Experienced my first tractor pull today

Used my 1938 F-20 today at the fair in the 4500 pure stock class. Lost miserably. tractor seemed to be running well. started the pull well. No spinning, pulling like a champ. at 130' tractor seemed to lose all its guts, and went another 6' and almost stalled. came in 9th out of 9 at 136.1'

Now, I will tell you that the only thing I have done to this is new plugs, points, oil change, and check timing.

Not touched: carb, valves, rings. Although, I did have the carb adjusted a wee rich, slight black smoke at idle, and cleared up at full throttle.

sounds like I will start with the carb. then move into the more expensive items. Seems like I should have been able to pull a bit more than 136'. In the class, the longest pull was 227' Next closest one to me was 160.2'

It was pretty surprising how quickly the old girl lost her guts.

Me and my Dad pulled with our Farmall H's for the first time on August 2nd at the Field Days Show. My H with me on it was 4000lbs, so I had to go in the 4500lb class, Dad also went in the 4500 class with his H. Dad took 3rd place, and I did not place, but the reason why is because we never did anything to the tractors to lighten them up to get in a lighter class, We were pulling against Oliver 77's and Farmall M's and many bigger tractors which made it very difficult. I'll probably pull with my 1949 John Deere A next year, I'm doing whatever I can to get more HP out of it.

Andy.

TOM,

Congrats on the pull. Hope you had full pulling. You will have to look at hp of the tractors, I dont know what a F-20 has for HP at the drawbar but I usually pull 4000 and 4500 lb class with my Super H and it is rated at 31hp. Not a whole you can do till you bore and stroke the motor. Just go out and have fun and do your best. How much air pressure did you have in your tires? How far back and how high was your drawbar?

Tom,
Hope you had enough of a good time to hook you on antique
pulling. Pure stock is a nice "name" for a class, but it ain't
necessarily so. Lots of little things can be done under the
heading of stock, when my brother and I were starting our 3
F20s were all within 10+/- feet of each other. An overhaul with
high compression/large bore pistons, a machined/ported head,
change to lower gears, new shorter tires and one became a
pulling HERO and it was "STOCK". Did it to prove a point then
quit pulling because our group became a; Who can throw the
most money into winning a $20 trophy

Tom, I have pulled in the 4000 class with an H. Some guy strip down the M and pull the same class. F-20 low RPM will not keep up with M. ButI go very year with my F-14 only tractor there with hand crank start. It has cast rear wheels that put it in 3500 class I may put cut off spokes on this year should drop down in 3000 class. I pull about 130' never place but have a hell of alot of fun and everone loves seeing the old tractor. Some day mabe I will bring a regular or my F-20 NT. Have fun Oldiron29

Thanks for all the responses guys. maybe I shouldn't be too hard on myself on this one.

136' maybe isn't too shabby for a 1938 F-20 that has not been recently rebuilt.....if ever.

I hear the comments about spending lot's of money just to get the trophy. I am definately NOT into that. I guess I already know the answer and outcome to my truly "stock" antique tractor.

I will at some point rebuild the engine, and do a valve job on it. When I do, however, it will be built to factory specs. No overbore, no high altitude pistons, etc.

My tractors are destined to be representative of how they came from the dealer, stock, without fancy options. Heck, I am even replacing bolts as appropriate with the correct "dot" bolts. There were 3 other F-20's at the fair. All looked really nice with their shiny paint jobs, and new gages, etc. But none of them were "correct", it you take into account the bolts, the gages, copper fuel lines (instead of steel), modern stainless hose clamps, etc.

I am NOT, and I repeat NOT getting down on any of them, or anyone else for what and how they restored their tractors. I am taking a different path, which will have a different result. In other words, I am not restoring/building my tractors with winning a tractor pull in mind.

In any case, I had a good time. I am still proud of the originality of my F-20, and I am starting to get the feeling that my 136' pull was "not too shabby" considering how "original" my tractor is. AND, I will pull again.

thanks again guys, and sorry for the long winded response.

ps. on a lighter note, I had 3 offers to buy my red Farmall suspenders!!!!!!

Glad you had fun pulling, an F-20 is similar to an H for pulling. You said you did not get wheel spin even in 1st gear? A good valve job and slightly overbored or just replacement pistons would still be stock. And it would freshen up the engine. in 1st gear it should start to spin tires before power dies. Check compression and see were you are.

Rich, thanks, and I agree. Yup, didn't spin a tire once. I have about 25% tread left, so actually, the tires are about right for pulling. the tractor tipped the scales at 4190 lbs. Has 11.6 x 36 cutoffs on it.

It was pretty interesting. I was pulling, and the engine sounded good. The front didn't even lift (well, except at the very beginning when I got a little excited and let the clutch out too fast.....rode the wheely for about 5')

When the old girl decided she had had enough it was relatively quick. She held her rpm's until the last 6' - 10' feet, then the rpm's dropped like a rock, and darn near stalled. during the whole pull, it never missed or popped. Like I said, she actually sounded real good through most of the pull.

I like the compression check idea. I have a feeling that this old girl has never been rebuilt, and that would explain the loss of power when the going got tough.

I do have to admit, for the first 100', I was grinning like a kid, and thining that the "full pull" board didn't look all that far away....... LOL!