TO-30 Fergie Pullin'

Here is a digital zoom of a cell phone pic of a 1953 TO-30 pulling at the Thrresher's Convention in Wauseon Ohio on Sunday, June 26. Notice the "air" under the front tires. I am the driver. This is right at the end of the pull when it was "digging" pretty well..

The tractor used to be mine but now belongs to Roger and Anne Gillen of Swanton Ohio, who restored it.. (Yes color is different.. it is the '57 beige with metalic gray belly). It was entered in the lowest weight class available for Diviision I tractors (original size tires, no cuts, factory drawbar, "out-of-the-field", etc.) for that pull which was 3750 lb. Tractor only weighed in a 2910 with me on it, so didn't expect much.. There were 3 other tractors in class. The Fergie placed first which was ather unexpected.. others were an old Allis and a John Dere B.

Also put the Fergie on a PTO dyno. Got 30hp at 540 PTO speed (~1500 rpm with Sherman Hi-Lo set straight through)... Then set Sherman in Lo and moved governor more open under load up to about 2270 rpm (to get again 540 rpm PTO) and had 33.5 hp... would have expected more, but I don't think the Fergie "breaths" too well..

Incidently, The Thresher's will be featuring Massey Harris, Massey-Ferguson and Ferguson next year... Show up and maybe I can get some lower weight classes opened up.. Jim in OH

neat pic. If it wasn't YOU on the tractor, I'd swear that it was a beige 35. Even the emblem on the side of the hood looks like a 35.
Congrats on your first place finish.
I dont see too many Fergy's pulling.

so what length did you pull?

Looks fun.

Jeff

It was a very heavy sled. The Allis pulled first and made 40 feet.. they reset the sled, then he pulled 67 feet. The JD B pulled 49 feet and the Fergie made it 74 feet. The Allis had the weight and power and should have won but it was very poorly setup and just spun out. The B just ran out of steam... not sure what its HP is.. maybe he was geared incorrectly. The TO-30 was nearly perfectly setup if I must say so myself... the front lifted just at the end of the pull..

Ferguson would do all right in 3 mph or less up to about 3500 lb as long as it has the Hi-Lo.. Stock Power is fine, but there is no room to add Hp like most of the players..

The emblem is actually that of the TO-30 but all of the blue backgound is removed and the badge is polished to a bright finish. The colors are that of the beige 35 except that the front wheels are two tone.. to match the rear...

We put a TE20 up to 200hp using parts from a Triumph TR 4 sports
car which was basically the same engine,we even added twin weber
carbs and a free-flow 4 branch exhaust and revved it out to
5000revs.we fitted a stock MF135 foot-throttle with modified
linkage and fitted the twin brake pedals from a 135 and of course
13.6x24 rear tyres.It outputted every thing in its class and if you
were not careful you could have got 3 foot of air under the tyres!
Sam

Tractor Data says stock JD B is in the range of 25-28 Hp

Sounds fun, Sam. The TO-30, for as similar as it looks, shares little that would make it a good puller. The Continental engine is fragile and has very little room for increased stroke or bore. The intake and exhaust both choke the flow. Crank has no counter weights either, so 5000 rpm would be pushing it.. I started to build a 50 Hp engine for the TO-30... had most of the parts and the stroker crank ready to go but lost interest.. still have the stroker crank.

Good to see you post again, Jim. Congrats on winning the pull.

Thanks, Jerry... it is fun to see the finished project that I started (and get to drive it)... and the goal was always to pull it.. I guess a little less frequently now..