Pulling Sleds December 11, 2009 01:50PM
I have really enjoyed the conversations and pictures regarding the older pulling tractors. I was wondeing if anyone had pictures of what made pulling great..the sled. I have seen some pictures of the high incline transfer box and some of the truck or tractor on the skid pan. What others are out there? It would be interesting to see the progression of the sleds from the late 60's / early 70's to now.
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Re: Pulling Sleds December 12, 2009 01:30AM
One of the best older sled's i have ever hooked on was the Mean Green out of North Dakota. Really was a good working machine for being an up hill sled.
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Re: Pulling Sleds December 12, 2009 01:34AM
Here is a pic


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Re: Pulling Sleds December 12, 2009 09:03AM
Did that used to be Tom Venheisun's fathers sled out of Illinois?
Someone should write a book about the pulling sleds.
Just found an old business card from Kevin Sprecher's "The Challenger" sled, price was $200.00 plus $2.00 per hook, about 1980.
I have some pictures of the old Fairfax Rock at the pickup pulls at the Iowa State fair.
Would be cool to see Stan Burton's "Steel Mule" sled. I understand it is still around Macon,Mo.
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Re: Pulling Sleds December 13, 2009 01:28PM
does anyone have any pics of papa bear outa of indiana?
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Re: Pulling Sleds December 13, 2009 02:44PM
Stan Burton's Mule Skinner sled is owned by the Diagonal Lions Club in Diagonal, Iowa for the past 29 years. It it still in most of its original design and is used a several events in southern Iowa and northern Missouri every summer. Many of today's pullers from the midwest have run on it at some time. Some of the "Old timers" profess it is the oldest operation pulling sled in the nation. Stan told me it cost $3000 to build in the 60's, ran 60 events in 1970, was the second mechanical sled ever built (by 3 months), and never failed to complete an event. He also told me when the speed limit went from 4 to 6 mph it was too fast for anyone to ride the sled and is operated that summer with no one onboard. I have may pictures if you're interested

Gary Sobotka
sobotka@iowatelecom.net
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Re: Pulling Sleds December 13, 2009 03:29PM
Our sled is one of the old thumb sleds, its #11. Pics are on our blog www.carolinasledrental.blogspot.com from its original form to now. It was burgandy when we got it, it was a metallic blue & light blue before that. Plus pics of thumb #7 which we operated for north carolina tractor pullers until '93, it was original orange & then green.
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Re: Pulling Sleds Pics December 14, 2009 01:19AM
If you have pics please do post them! I like looking at some of the iron they used to use and in some cases still use.
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Re: Pulling Sleds Pics December 14, 2009 03:29AM
If i had a scanner i would upload some pictures of the very first trackboss dump truck sled from ohio, but i dont have a photo scanner
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Re: Pulling Sleds December 14, 2009 09:10AM
Ollie Schaefer from Illinois for years I don't know if anyone had it before him. Then Mike Hillary bought it and made it the Mean Green sled. Mike then sold it out of IL and has another Mean Green downhill sled.
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Re: Pulling Sleds August 13, 2014 04:52PM
Quote
HDP
Did that used to be Tom Venheisun's fathers sled out of Illinois?
Someone should write a book about the pulling sleds.
Just found an old business card from Kevin Sprecher's "The Challenger" sled, price was $200.00 plus $2.00 per hook, about 1980.
I have some pictures of the old Fairfax Rock at the pickup pulls at the Iowa State fair.
Would be cool to see Stan Burton's "Steel Mule" sled. I understand it is still around Macon,Mo.

I know this thread is really really old and im sorry for dragging it up, My uncle built and ran the Fairfax Rock while my dad and the other brothers ran the show. i would really like to get my hands on some pictures of the sled and or pictures of the guys running the pulls back then. I always hear the stories but never see any pictures. I hope this thread isnt too old or dead.

Thanks, please email some pictures if you have them, much appreciated.

aric@lefebure.com
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Re: Pulling Sleds December 14, 2009 09:46AM
That sled was built in 1977 in Greenville, IL by Ollie Schaefer. I personally ran that sled for many years before Dad sold it to Ken Venhiuzen.
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Re: Pulling Sleds December 14, 2009 08:35AM
Some '80s pictures...

