Going to play with some moveable belly weights hanging straight down  from the rear bolt holes in the torque tube.   In 3000 class  100 pounds ahead of the axle and 400 at the drawbar behind the axle. Bare Bones the CA & Me weighs 2500.

     Maybe in 3500 -  200 at the midway and 800 behind the axle. ONE  Engine Sideweight way up front may be too much front weight in the wrong place 3000. Yah just never know till you try.

     The way I originally set my CA up for pulling The lightest class was 3500 up to 4500. Some tough competition in these weight divisions for a tractor with 13-6 24 tires.

    

    DSpears. Could you show us a photo of your drawbar setup? From the photos it looks like the front end of your drawbar is attached to the where the pin hitch or snap couple bell is located. I posted a photo of mine here recently. I will measure the length after breakfast. I'm sure its much more than the required minimum of 18". Mine runs uphill to the 20" hook point. A 3" angle iron between final drives support the drawbar and is used to hang weights on too.

    How many CA pullers have water in the tires. I did when I started out pulling at 3500

In this area, tractor pull tracks range from stone dust to heavy clay. Harder, clay tracks give much more traction so a shorter hitch works better. I always liked to have adjustment in my hitch, both up and down and in and out.

Power and traction are the biggest factors, but usually, you have what you have for power and tires.  Balance , IMHO, is the most important variable in tractor pulling.

my draw bar is the standard snap-coupler with 2 stiffeners sandwiched top 1" and bottom 1/2" for adjusting the 18" pulling height with a twisted clevis.

The length of the draw bar will be No less than 35" from the center of the axle or 14" from the end of the PTO shaft if available.

tire size is limited to 145 Sq IN max for up to 3900#.

    I hang lots of added weight on angle iron between  bull gear housings. Presently I'm using a long pin hitch drawbar clamped to the bottom of the angle iron. Measures 26 inches to the tip of a twisted clevis from the axle center. I have a short bar for the minimum 18".  Before I had any Hanging weights I was using a C flat hoop drawbar with a wood box on top loaded with chunks of drill collar. Plus water and 135# wheel weights.

    The long bar creates lots of leverage  lifting the front pretty easy under load.

     The last few pulls I dumped all the weight I could and got down to 2460 certified weight. 2 bags of #8 birdshot  got me close to my 2500 goal. I lost 25# of myself since the last pull. That's another bag of lead shot

     Hanging #500 behind the axle made the front crazy light . Bolting on 95 # Side Weights by myself is out of the question while at the pull.  I'm trying to balance the 500 pounds with part of it ahead of the axle and not way out front. My weight bracket is done below the tool box door and now the experiment  begins Friday.   I hope they use me Friday to set the sled for the light weight classes.

      I'm figuring a quick way to run either a short or long fixed height drawbar while at the pull. 4 or 8 more 5/8 flat washers and 2 15/16 wrenches plus a crawl in the dirt should do it .     Try a short bar first. 

I have a couple issues with weight placement!

We can not have any added weight extend beyond the rear of the back tires.

I have strapped a couple suitcase weights tucked above the draw-bar and the bail of the hitch.

I made a 2" angle iron bracket to mount on the lift arms, but the suit case weights extend out past the rear tires.

This year, I left 1 pair of rear wheel weights on all the time and started pulling in the 3500# and 3750# weight classes only. Of course having some movable weight placement for various track conditions.

I do like my belly weight bracket for Quick changes in weight and placement! ( Not as good as behind the axle for traction).

My 2 pair of engine side weights, 40#, and 75# suitcase can be placed forward or rear for best weight transfer.

We have usually 3-4 pullers in each class, so I do Not have much time to load weights and re scale before the next pull.

DeWayne

  

    Note the black bungee holding the seat pan down. Lost the seat support spring going down the road. Lucky the spring stayed on the trailer.

What is your maximum hitch height? By being at the maximum hitch height, you can usually run a shorter hitch to get the same weight transfer from the sled. I always found that the maximum height hitch and as close as I could get it and still get the front end light, was the absolute best for pulling.

 

 

     Dinner is on the table.  Be back in a few.

      I'm back.

      One of our club members does a nice job  of making suitcase style weights out of different thickness plate.  My leave these 100 pounders home and borrow 10 50s  twice for 3000 and 3500.   Or borrow a fellow puller with a size 24 neck and a 6 1/2 hat size to move weights

      Club rule on half twist or a 3" loop is either or. We always have a clevis or two handy on the sled for greenhorns

     Basic is rubber tired tractors 30 or more years old.   20" max drawbar height. Hook point 16" or more back from the centerline of the rear axle.

    It won't take much fabrication/imagination to move the clevis up to a fixed 20 Inches.

My drawbar is set at 18" and I can move the two 1" bars underneath the draw-bar for adjusting height in 1/2 inch increments! The top bar has a 1/2 notch milled away in it!

DeWayne

the lift arm weight bracket to hang weights behind the rear axle. Needs more design information!!!!

DeWayne

My personal opinion is that 1/4" makes a big difference. Why do you think the majority of guys pulling use a fixed plate or ring, that is set at the maximum height? If height is not an advantage, why is there a rule regulating maximum height? Ask some of the guys that have been pulling for years (PaulB, InjpumpEd, DrAllis, Mack, etc.), how high they run their hitch and if they use a clevis.

 

Unless the hole in your drawbar is almost exactly the size as your  clevis pin, the clevis is going to tip some with pressure on it. Have someone video your clevis when you're pulling.

 

Try a fixed plate at 20". In the pulling world, it's a pretty inexpensive thing to try.

 

 

When I got home I remembered these rears were once weighted with water.  Maybe I just thought I got it all out. SO.  I jacked up one side and unscrewed the two piece valve stem and let the air  out,  Stuck a length of Oxygen tube into the tube and blew in it. I could bubbles in the water. Sucked on it and began to siphon water into a gallon jug. Got smarter and put about 10 pounds of air in then I got 3gal of water out of one tire so far before wife called me for supper. After supper I will get it all out of one and then the other.  Water weighs 8 pounds to a gallon I think.  I'm bound and determined to get below 2500. Once I get all the water out I should get there easy.

     While weighing yesterday I got a front weight and a rear weight  Front was 840 rear was 1700. Since the 125 pounds of water came off the rear, the rear weight is reduced to 1575 or thereabouts.  Front weight is something in the neighborhood of 1/2 the rear weight.  Heavy enough to not lift easy?    What do you think. 

      Weighing the front and rear separate  and adding those  weights together gets you pretty close to the total weight.   2540 added together.  2520 by its self. old numbers

      Looks like good weather for this next weekend pull in Shreveport.    

 

To answer your question about weight, I, personally, would not put water back in the tires. I would prefer moveable weight.  

If you area is anything like ours, track conditions vary. If you have a hard track with a lot of bite, you may need weight in the front. On a soft track, you may want the weight on the back. I would prefer two 50 lb. weights.