Itis all about Torque

[Fuzzy]

A 850 H.P. John Deere diesel vs. a Steam Tractor rated 18 H.P?

[video=youtube;FLQhvruimfs]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLQhvruimfs#t=48[/video]

 

[silverhound]

LOL! It might be just a little bit about weight too? That was great!

 

[670cc]

On the contrary.

In this video, it's clearly all about traction, not about torque.

 

[turbodieseli4i6]

Leverage has a little to do with it also. The steam engines has the advantage there. The strap has to be at least a foot higher on the cool ride. Gross tonnage with leverage is hard to beat. Gross tonnage, leverage and a 1000000000000 ft. lb. of torque is awesome.

 

[MZ5]

On the contrary.

In this video, it's clearly all about traction, not about torque.

Yep, and traction is primarily a function of weight.

 

[anglachel]

Lots of factors to consider, surface area of the drive wheels matters also, and it appears that the tow strap is pulling up on the little tractor, lifting it's drive tires off the ground reducing traction.


Ultimately it's a question of who can put more power to the ground at low speed... traction is part of that equation (because once you start your tires spinning your power to the ground is greatly reduced) and torque is another part of that equation...

 

[670cc]

Yep, and traction is primarily a function of weight.

Yep. Plus, in addition to the weight advantage of the steam tractor, the dynamic friction of diesel tractor's tires spinning in loose soil is far less than the static friction of the steam tractor's wheels. Once the diesel tires broke loose and spun, it lost a great deal of traction and turned the energy into heating up the tires and the dirt instead of driving forward motion.

 

[Mike Cash]

It's all about tractive effort.

Part of why I've never been impressed by people with muscle cars/bikes showing off by burning out....I don't take it as an impressive display of horsepower, but as a display of their vehicle's inability to efficiently apply that power to the ground by converting it to motion.

 

[SergeantChuck]

It's all about tractive effort.

Part of why I've never been impressed by people with muscle cars/bikes showing off by burning out....I don't take it as an impressive display of horsepower, but as a display of their vehicle's inability to efficiently apply that power to the ground by converting it to motion.

I have an image of Top Fuel racing in my head. They have crazy horsepower and can spin thier tires all day long. They take steps in making sure they can transfer that power to the ground. If they don't they'll be left behind.

 

[Goose]

Fun stuff and great replies.

The angle of that connecting belt reminds me of when we used to do "bake offs" in computer networking. We always tried to get an unfair advantage by tilting the test criteria toward our opponent's weaknesses. All's fair in love, war, business and, it seems, tractor pulls.

Thanks for posting,

Goose

 

[Mike Cash]

I have an image of Top Fuel racing in my head. They have crazy horsepower and can spin thier tires all day long. They take steps in making sure they can transfer that power to the ground. If they don't they'll be left behind.

I had more in mind the kind of fellows we have all watched going down the street trying to impress everybody....the kind at least one observer shouts out "What else did you get for Christmas?" at.


"Lose"....opposite of "win" or "find"
"Loose"....opposite of "tight"

 

[L.B.S.]

As a canadian, the thread title keeps catching me out, lol

 

[MZ5]

I don't know, but I imagine that steam tractor out-weighs the little quasi-Deere so badly that it'd still drag it away even if the drawbars were at the same height AND the Deere's tires were full of calcium and the axles fully ballasted. Of course, with the tires full of calcium, they wouldn't bite as well...