Me and my Brother have always done garden tractor pulling since we were young, this pas winter we looked at buying or building one of these litte boogers so did some research......
Unfortunately what it takes to be competitive around our area is off the hook, we spoke with several competitve pullers and here is what we found.
- Yanmar is the engine of choice with Direct injection
- Need to Dry block and head it or its a timebomb
- Water injection is a must
- stronger crank, rods, and aftermarket cam
- much bigger injectors
- Serious pump work
- Rear end needs a plantary setup to survive (~3k I beleive)
- Average cost to build a motor ~10-15K!!!!!
The overall cost scared us away, some of these guys had 25-40K in a compact diesel tractor......but damn were they cool.
Not trying to scare you away, just making sure you are informed. Hopefully the "all out spend money" game has not reached your area and you can still build one on a budget and have fun. Best of luck!!