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Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 12/15/2009 12:33AM by Dick Morgan.
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Re: Pulling Sleds December 14, 2009 01:08PM
All those sleds are brubaker sleds, north carolina had one before they bought their thumb sled. The woods used to be full of them things, several are still running.
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Re: Pulling Sleds December 14, 2009 01:57PM
Some of those look almost identical to the Heartbreaker 2 when it was built.
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Re: Pulling Sleds December 14, 2009 01:51PM
the first weight transfer sled was owned and operated out of Arthur Illinois by Billy k. Watkins,it was called the power stopper. Mr. Watkins went on to get a U.S. patent on his weight transfer concept this was in the 1960's. It was made from the parts of an old Brockway semi - tractor and a sled pan.This out fit had not been used for a very,very long time . It was just cut up and hauled off to the scrap yard just about 5years ago. I know this information because I helped cut it up . I am also good friends of the Watkins family. Mr. Watkins is still alive today ,I think he is around 85 years old now. the sled was built at his farm north west of Arthur Illinois in the mid to late 60's.........
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Re: Pulling Sleds December 14, 2009 02:23PM
Didn't NTPA take Watkins to court to try to get rights to the sled? And do the per hook fees today go to him as royalties???
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Re: Pulling Sleds December 14, 2009 02:41PM
The patent rights ran out in the late 90's im pretty sure
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Re: Pulling Sleds December 14, 2009 02:42PM
To the best of my knowledge those royalties/fees have long ceased. I researched sleds for an article for The Puller a couple years back and found a wealth of information about sled design. If we want to point directly to the origin of the sled as we know it, we need to look at J.B. Davidson's sled/dyno from 1924. A crude early interpretation of the sled, yes, but it has all the very basic components that sleds today need to function. It was used to measure draft animals and traction engines back in the day. Search weight transfer machine or pulling sled under Google Patents and you will see some familiar names. A book COULD be written on sleds, I found that out in a hurry!
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Re: Bowling Green's Experimental Sled 80's ?? December 14, 2009 03:17PM
Whatever became of BG's attempt at designing a new sled that worked by levers and maybe some hydrulics to transfer the weight from back in the 80's i think was the time period.I only saw pics of it in primer paint,i don't think it worked too good,but not sure how long they worked on it before quitting?.This sled didn't have a weight box that traveled,but somehow transfered the weight.
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Re: Bowling Green's Experimental Sled 80's ?? December 14, 2009 03:24PM
I asked someone about that a few years ago. Apparently it was the Heartbreaker 3, supposed to replace Heartbreaker 2, but they never could get it to work right and it was parked. Anyone know where it went? Supposedly the patents on weight transfer was the motivation for the new design.
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Re: Bowling Green's Experimental Sled 80's ?? December 15, 2009 04:48AM
That sled was purchased by Rich and Jordan Lustik a few years back. They use it at their own track to test newly completed tractors.
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Re: Heartbreaker 3 August 14, 2014 05:32AM
Here is a picture of the Heartbreaker 3 that one of the blue shirts sent me.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/14/2014 05:33AM by Cequipment.


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Re: Pulling Sleds August 14, 2014 05:34AM
I can post some pictures in a few days ( 1468 farmer ) I just happen to know where the old papa bear sled is
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Re: Pulling Sleds August 14, 2014 07:21AM
Great thread! Very cool to see the different versions and interesting the lack of safety for competitors and spectators, compared to today's standards.
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Re: Pulling Sleds August 14, 2014 09:32AM
I asked once before but must have stumped the readers, the first self propelled sled I remember in the late 1970's/ early 80's was the Quick Silver sled from somewhere in Vermont. It was advanced for it's time being relatively flat (not like the up hill Thumb style sleds of that day) and the times I saw it in action having little or no break downs- the question where did it go? Sold? Parted out? Still in a barn somewhere covered in dust? I did find a couple of pictures of it on-line from it's time, but never saw another picture similar enough to it to say it got renamed and repainted and there it is. Just curious as to what became of it.
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Re: Pulling Sleds August 14, 2014 10:00AM
The Quick Silver was a downhill sled built after Vermont Tractor Pullers "Vermontster" sled was involved in an accident with Earl Horton and his SS tractor. I believe the chains broke and the weight box landed on the back of the tractor. I used to see it sit at Weybridge Farms owned by Paul Denis for years. Not sure where it went but will ask around and see if I can find you an answer. I was a youngster at the time but I don't think it worked all that well for some reason. Some Vermonters can probably add much more information.
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