Holy Cow Tractor Pulling Team

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

For Sale
Holy Cow Grand National/Regional National Tractor and Hauler

Selling Turnkey, ready to pull. All you need is methanol.
$165,000 complete.

Tractor:
4 - 526 KB Olds, 11:1, Littlefield Hi-Helix, Gerardot Injection, MSD
20's, Dart 360's, System-1 Billet Oil Pumps. Hilborn Fuel Pumps.
1 - 526 Arias New Century Long Block. Complete heads to pan. (Spare
motor)
2 - Banter gear boxes, one ratio for 3-engine (Regional National Limits),
one ratio for 4-engine (Grand National Limits)
2 - Crower 4-disk clutches w/papers.
2 - 42 Channel Data Recorders.
1 set - Midwest Wheels Rims
1 set - Firestone 10-ply Puller 2000's (these are the good ones!)
1 - Holden close ratio 3-speed transmission
1 - Banter Magnesium Cat Planetaries
1 - 2002 Eder Chassis
2 - spare prototype Gates Blower Belts (haven't broken one of these yet)
plus any new or used spare parts specifically for this tractor
plus any tools specific to this tractor
plus 3 years of data recorder data
plus 5 years of log book data including part histories, build sheets,
fuel calculations, fuel models, track data, etc.
plus IH suitcase weights up to 7900lbs
plus NTPA vehicle license including 2006 GN Enderle points from Sandwich,
IL
plus an assembly manual on assembling and tuning these KB Olds/Arias.
WILL NOT PART OUT TRACTOR. TRACTOR SELLS COMPLETE OR NOT AT ALL.

Hauler:
Truck:
1991 GMC Topkick badged as a Chevy Kodiak.
427 Gas Engine, TBI fuel injection (new plug wires, new alternator,
newer starter, newer radiator, newer A/C compressor)
235 gal fuel capacity.
5 Speed Eaton/Fuller Transmission
Eaton 2 speed rear
Air Ride
Sleeper with bench seat that pulls out to a bed (sleeps 2)
AM/FM/CD player
CB
Licensed as RV, no CDL required.
Good rubber all around. Traction tread on rears.
4,000W Onan Generator plumbed into truck fuel tanks and wired to trailer.

Trailer:
1991 Custom.
45' long.
Air Ride
Vacuum over Hydraulic brakes
10,000lb axles.
Built in battery charger
Under-frame spare tire storage for both truck and trailer.
24' awning.
Approximately 22' of vehicle/tool storage
8,000# winch
fuel jug racks (9 jugs)
5 overhead cabinets
3 tool boxes.
Fold Down rear door
approximately 23' of living quarters
living room with couch that pulls out into a bed (sleeps 2) and eating
table that folds down into bed (sleeps 2)
Overhead and underseat storage.
AC/DC/LP full-size RV refrigerator
Sink, LP Stove and Oven.
TV
Microwave
Full-size shower
RV toilet
75-gal freshwater tank
35-gal graywater tank
??-gal blackwater tank
5-gal LP water heater
Queen-sized bed with under bed storage (sleeps 2)
4 Roof vents with Max-Air covers (2 powered)
13,500 BTU roof air
WILL NOT SEPERATE TRUCK AND TRAILER.

Contact Larry @ 765-883-5616.

The trip home.
We stop at a little diner on 47 call the Silver Dollar or something like that. Excellent food. That might have been the bright point of the day. We continue south on 47 to US 24, and pull into a truck stop. My contacts are getting gunky and need to be cleaned, plus a stretch wouldn’t hurt either. We have about 2 ½ hours left.

