Tractor pulling

[Abrs]

Anyone seen this vid before - made me laugh

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMCe4S0kaIE[/youtube]

[flockee]

wow, all the money they spend on the pullers, and a tatra tanker does that??

[Charlesm]

That is serious traction, and serious torque. I watched a Scammel Pioneer do something similar a few years ago at the GDSF which I think annoyed some of the full-blown tractor pulling drivers.

John - while we are on the subject of traction, does the Tatra have that holy grail - the cross axle difflocks?

[Abrs]

John - while we are on the subject of traction, does the Tatra have that holy grail - the cross axle difflocks?

Yep, it has diff and inter axle locks, all controlled by two little red rocker switches on the dash

I was quite impressed by that example of Tatra torque - though the engine does have a very long stroke and 12 cylinders which helps keep it chugging along which I suppose is necessary as these trucks are sometimes expected to tow loads of up to 100 tons! plus the 20 or so tons of concrete recommended as ballast for such tasks :shock:

[Charlesm]

Any idea what the load would have been on the sled at the end of the run? I know the sled(ge?) itself is not very heavy but when the mass is winched over the plough at the hitch end I wonder what the equivalent weight would be?

[Abrs]

I have no idea of what the load would be, I think the ballast weight would be generally around the 25 ton mark but as it moves forward it pushes the front of the sled into the ground which would in effect make it weigh a great deal more.

[Eastblock]

And with Danish commentary - thanks!!

[Charlesm]

It seems there is no straight answer, but this page gives some information:

http://www.holy-cow.org/pulling.html

alternatively another site said around 30 tonnes - either way no match for a Tatra!

[Abrs]

What that Tatra really had going for it was weight! That tank on the back probably holds about 24 ton of water which can give you a huge amount of traction on the right surface, that coupled to Tatras high torque engine and low gearing are a pretty much unbeatable combination.

I love these machines! Seem there's nothing the Tatras can't do - apart from corroding to nothing that is

[Ditch]

There is a hell on earth. It's in that Tatra engine and gearbox.

[haymish]

that's not hell it's pure heaven

[JMD007]

RM has a Russian patrol boat for sale on his website. Usefully there is no price :roll: but it does look like a tatra V12 air cooled engine lurking in the back! The prop is huge which suggests this may be a very quick form of transport on water!

Im half tempted to enquire about it.

[Charlesm]

Surely you don't want to change the Gaz engine again?

[JMD007]

Anything is possible in my world Charles!

I was thinking more of towing it down to Weymouth or somewhere with the GAZ and going on a fishing trip!

[Abrs]

RM has a Russian patrol boat for sale on his website. Usefully there is no price :roll: but it does look like a tatra V12 air cooled engine lurking in the back! The prop is huge which suggests this may be a very quick form of transport on water!

Im half tempted to enquire about it.

It's the old Tatra V910 engine as fitted to the T-111 truck, it's a 14.8 litre lump producing around 180hp which is not bad for an old diesel that was designed during WW2, however they aren't the most reliable engine due to overheating problems and only have life expectancy of a few hundred hours, so I'd bet that one will be Fubar.

[JMD007]

Another candidate for a big yank V8 then?

Presumably with a knackered engine in it, its not worth much, could be a good project if you could extract it from RM's clutches for sensible money instead of some pie in the sky figure.

[Rob Reznik]

John - would be good to see the Tatra at next years forum meet to help pull everyone out - just hope it doesnt suffer from other Tatra problems of unreliabilty and high parts costs

[Abrs]

Do I detect the slight hint of sarcasm? well I'll do my utmost to be there then :lol:

Not really heard of any reliability problems as such, with the exception of possible over heating due to dirt getting onto the cooling fins around the cylinders - might be a good idea to check your Praga for this (preventative measure) - cleaning the cooling fins is a regular service item and should be done often anyway on these engines.

Surprisingly parts aren't really that bad price wise either, the few odds and sods I've bought so far have been very cheap, no worse than Zil parts anyway - In fact some of the parts available are very reasonable i.e. A fully reworked replacement engine for 1500 Euros or a NOS cab for 2000 or even less for the two door version - I think the other most expensive items are the hubs at around £800 a pop but these virtually never go unless the hub has leaked its oil out, all the other transmission assemblies are fully rebuildable and the parts seem cheap 8)

Regards

[Rob Reznik]

Do I detect the slight hint of sarcasm?

would be good to see you - and the Tatra - at next years meet - if you would have been at Wagtails this year you would have understood why we need a good recovery vehicle - at one point we were down to a Disco pulling a Gaz 66 pulling an Ural 4320 out of the mud :shock:

[Abrs]

I was only pulling your plumbs mate :lol: - I will make a real effort to be there next year, I kinda knew I wouldn't have time this year but I will plan around the next years event if we're perhaps able to decide on a date a bit earlier.


Regards