Questions for the MPH tractor pullers.

IHFarmer07

IHFarmer07

technician
Hello, I'm wanting to buy some simple and reasonably priced speedometer for tractor pulling with a MPH limit. I have been looking at GPS stuff but I'm wandering if any of you all have something that will work either on measuring ground speed or GPS or what your opinions are on how to accomplish measuring speed while pulling and needs to be to the .1 mph. thanks
 
99GreenCummins said:
Find a vehicle GPS unit that you can set of walking pace that measures down to tenths. That's what many of our local guys do.
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Ok so there is people that use gps and the gps works good for them? Do you have a make model in mind that is preferred? I've been looking at a garmin edge 200 bike computer.
 
Most I've seen use the bicycle tire method, but I don't know how precise that is.

I personally think your better off paying more attention to the track then keeping within .1 mph of the speed limit, but then again that's just my opinion :)
 
mfsuper90 said:
Most I've seen use the bicycle tire method, but I don't know how precise that is.

I personally think your better off paying more attention to the track then keeping within .1 mph of the speed limit, but then again that's just my opinion :)
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Well that would work if the front end would stay on the ground and if the tires aren't spinning faster than what the gound speed is but I have thought of that and put a little weight in 1 tire so if the front end does come up one tire will be on he ground yet but the tractor project is going to have a narrow front end on it so that won't work. It has to be GPS or something that reads ground speed.
Yeah valid point although there will be gauges anyway that I will look at too. There will be a lot to look at but I can do it all!
 
The ones I have seen have the bicycle tire mounted near the rear axle, and a spring on them to keep them in contact with the ground
 
mfsuper90 said:
The ones I have seen have the bicycle tire mounted near the rear axle, and a spring on them to keep them in contact with the ground
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Haha I have thought of that also but that's one more thing I have to build and fix up....idk yet what I'm doing but just looking for opinions/options.
 
I know around here the sled had a speed sensor that the tractors plug into. That way they know the official speed and if they will be DQed. I think the tractor class got together and bought this equipment. This class also had a rpm limit. But I think they did away with that.
 
10,500 open-8mph
11,000 farm-5mph
12,000 farm-5mph
13,000 farm-5mph. Just have to see what I'll weigh with steel wheels and narrow front end, maybe pull at some other places that are faster too, just have to see how things go and what I'll do with the engine. I want it farmable yet though too
766 with a 414ci
 
IHFarmer07 said:
10,500 open-8mph
11,000 farm-5mph
12,000 farm-5mph
13,000 farm-5mph. Just have to see what I'll weigh with steel wheels and narrow front end, maybe pull at some other places that are faster too, just have to see how things go and what I'll do with the engine. I want it farmable yet though too
766 with a 414ci
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Wow our hot farm class is 17mph. And I think they raised it to 19mph this year.
 
JL Builders said:
I know around here the sled had a speed sensor that the tractors plug into. That way they know the official speed and if they will be DQed. I think the tractor class got together and bought this equipment. This class also had a rpm limit. But I think they did away with that.
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That would be nice but around my area the association is not not that organized!
 
JL Builders said:
Wow our hot farm class is 17mph. And I think they raised it to 19mph this year.
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Yeah I've seen some YouTube videos of some of those and them guys run about like the midmo associations pro farm! The association that we deal with don't have point, you don't pay entry to the association, anyone that shows up and is within the rules can pull any time or place. Oh and first place is $20 and has been like that for 30-40 yrs. Basically its a bunch of small towns around that do this and a home made mechanical sled that needs to be upgraded but that hasn't been done yet. Me and my family do it to have fun in between hay season an crop season.
 
One thing to think about with using a gps is lag. How close to real time is it reading?
Our stock classes for under 9500 is 4mph, and above it jumps to 6. But the open class is, well, open :D
 
mfsuper90 said:
One thing to think about with using a gps is lag. How close to real time is it reading?
Our stock classes for under 9500 is 4mph, and above it jumps to 6. But the open class is, well, open :D
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That's why I really want to get a ground speed sensor but all the ones I can find or have found are more than what I want to spend.
 
We pull in a lot of mph classes, about 50-50 12mph or 15-18mph, all at 11,500lb 2 hot 2 farm.. We use a radar set at the end of the track. Not sure how much it cost, but that way the tractor driver can see his speed and adjust accordingly. What good is a mph monitor on the sled if the tractor has no way of telling how fast they are going, unless you are running a horn, but that can lead to issues with favoritism.. A sign at the end of the track I feel is the best way to go.

Heres an example..
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mct26onNrs8"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mct26onNrs8[/ame]
 
We run a horn, but it automatically sound off after you go over the speed limit, so no favoritism can be assumed.
 
That would be ok, but I'd still want to be able to know when I'm almost to that point of going over, you need all the speed you can get with these "drag race" sleds we pull with anymore.
 
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