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Pole Pulling


HubbardRA

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A couple weeks ago, my son Randy and I were asked to help with an Eagle Scout Project. The boy who had organized the project needed to move some pressure treated telephone poles from a pile along a driveway, out to the main road, around a 90 degree turn and down along the road to the gulley where he was going to build a foot bridge for pedestrians walking along that road. Most of the others who were helping with the project were skeptical, to say the least, when they saw the 61 Wards and the AC716H on the trailer when we showed up that morning. The following picture shows Randy hook to the first pole which was 43 feet in length. The end attached to the tractor is the small end of the pole. Believe me these things were heavy. Took some prying to get the pole off the stack and hooked to the tractor. [img]/club2/attach/HubbardRA/Starting.jpg[/img] This next one shows Randy when he was trying to make the left turn and the pole got hung up against a couple of large boulders beside the driveway that were there for landscaping. I was going to try to pry it over from the boulders, but ended up hooking the 716H to the other end of the pole and pulling it around to line up straight with the way he needed to go. [img]/club2/attach/HubbardRA/Corner.jpg[/img] He made it about 75 feet down along the road and the tractor got stuck because of the angle of the land where he was driving, the soft, dry, sandy soil, and the fact that he was trying to pull in second gear at wide open throttle. The pole just didn't want to move that fast. I ended up hooking the 716H to the front of Randy's tractor and tailoring my speed with the hydro to match his 3-speed. We had to pull the pole down to where the people are standing in the distance.

This next picture is when we got the pole to the gully. It is directly on the far side of the tractors, about 12 feet deep and 20 feet across. It is hard to see from the picture, but if you look at the edge of the road, you will see the cement work around the culvert that goes underneath. This should give an indication of the size of the gulley.

We moved two of these long poles, and two 12 ft poles, to this position. We then took the tractors to the other side and pulled the two long poles into a position laying across the gulley to be the main beams of the bridge. Sure made a believer out of the skeptical adults who were there when we started. Two of the adults came up to me and said they wouldn't have believed it if they hadn't seen it. One guy said that he couldn't believe the way we hooked to the pole and threw the power to the tractors and took off. Said his tractor would have scattered tranny parts all over the place if he tried that. Don't know what type he had, but I'm guessing Box Store. Oh, by-the-way, some of you may recognized the hat I am wearing in the pictures. That is a Sandy Lake hat that I got at GOTO last summer. I'm sure there are a few other members who have them. And also, since some of you may be wondering, there is not orange on either of those tractors. The Wards is black and maroon, and the 716H is mostly black with teal on the grille. I have plans to re-paint the 716H, but Randy won't let me re-paint the Wards. He says that tractor is "his", and I'm not going to paint it orange. We'll see. Sorry I don't have more and better pictures, but these were taken by someone else, and this all he gave me.
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One of the guys there, asked me if I was afraid of breaking the tractors. I said, "Nope". Told him that if I did break one, I wouldn't have any problem finding the parts to fix it. The tandem pulling was something I had been wondering about for a while, so I finally got a chance to try it. When we got the pole moving I advanced the hydro till the engine started to lug, then backed it off to let the engine have more power. This timed the speed of the two tractors perfectly, so they pulled like a 4x4. No problem then.
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It's easy w/ the newer electric locomotives, but I talked to a few old steam engineers and they said that tandem pulling was difficult at best and took years of experiance to master on heavy freight trains. The massive power output of 1 engine against the load being pulled would result in 1 engine underpowering and not pulling but a small percentage of the load while the other would pull till it spun out. Up a steep grade was a perticular added problem. They said it took a lot of finess to "feel" the power transfer and adjust accordingly. I'm sure you had an easier time with 1 manual and 1 hydro, but it does sound like you took measures to compensate and did well at it. Nice going. I bet you loved showing off a little. Sometimes I think when they say It can't be done like that, I try harder to prove them wrong.lol
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John, This is the second Eagle Scout project in which we have used the Wards. The first one was making a walking trail down through some woods near a park. We hauled around 7000 lb of dirt that day, and totally demolished one lawn trailer (brand new, first use) from overloading it with dirt. We spent 8 hours that day hauling dirt filling holes, covering roots, and leveling the path. The other participants were clearing the path and repairing a foot bridge. It is fun, and a good feeling to help with community service projects. I wonder if we are building too much of a reputation with our tractors. LOL.
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Gotta tell ya Ron that seeing this kind of thing is really making me feel good about my decision to buy an older Simplicity. Right now I've got the tractor over at my buddy's house - he's a small engine mechanic and 'going thru' the beast. I can't wait to get it back! Thanks for sharing!
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Nice work Rod. My 14 yr old son is just starting to plan for his Eagle project. Maybe I'll push a little for a project where I can put my fleet to use also. :D:D GregB Eagle Scout in 1972
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Greg, Randy is also working on his Eagle project. Unfortunately it doesn't include tractors. He is making a set of cabinets to store all of the decorative banners that are hung on the walls for different seasons and occasions at our church. They have over 50 banners at the moment. His cabinets will allow the banners to be draped over rods and stored that way in the cabinet, rather then be rolled up and stuck in a cardboard tube and stuffed in a box. It will clean up the storage area and prolong the life of the banners. Nice project, but not tractors.
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Gee Rod, did you really need two tractors to pull those little toothpicks??? :o):o):o):o) Enjoyed having breakfast with you again. Cheers,
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Roy, Bring "your" tractor the next time you come this way. There are more poles still on the pile. We'll see how yours can do. LOL I always enjoy talking tractors with you, Roy. It was fun, and I actually learned a little about hooking up a tiller. See you next trip.
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