As we have showed many times in the past, stuff can go wrong in a hurry on the pulling course, especially when the machines are on the upper end of the power scale and the sled is weighed down like a freight hauling locomotive. In this video you’ll see it happen again after a front suspension failure caused a big tractor to stop and the momentum of the sled carries in almost instantly into the wounded tractor.
On the “best” pulls, you will see large tractors like this one hang the front end a foot or two off the ground. It is not about standing the thing up on end or putting on a big show, instead it is about achieving the right balance where the tires are planted and the tractor is working on moving forward and not straight up into the air. Also, the front suspension components on these machines are not designed to be bounced off of the ground. Once this tractor took a hard landing the front suspension broke off, the nose dug in, and the driver got knocked senseless. Good thing those tractors have cages and the driver is secured by a five point harness. This is a hard shot!
Press play to see the wreckage unfold!
Why do they run such small wheels in the front? Seems to me they should run some thing that would hold up better for wheel stands.
The small wheels are all about weight and motor/turbo placement. In the US the tractors have skis under the front axle that must be able to support the front of the tractor so the nose can’t dig in. They work very well and I’d be amazed if they aren’t mandatory in Europe now as this video is from 2012.