As we get back on the road, the battery light comes on again. Since the trip up didn’t seem to bother it, I ignore it. After all, it is a brand new alternator. We are listening to a book on CD, “Wait until Midnight,” and are driving though downtown Watseka, IL. All of a sudden, the CD player starts freaking out, the display is flashing, it is skipping. Being and automotive engineer and spending most of my profession life designing auto parts, the first think that pops into my mind is low battery voltage. I look at the trailer lights and they are now out because voltage has dropped below the hold-in voltage of the relay for the trailer. Luckily, there is no traffic. We limp on down the road to a Wal-Mart. I figure A) We can fix it there without the risk of being hit on the side of the road, B) We will fix it in the morning if we need parts or C) We will spend the night there if we can’t fix it.

We pop the hood and, just like before, the alternator is making a loud noise. OK, no fixing it here, the alternator is bad and now I need to find a CarQuest to get my 2nd free replacement. The Plan. Take the truck battery back to the trailer and charge it overnight while we sleep. I disconnect the battery. I try to start the generator. Oops, it runs off the truck battery. OK, hook the battery up. Start the generator…barely. OK, now unhook the battery. Oops, the ignition module on the Generator also runs off the battery. OK, hook the battery back up. Start the generator. Get an extension cord and put the battery charger under the truck, charging the battery that is still hooked up.

For those of you playing along at home, here is what we have. The generator is running, producing 100V AC which is powering the battery charger, which is producing about 14.5V DC, which charges the truck battery which is supplying power to the generator ignition box. It is like living on a giant Mobius strip or something.

So, we awake in the morning, battery fully charged. We know the alternator is shot, so I disconnect it. I rewire the direct connections on the generator and ratchet strap the charger to the platform behind the sleeper on the truck. The generator is running and the charger is (solely) charging the truck battery. With the Kodiak running, the battery charger shows a draw of about 7A, which seems right to me. The PCM should draw a couple of amps to run the fuel injection and fuel pump and the ignition coil probably draws in the neighborhood of 5A, so it looks like a self sufficient system. No Fan, No A/C, No Radio, No Lights, but we should be able to make it home.

And that was a true statement, if I lived in Lafayette, IN, which I don’t. We stop at a Meijer, Stacey does her weekly shopping, and Brad meets with his sister to look at some damage she wants fixed on her car. We all go to breakfast, and in 2 hours, the battery is again charged. This time, we make it home.

I pull the alternator, and like last time, the case bolts have come apart. The threads are stripped from one of the three holes and the bolt is missing. The insides just ate themselves up. I notice a hairline crack on the mounting boss with the stripped threads. Could that be the culprit? Was it there when it was rebuild and just over looked? Or did it break when the bolts pulled out? I also noticed a mark that was made on the case from a mold line on the cast iron bracket. Did that apply pressure in a sensitive area? I don’t know if I will ever know. I got a new alternator and put it on after grinding off the burr on the bracket. It looks good, no sign of cracks, and it operates like it is supposed to.

Sandwich, IL (session 2)
We are at the end of the line and the pull had actually started before we got our hitch checked. I sent Brad up to the starting line to watch the track. As soon as the hitch guy comes around, Stacey yells “Oh My God.” Apparently, in the bouncing in the first session, we broke the hold up bolts and the hitch is now at about 16 ½” instead of the normal 20. I had spares in the trailer, but the problem was putting the new ones in, it was getting the old ones out. They are twin ¾” diameter bolts that are folded in half.

I put Stacey in the driver’s seat and run back to get the torch. I am ready by the time the tractor gets there and I realize it is really dry and more than likely, I am going to catch the grass on fire. I let the tow tractor driver know to stay in the seat and be ready, because more than likely he is going to be pulling me out of a blazing mess.

The cutting goes well at first, but then I start having a hard time keeping the flame going, and then even getting it to light. I still don’t know what happened. One of the promoters ran and grabbed the welder’s truck and handed me a torch, which cut through the bolts in short order. I put the new ones in and we were ready to go in about 10 minutes or so. We were dragged back to the front of the line, got the hitch checked, and were on the starting line with 3 to go. I quickly adjust the jets and Brad let’s me know that no one is picking up the nose. I move 100# back from where I was in session 1 and get ready to pull.

