Hagen Brothers farms,Goodrich ND | The Versatile breaking the axle housing story reminds me of a stock 4X4 tractor pull I attended at the ND state fair years ago.
All the local big BTO articulated 4X4 farm tractors were there for braging rights. One was a turned up 950 Versy with wide triples back when triples were not at all common.
They all took their turn and were eliminated one by one, until just two remained for the final pulls, the 12 wheel Versy was one of them.
They added more weight to the sled and shifted the weight mover up another gear.
The big 12 wheel 950 Versy really had a load now with the added weight on the sled. The tires started to wrinkle the sidewalls until the tires lost their grip on that tacky damp race track clay. The front tires hopped a couple of times and the front axle housing split in half with a gush of gear oil.
Someone had donated the use of a really large payloader to smooth the track between pulls and was setting at the end of the track.
The guy in the payloader saw the Versy's axle housing split open, so he flipped on his lights and charged the payloader at the front of the Versy to get the driver to stop before he did more damage.
The owner and officials inspected the broken axle housing and determined that the tractor could not be moved, it sat in the middle of the track at about the 2/3 mark, so the last guy could not run. The pull was over by default.
Thats when the payloader driver decided to entertain the croud by showing the AG tractor guys what real power and traction was.
The self propelled sled backed up to the starting line and they chained it to the payloaders bucket. The payloader in reverse, effortlessly pulled the sled down the track, turned out and around the broken Versy, got back in line in front of him, stopped then took off again without slipping a tire or making the exhaust smoke, pulling the sled out the end with little effort.
Quite a show :-)
Edited by Jon Hagen 9/5/2011 00:07
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Steiger tractors the good bad and ugly.
