You’re Never Too Old For Tractor Pulling
Denny Brookins says it’s never too late to start a new hobby. When he was a young man in Indiana, he raced cars and rode motorcycles. Now, at 77 in Minnesota, he’s gotten into lawn tractor pulling. Instead of riding a motorcycle, he used the engine from a motorcycle to power a tractor that he built himself.
Brookins admits he didn’t know anything about pulling until a couple of years ago when he went with a friend who competes.
“There happened to be a stock tractor for sale,” Brookins says. He bought it, and entered a few pulling events and took second place at one of them. “I had fun and decided to build one for the ‘modified’ pulling division.”
He built the frame with 6-in. I-beams and 3-in. angle iron, fitting it with the steering system from an old riding mower. For the back he used a 1995 Ford 3/4-ton pickup rear end.
For power, he found a 100 hp. Goldwing motorcycle engine. Using motorcycle engines is common for lawn tractor pullers, he says, and gives them much more pulling power than stock tractors.
Brookins notes he was “winging it” when he built the tractor last winter and didn’t have an opportunity to test it out. Wisely, he went early to a pull in the spring to try it before the event.
“The front end came right up,” he says with a laugh. “I was all done before I even started.”
He continued to compete with his stock tractor (and also use it to till his garden with a chisel plow he built) while modifying the home-built tractor.
“It was too fast on the takeoff with too high of gears in it, so I put in a jackshaft to gear it down. It was light on the front so I’ve added 100 lbs. of weights,” he explains.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Denny Brookins, 404 Filmore St., Alexandria, Minn. 56308 (ph 320 219-0412).
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You’re Never Too Old For Tractor Pulling AG WORLD Denny Brookins says it’s never too late to start a new hobby When he was a young man in Indiana he raced cars and rode motorcycles Now at 77 in Minnesota he’s gotten into lawn tractor pulling Instead of riding a motorcycle he used the engine from a motorcycle to power a tractor that he built himself Brookins admits he didn’t know anything about pulling until a couple of years ago when he went with a friend who competes “There happened to be a stock tractor for sale ” Brookins says He bought it and entered a few pulling events and took second place at one of them “I had fun and decided to build one for the ‘modified’ pulling division ” He built the frame with 6-in I-beams and 3-in angle iron fitting it with the steering system from an old riding mower For the back he used a 1995 Ford 3/4-ton pickup rear end For power he found a 100 hp Goldwing motorcycle engine Using motorcycle engines is common for lawn tractor pullers he says and gives them much more pulling power than stock tractors Brookins notes he was “winging it” when he built the tractor last winter and didn’t have an opportunity to test it out Wisely he went early to a pull in the spring to try it before the event “The front end came right up ” he says with a laugh “I was all done before I even started ” He continued to compete with his stock tractor and also use it to till his garden with a chisel plow he built while modifying the home-built tractor “It was too fast on the takeoff with too high of gears in it so I put in a jackshaft to gear it down It was light on the front so I’ve added 100 lbs of weights ” he explains Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Denny Brookins 404 Filmore St Alexandria Minn 56308 ph 320 219-0412
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