A 850 H.P. John Deere diesel vs. a steam tractor rated 18 H.P?
- Thread starter Derek01
- Start date
Cool video! - though tug of wars are pretty dumb. It's pretty simple: the "underdog" just has to apply brakes until the big boy breaks traction, then apply some throttle. If you see a tug of war where both trucks floor it, well the truck who makes peak torque first will break traction and "lose"...
Power is of no use if the tractor isn't heavy enough to use it...the steam tractor is heavier...so it has more traction, and uses it all because its not powerful enough to break traction.
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As well as the torque that steam creates (when harnessed properly) is phenomenal. As per the Jay Leno tour of his Stanley Steamer,,, that 'car' will spin the rims inside the tires, it puts out so much torque, so fast. Says something right there.
I noticed the angle of the tow bar right off...it is actually lifting up the rear end of the diesel tractor. If they could get a level tow bar, and put more weight over the wheels of the diesel, it might come out differently. But I sure wouldn't underestimate the power of a steam machine.
No replacement for displacement.
That modded JD looked useless at tits on a boar until I saw the 2 furrows it made going backwards.
That modded JD looked useless at tits on a boar until I saw the 2 furrows it made going backwards.
Wouldnt have mattered. Steam tractors can easily have over 3000ftlb of torque, just as soon as they open it up the pressure valve, the torque is there even if it is at a standstill at zero rpm. The only torque limit is the strength of the boiler and piston components, since with enough pressure it will either pull the load or break. WAY more torque than a comparably sized diesel, and gas isnt even in the ballpark. Until electric motors came along they are tough to beat on torque.
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Yep, wood and maybe some coal to make the smoke black and make the fire hotter and last longer. As a side note the height of the draw bar didn't help the green machine it just wants to lift him and adds weight to the steam tractor. I'm guessing that the steam tractor could have pulled half doz of those puller tractors. Went to a Steam show in Belgrade, MT and they had a big steam tractor pull a 20 bottom plow with 20 people standing on the plow to work the levers and it just plowed like nothing was hooked to it. The field was dry and that made it harder to pull. I was one of to 20 on the plow. Power and lots of it. Steel tires 7 feet tall and 5 feet wide. The show is the 3rd weekend of Aug. every year.
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That's pretty cool. Makes it even better since they knew what they were doing and knew how not to break something expensive while still putting on a good show. I do wonder just how much that old steam tractor weighs...
