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ET - You are kidding, right? There are no warranties, guarantees, or anything of the kind when it comes to pulling. Whether he was on the track, in the pits, or unloading from the trailer, the owner is always responsible for fixing breakage on HIS (or HER) machine. The caviot is that the puller can always refuse to attend pull if they feel that is unsafe. The club did not "force" him to pull that tractor at that pull. I would hope that if the puller had decided not to pull because of the inconsistency that the Club was introducing into the class (by letting the grader tractor run out of gas!?!?!), that refunding that puller's entry fee would have been an option...? If not, then that club will surely die a slow death from attrition of members. But, beyond all of that: By the description that you have given, the wheels on the front of that tractor were either improperly installed (by the owner, right?) or they had been modified for reduced weight (by the owner, right?). I have seen in SEVERAL antique tractors equipped with aluminum front wheels, drop them at the end of a pull with NO ill effects. There is just something fishy about this "story". BTW - The speed of the tractor has nothing to do with the loading on those rims. The force on a rim being dropped from a height of 24 inches would be approximately 4 times that of the typical weight on the front wheels (4 G's of deceleration). The impulse force of a wheel hitting a pile of dirt, even at 12 MPH, would be a mere fraction of the typical front wheel load. Would you expect your car rims to fold when you hit a pothole? Then why should a tractor rim fold when it hits a "pile of dirt"? Regards, Goldsburg
goldsburg@att.net
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