Huge Steam Tractor - Full Power Dyno Pull - 3400 ft-lbs

[7822welshsteam]

What e beast!

[heymama1]

I've seen a couple of old steam tractors in person. While they ran. Amazing.

[glazerguy58]

Western Minnesota Steam Threashers Reunion rocks every year on Labor Day weekend in Rollag, MN!

[thedefinitive]

that is incredible

[NightFlight007]

Rollag (the show) has grown a lot. I try and make it back every few years & hope to this Labor Day.

It almost seems like it's getting big enough to expand the dates, but then again, most all the operators plan their year around the "Labor Day" weeks & it's all volunteers, so it might be safe from going commercial.

Any steam or gas engine fans who have not attended the "Western Minnesota Steam Threshers Reunion" (WMSTR) at Rollag MN on Labor Day weekend, you are missing out! Do a Google search!

[MrDorfmann]

Hmmmm... 25000 lbs drawbar pull at 2 mph makes 135 hp not 94 ...

[sixtysevenchevelle]

imagine what these old steam engines could do if they ran them up to max. working press. They get inspected regularly but they run them at a lower pressure to ensure safety

[frosty9595]

It would be interisting to see this in person. Another funny fact...

This thing puts out more horsepower then a piece of shit honda civic. Eat that stupid fucking ricers.

[hdiylove]

AWESOME!!!

[coolbluelights]

how old is this thing?

[EnponAlbeno]

I think it's a 1912 or so.

[dblanke80]

@EnponAlbeno There was a time when they built things that would last forever - didn't take long for them to realize it wasn't very profitable. Now every thing has a shorter life span so you have to buy a new one soon. Cell phones are a good example.

[BlakeMason2]

130HP is pretty impressive for that type of tractor for that day and age.

[Pulling321]

Wow that is a great video.

[91W350]

The only thing I see wrong is I was not there. That is an awesome show, thanks for sharing!

[Gr8CFce]

I forgot to ask...so with that much torque, what could it pull? (don't laugh...don't laugh, I'm just curious!)

[EnponAlbeno]

They say it pulls about as hard as a medium-large sized modern bulldozer.

See the first couple minutes of my "Torque and HP Explained" video for a description of how they tested the drawbar HP of this tractor.

[logic2reason]

it can pull with 3,400lbs of force. you can always change the gearing to get more tq out of it, but sacrafice velocity. and with tractors, most times ya don need to be goig fast so small engines can output LARGE amounts of tq just from gearing alone

[TerminatorFRA]

true, but using gears is really poor. It's better using a big slow engine which is naturally full of torque instead of a fast running low torque engine like a F1. It will live much longer when running slow. Look at the fast engines how they die fast. Today diesel engine like those on tractors can run 15000 hours or even more.

A car engine will live 300000 kms maximum. When you say it was driven at 100 km/h average (which is a fast average) it holds 3000 hours. lol

[logic2reason]

true. But tq is not using time. Hp has to do with time, relative to a race. i didnt want to get into years of life... for your right. 700hp from a steam locamotive @900rpms is a hell of a lot easier than 19,000rpms. i was just referring to someone ooing and aaaing over tq output, when that really has nothing to do with power...but i agree with you 100%

[nburdik]

That's the interesting thing about steam engines. Horse power is not relative to speed. With and internal combustion engine, maximum horsepower is only achieved at a certain speed. With a steam engine, the horsepower is the same no matter how fast it is going. Same with an electric motor.

[logic2reason]

so your telling me that if it makes 3,400lbs of tq. creating the same tq @ 2 times the rotations creates the same power? i think not my friend.

[Slovflyer]

@logic2reason You're right, at twice the rpm with the same torque, you are generating 2x more power (hp). I think the way these tractors (or the steam engine itself) are setup is different than conventional engines, in that they generate more power as the load is increased until they hit a max ceiling, through some kind of governor (which acts as a kind of secondary throttle?) to keep the power output at a certain level the driver desires (like cruise control for a car's speed)?

[EnponAlbeno]

In ground tests, these guys measured the drawbar HP of this tractor at 94 HP. They said it will "put on a line pull of 25,000 lbs at 2 MPH."

[stupidnamenoonecares]

there is a vid of a traction pulling 105 tons of rolling stock over grass on youtube here.

[NathansBackwoods]

whats the video called?

[stupidnamenoonecares]

search driffield steam rally.

[Gr8CFce]

oh....my...g(*jawdrop*)

That was SWEET! I'm a lady, but I'll tell you, seeing that much power infront of me (or the rest of us diehard steamer fans for that matter) makes my knee's buckle! Thanks for posting!

[tomescuadi]

holy shit!

i loved every second of it

[flyingscrapyard]

Nice finish with the two little blips on the whistle. Great video.

[Triple88a]

anybody wanna race? hold on just give me a minute to put some coal in my engine :D lol

[mweverett]

Wow so cool! I have got to get myself to Rollag before I die :) Mark

[EnponAlbeno]

I highly recommend it! This is just the tip of the iceberg, you really have to see the place to believe it.

[mweverett]

A trip to Rollag has been on my agenda for several years. But I get a yawn from the wife when I mention it. Got a new neighbor though who is as big a gear head as I am. Sooo.... Mark

[fonephat]

mweverett: I was there in 1959. It was a great show back then.

[NightFlight007]

@mweverett

Have you made it yet?

[SuperWD9]

sweet flame shooting out of the smokestack at the end . aseme vvideo love antiqe tractors!!

[spencermcgrew]

yeah, ive noticed more commercials especialy for toyota pickup trucks that has the gruff announcer saying "500 pound feet of torque to get you outta whatever trouble yada yada..."

[spencermcgrew]

This engine at 25 RPM produced 18,000 foot pounds torque or more "scientificly" pound/feet torque. either way, the steam engine torque output decrease with RPM, so at zero RPM, a recoprocating steam engine produces its maximum torque. as the RPM increases the time that the steam has to push on the piston decreases, so the torque drops.

[ShingleCreek]

Ft-lbs and Lb/ft can be used interchangably - It's like saying hour-miles instead of miles per hour - it may be unconventional, but it is the same thing. However, if he had said Ft/Lbs, that would be wrong - like using "hours per mile" in place of of "miles per hour."

[ymp5000]

yeah but when you put a load on her and the RPMs drop that pure grunt is always right there.

[nickypoo31]

lol. Thats great to see this sort of nostalgia still genarting this much interst. I wreckon you should send some photo's, videos and a story to showoffyourwheels. com. They would be happy to show it off for ya.

[EnTranced01]

Definitely cool--slide valve steam engines have a sound all their own...but aahh to hear a Uniflow steam engine under load!  Music to my antique ears...

[drumteen]

how do they juge it ?

[EnponAlbeno]

In front of the tractor is a Prony Brake which they are driving with a 12" wide flat leather belt off the flywheel of the tractor (RH side). The brake can measure the torque output and RPM of the engine, from which horsepower can be calculated. It works essentially the same as any modern dynomometer, but without the need for electricity, hydraulics, or electronic controls.

For more info, look-up "Prony Brake" on Wikipedia.

[zchris87v]

My Honda could do better. Just kidding. This is awesome.

[nminff]

Wow - 3,400 ft-lbs of torque? That thing's a monster! Awesome!