I finally get a chance to relax as I back up to the sled. They throw in the hook and I am ready to go. I ease it out of the hole, so I don’t bounce and pick the front end and have a really nice pull, only it starts to drive left. I don’t know what happened, but I couldn’t bring it around. I back out of the throttle, but not soon enough and just touch the chalk.

So, there you go. $325 in fuel to get to the pull, a broken hitch, broke fuel tank mounts, and not even a single dollar in prize money. So, we load up and drive home. Since this was likely going to be my last pull, I really want to go out on a high note. That was not the case this weekend.

Monday, September 12, 2005

Sandwich, IL (session 1)
Money Pit came into this pull with a 1 point lead over Doug Downs for the Grand National Championship, which would be decided in session 2, in just a few hours.

In a first for me, the fair decided to build 2 tracks, a hard, dry one for the Mini Rods (1st class) and a softer, wetter one for the Pro and Mods, which ran 2nd and 3rd, respectively. When the show was about to start, the Mini’s didn’t like their track, and opted for the “big tire” track instead. After 20+ Mini’s and 20+ Pros, we finally got our class started.

I was 3rd hook in a class of 12. First up was points leader Money Pit. Steve came out of the hole, but never hooked to the track and shut it down, dropping to last. Next up was Ron Barga II, in the Judge. As soon as the tractor hooked, it started bouncing, violently. Ronny tried to shut it down, but it turned left and crossed the chalk, landing him with a DQ and last place. Great, I am third hook, and still haven’t seen more than a 100’ pass. I let some air out of the tires and hook to the sled. It was obvious from the Pros and the 2 Mods I watched, that there was no starting line, just like the week before at Connersville. I made two passes there and in my first hook I hammered it out of the hole, keeping holding the motors jest below 8000, until the tires hooked. In that pass, I beat everyone. In the pull off, I eased out of the hole, and finished well back. So, I know what my tires like and hammered it. I never went wide open throttle, but as soon as the tires hooked, I started bouncing. It also got bouncing very violently, like Barga. Since I was only there for pre-commitment reason, and was mathematically destined to finish last in points, I shut it down before I broke something. I went 186.

Space Invader was next up and made a nice pass out to 280 for the win. Predator was driven by Jamie and he had a clutch lock up when it started. He hooked to the sled on 3 motors and started the 4th on the hole shot. He didn’t have a bad run, but finished well back in 8th. Most of the tractors were bouncing and it occurred to me there might be a class restart after a sled breakage. So, I left to go get my tractor prepped if that was the case. Money Pit also had a bad run and finished just ahead of Down’s, giving him a 2 point lead.

We found that we ripped the fuel tank mounting tabs off the fuel tank. There was no TIG welder available on the grounds, so I strapped the fuel tank on with ratchet straps. The data recorders showed no engine problems, and nothing else seemed to be amiss.

Following the show, NTPA announced that they would be running twin tracks on session 2, with the Mini’s on the track we had just run, and the Mods on the original Mini Rod track. This meant we last class in session 1 and first in session 2 with only a 2 hour window between. Since my tractor was “fixed” and ready to run, my crew and I went to help Doug.

By the time we got there, they were just pulling the front might motor off. They got it out where they could work on it and started to take the clutch apart. A flywheel bolt had broken and wedged in between the floaters and the flywheel. One floater was destroyed, and a stand bolt got damaged during disassembly. Jamie replaced the floater with a spare, got a new set of clutch papers signed, we fixed the stand bolt and got the clutch back together and the motor mounted, just as the class was starting. We headed back to our tractor and took our place at the end of the line.

Monday, September 05, 2005

Connersville, IN
Finally got the trailer back on 4 wheels on Friday and headed out for Connersville Saturday afternoon accompanied by the Plattners and friend Pam. We didn't pull until Sunday, but were looking forward to a day of R&R. The tractor was ready to go for BG, so there wasn't much to do to get ready. We never got around to changing the gear box, so it will still set up for 3 motors, but the 4th engine was couple up, and we had to uncouple it. Other than that, it was ready to go.

