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Thanks for all the good tips, Dean! Right now, I'm planning on leaving my deck on. The E12M has the mid-mount deck, and my
thinking is that added weight just in front of the rear wheels is a good thing
for traction, though a bad thing for overall machine weight. I may take it off during the event. My E12M only has 1 drive belt, and it needs replacement. I've got a new one ready for
installation. I’ll bring a can
of belt dressing to the event in case it's needed. The E12M doesn't have the LL range that the bigger models have. Dean Stuckmann's
experience suggests that may not be a problem because it's better to pull
faster and reduce sled friction.
I'll probably run mine in L, with the dash stick up in the 3rd
range. As Dean suggested, a little
practice is in order to figure out what works best. Right now I'm trying to revive my batteries after a summer of drought
atrophy. They appear to be
well-balanced and average about 6.18V each with the deck running. I'll discharge and recharge them as much
as possible between now and the tractor pull. The biggest voltage drop (0.068V) was
from along the longest cable that connects the front batteries to the
rear. Other voltage drops were
around 0.015. Some of the
connections were badly corroded.
All of that will improve with new battery connectors and #4 welding
cable. The guy in charge of the event recommended having a high hitch
connection as you suggested.
13” is max for this event, which I’m told is sanctioned by
the official tractor pulling organization (whoever they are). I don’t want to go overboard on
this project, but it would be easy to bolt or weld an angle iron hitch to the
frame, which sits right at 13”. I’ve still got wheel weights installed. I guess I’ll leave them there. Can anyone tell me what the actual HP of the drive motor on an E12M
is? It would be good to know in
case there are skeptics in the gasser crowd. Later, -Dave -----Original Message----- I have entered my E15 in two pulls
over the years. Both with poor results I’m sorry to say. It
was still a crowd pleaser though because most people have never seen an ET
work. I know that different areas have different types of pulls. In
1. The ET (and I) are heavy which
put me in a class with 16-20 hp tractors. 2. Speed is you friend in this type
of pull – you need to keep the sled moving to minimize friction.
This is a problem with an ET. I tried my first pull in the lowest
range. The meter never got in the yellow but it was way too slow to keep
the sled from sticking to the ground so I ended up spinning my wheels very
early in the pull, even with the front wheels lifted off the ground. The
second pull was better in the second range, but I stripped hood of the tractor
down to make the lowest weight class I could. Problem with that is that
you can’t add weight to the tractor where you want it. The meter was in
the red at wide open throttle so I backed it down till it was at the high end
of the yellow, again with the front wheels about a foot above the ground.
The farther I pulled the higher the wheels went. The official
stopped the pull for safety reasons, but I was still a long way from the
leader’s distance. I don’t think that you could pull in the
3rd range. 3. I think that the ET would have
easily pulled the winning tractor away in a back to back pull because then the
ET’s torque would never allow the high powered tractor get the speed it
needs to be effective.
1. Build a hitch that is as high as
the rules allow. This helps lift the sled and transfer weight to the
drive wheels. Also keep it as close as possible to the rear wheels to have more
control of the weight transfer. 2. Make sure the drive belts are
tight. 3. Make sure that your battery
connections are clean and secure. You will have a high load them for a
while. 4. The E15 was light in the nose
for both of my pulls. I would add any weight that you could to the front
of the ET. 5. If you pull with turf tires,
don’t get the tire pressure too low because the center of the tire will
buckle up and you will only be pulling with the outside of the tires. 6. Most important - do some testing
by pulling a car or truck, with someone slowly applying the brakes on a similar
surface as the track. Block the chain down to the ground on the towed
vehicle to mimic the action of weight transfer as the load increases. Be
prepared to pull the track distance. I was looking at trying to pull
200’ and it seemed to take forever to get to down the track. You start
wondering if you will trip a breaker or something. 7. If I was going to do it again, I
would go a bit wild and strip the tractor to get in the lightest class I could.
Replace the 6 batteries with 3 (or 4) marine batteries. Take out the charger
and lift. Maybe alter the drive pulley size if I found myself wanting to
be between ranges.
I’ve been encouraged to enter my E12M in a local
garden tractor pulling contest this weekend in |