our lightest class is 500 pounds and under including the driver and they can move the sled just fine, actually with a full charge of air I can lift the pan off the ground. When we built the sled, we had the idea of making it so we could pull everything from light mowers up to a farmall H. We got the light mowers figured out but we have to figure out how to pull the heavier classes. Up until now we could just let air out of the axle to make the pan heavier and that would stop everyone. The heaviest tractor we had at our last event weighed in at 1800 pounds. As we do more pulling, the contestants improve their tractors and its getting to the point where we can't stop some tractors even with adding weight to the box. The drive system needs to be improved also. Its too light and unsafe because with the cable pull system there is nothing holding the box back. If there is a sudden stop, the box goes flying up to the front of the sled. I will be working on that this winter at my place with the help of some club members. Our pulling season consisted of five events throughout the summer held the fourth Friday evening of each month may through September with the May being a test and tune. We went from the may event had four mowers to having over 20 hooks at the September event, not bad for our first season. Half of the pullers are kids so that makes it even better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sledgehammer Posted October 8, 2022 Share Posted October 8, 2022 Used to have a large contingency of garden tractor pulls here. I like pulling but they are about the most annoying thing I’ve ever tried to watch. Just my opinion but they were noisy and here they pulled a double track with larger machines on the other track. You couldn’t hear the big stuff over the angry bumble bees buzzing past. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TractormanMike.mb Posted October 8, 2022 Share Posted October 8, 2022 Our pulls are stock pulls. We allow slight modification but if things start getting out of hand we will have to enforce rules. For now its kind of an "everybody having fun" attitude and we are all kind of on the same page. It also helps that there is really no prize money at stake, we just give back the hook fee to first place of each class. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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