What are they using to fuel tractor pulls?

General Discussion
1

Pure alcohol replaced gasoline in the corn belt I guess

Will alcohol fueled automobiles be on the market in the midwest soon?

2

Alcohol is just one class, most arenā€™t.

3

But I didnā€™t see any mention of ā€˜gasolineā€™ in the story @texases.

4

Look at the schedule. Those that are alcohol (or diesel) say so:

image
image236Ɨ758 68.7 KB

1 Like
5

My first thought was Nitro-Methane ā€¦engines love that stuff. The more you cram inā€¦the more power you makeā€¦till your engine comes apart. Its all in good fun, expensive, good fun.

But as @texases clearly points outā€¦ this stuff is written down somewhere.

6

my first thought was the tears of tree huggersā€¦

7

Those tooā€¦ but I hear they are low on Octane sadly

1 Like
8

I have heard that nitromethane was tried in tractor/truck pulls decades ago, but was soon abandoned after too many engine explosions. Tractor/truck pulls are essentially drag races pulling tremendous weight, and if you watch any nitro drags youā€™ll see they have enough problems with explosions as it is.

1 Like
9

Uncle Sam has been encouraging the manufacture of flex fuel vehicles since the 1990s, millions sold.

10

That is pretty much what E85 is anyway. Lousy fuel mileage and range.

11

I think tractor pulls are using methanol fueled engines, where E15/E85 is ethanol.

And they use alcohol because you can make more power for a given engine size than with gasoline - albeit with more fuel consumed.

12

Trueā€¦ Something tells me the Tractor Pull owner drivers arenā€™t too concerned with fuel economy regardless of fuel type.

After allā€¦they are getting whatā€¦about 3 gallons per FOOT maybe? LOL

2 Likes
13

And thousands and thousands never use E-85. Just based on my observation thereā€™s a very large percentage of full-size pickups that are Flex fuel sold here in New Hampshire. Thereā€™s not ONE E-85 gas station in New Hampshire. Thereā€™s ONE in Massachusetts.

1 Like
14

I need to brush up on what preparations besides the obvious fuel container, lines etc are involved in making a vehicle ā€œflex fuelā€ capable all the way up to 85% ethanol.

What do the valves and guides think of this witchcraft? Moisture in tank or ambient air? Drunks trying to put a straw in your fuel tank? Fuel economy Those sorts of things?

Time for a little research n learn me somethingā€¦

Crap now I really got into the deep endā€¦ the former article I read just breezed thru suggesting only fuel container and injector modificationsā€¦ knew it sounded too simpleā€¦ now Im reading this monsterā€¦ I was only looking for what if anything the valvetrain needed for E85ā€¦ still havent found that infoā€¦maybe no info needed?

1 Like
15

Unfortunately that sadness creates even more tears that combine with previous tears further lowering the octane. Which creates more sadness, more tears. Itā€™s a terrible downward spiral.

16

You are correct, and I believe there is a mathematical equation for that phenomenon @PvtPublic.

17

I think the biggest problem is that alcohol burns more efficiently at higher compression ratios than gasoline. The USA has a gasoline based fleet, and we canā€™t really take advantage of burning alcohol efficiently.

18

Is vapor injection ignored by engine designers due to concerns that owners will fail to keep the tanks filled with water?

Vapor injection seems to offer a better outcome than e-15 ethanol fuel and actually requires methanol to make it operational