We were third class of 4 and I hooked in the 9th position out of 10 tractors. First up was Wayne Krider trying a new part of the track for the night. He bounced really bad and never really hooked up, and dropped the hook. Everyone else generally ran in the middle part of the track and made pretty decent runs. Bill Ratliff had a nice run going and seemed to break something in the rear end. Todd Feiss had a clutch issue. I don't think it affected him on the track, but it did getting it loaded in the hauler. At the time I pulled, Don Deane had the only full pull. There wasn't much at the starting line, but the way my tires like to work is to spin them hard. I came out, holding the engines just below 8,000 rpm until the tires hooked and then hammered down. I made a nice straight pass and forced a pull off. Ron Barga was the last to pull and finished in third at 299.87, just shy of a full pull.

At the end of the track, I am calling for a tow tractor to get me back to my trailer. There are four tractors sitting there, with a bunch of young kids that were more interesting in socializing and talking to their girl friends that paying attention to what was going on. After much yelling and screaming and hand waving, we were able distract one of the kids, who I will call Evel Knievel, long enough to fire his tractor and position it in front of mine. Even though I was still buckled into my five-point harness, it was too difficult for Evel to get off his lazy ass to hook up the chain to my front tow hook. So, I unbuckled myself, got down and hooked the chain up and then climbed back into the seat. Evel dropped the clutch, snapped the chain and when he felt my tractor lurch forward, he stopped, putting slack in the chain again. After doing that FOUR consecutive times, the finally learned to feather the clutch and eased me forward. Ahhh yes, I remember my first time behind the wheel of a motorized vehicle. Anyway we get back to the trailer and he starts to pull me in, like I am ready to leave. I tell him to pull across the end of the trailer so I can get ready for the pull off, a term he was apparently unfamiliar with. So he conveniently places me about 30' from the end of my ramps, and then for some unknown reason, feels the need to make a U-turn and start dragging the front end sideways. I kept yelling for him to stop, he was off in his own little world and didn't hear me until after he had dug some 20' ruts with the sides of my tires. I told him to unhook the chain and get lined up with the tractor because he was going to go back up to the front again. He just gave me a deer in headlight look, but complied. I prepped for the next run, and we finally got back up to the starting line. I shudder to think what Connersville will be like when this genius gets his drivers license and is out on real reads.

Anyway, Don lays down a better pass on the pull off that his first one. It was really humid and on the cool side and there was water on everything, including my visor. I got hooked up and was given the green flag. I cleared my visor and dropped it down, and let out a big sigh and I hammered the throttle, which immediately fogged my visor up to the point on not being able to see the tach. I flipped the visor open, to make sure I didn't overrev, but at that point, it was too late. I was already close to 100' down the track and was only at 5000 rpm. There were huge clouds of blow by because the motors were so hot from my first pass only 10 minutes or so ago. At some point, a valve cover gasket pushed out, spraying oil on the headers and only adding to the smoky, foggy mess. Anyway, I ended up 289 and change, well short of Deane. At the end of the run, a fuel line came loose and started dumping fuel on the track. With all the smoke and fuel everywhere, it looked like the possibly was there to have really broke something. I checked the data recorders back at the trailer and all looks good.

So we finished 2nd. I don't really know if I could have beat Deane or not with my hot motors, but with the visor issue, we would never know. I don't think we hurt anything on the tractor, other than making a mess. We made another two passes and still haven't broken a belt with the new Gates prototype belts, which is a good thing. I think the belt issue is solved. And we had no issues with the hauler either going to or from the pull, so the axle repairs we made seem fine.

This pull was the final HSTPA pull of the season. By missing Lima and Hicksville, we finished 5th in points. Don Deane won by a long shot, and deservedly so, he ran very strong this year. Congratulations to Don Deane and the Plummers Nightmare.    

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